{"id":136158,"date":"2021-04-25T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/?p=99927"},"modified":"2021-04-25T09:00:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T09:00:14","slug":"kansas-city-businesses-haunted-by-redlining-legacy-amid-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/25\/kansas-city-businesses-haunted-by-redlining-legacy-amid-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City businesses haunted by redlining legacy amid the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Darryl Answer knows a lot of entrepreneurs in the majority-Black East Side of Kansas City, Missouri, people running companies or side gigs. But the local pastor couldn\u2019t think of even one who\u2019s received help from the federal government\u2019s pandemic lifeline for small businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s because most hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Kansas City neighborhoods seared by decades of government-imposed racial discrimination, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/funding-programs\/loans\/covid-19-relief-options\/paycheck-protection-program\">Paycheck Protection Program<\/a>\u2019s forgivable loans arrived last year at lower rates than in the rest of the city. East Side areas &#8220;redlined&#8221; in the 1930s because Black people lived there \u2014 a federal decision that effectively blocked investment \u2014 received 17% fewer PPP loans than if they&#8217;d gotten an amount proportionate to their share of the city&#8217;s small employers. Affluent, largely white ZIP codes given preferential treatment by redlining received 23% more.<\/p>\n\n\n<aside class=\"article-email-signup\">\n\n    <div class=\"article-email-signup__inner\">\n\n                    <h4 class=\"article-email-signup__head\">Investigations in your inbox<\/h3>\n        \n        <div class=\"article-email-signup__row\">\n                            <p class=\"article-email-signup__text\">A quick dive each week into our reporting on race, power and privilege.<\/p>\n            \n            <div class=\"article-email-signup__form\">\n                <!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->\n<div id=\"mc_embed_signup\">\n    <form action=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.us4.list-manage.com\/subscribe\/post?u=8dc6eceed67f7f012462d0b12&amp;id=ffd1d0160d\" method=\"post\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" name=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" >\n        <div id=\"mc_embed_signup_scroll\">\n\n            <div class=\"mc-field-group\">\n                <label for=\"mce-EMAIL\">Email address<\/label>\n                <input required=\"required\" type=\"email\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"you@example.com\" name=\"EMAIL\" class=\"required email\" id=\"mce-EMAIL\">\n            <\/div>\n            <div id=\"mce-responses\" class=\"clear\">\n                <div class=\"response\" id=\"mce-error-response\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n                <div class=\"response\" id=\"mce-success-response\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n            <!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups-->\n            <div style=\"position: absolute; left: -5000px;\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><input type=\"text\" name=\"b_8dc6eceed67f7f012462d0b12_ffd1d0160d\" tabindex=\"-1\" value=\"\"><\/div>\n            <div class=\"clear\"><input type=\"submit\" value=\"Join\" name=\"subscribe\" id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" class=\"btn\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n        \n        <!-- The Watchdog group -->\n        <input type=\"hidden\" value=\"4294967296\" name=\"group[16933][4294967296]\" id=\"mce-group[16933]-16933-0\">\n        <!-- The Moment group -->\n        <input type=\"hidden\" value=\"8589934592\" name=\"group[16933][8589934592]\" id=\"mce-group[16933]-16933-1\">\n        \n    <\/form>\n<\/div>\n<!--End mc_embed_signup-->\n            <\/div>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSometimes we look at this as an isolated situation,\u201d said<a href=\"https:\/\/resources.depaul.edu\/abcd-institute\/faculty\/active\/Pages\/darryl-answer.aspx\"> Answer<\/a>, who is active in community development in addition to his work with New Community Church. \u201cBut I think all of these things have to be experienced in light of history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This pattern keeps repeating \u2014 here and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagofed.org\/publications\/working-papers\/2017\/wp2017-12\">across the country<\/a>. In Kansas City, your level of wealth and even the <a href=\"https:\/\/dashboards.mysidewalk.com\/kansas-city-mo-cha-dashboard\/dashboardpage-1536610187711-3296957302-480479#c-1661799\">length of your life<\/a> are often defined by whether you live east or west of Troost Avenue, a longstanding <a href=\"https:\/\/jocohistory.wordpress.com\/2020\/03\/27\/dividing-lines\/\">racial dividing line<\/a>. It\u2019s a similar story in <a href=\"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/holc-health\/\">many other once-redlined cities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, most of the government incentives intended to combat blight and joblessness in Kansas City flow downtown rather than to the East Side. Variations on that theme keep happening around the nation, too, an eerie \u2014 and legal \u2014 echo of what the 1930s federal Home Owners\u2019 Loan Corp. wrought with its red pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t call it anything <em>but<\/em> redlining: public sector reinforcing private-sector discrimination,\u201d said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, which tracks and researches economic subsidies. \u201cThe net effect is reverse Robin Hood. You\u2019re favoring places that need help the least.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Kansas City, people determined to put a stop to this may be making some headway. In 2017, Black community leaders convinced voters to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/local\/article142759754.html\">earmark a slice of sales-tax revenue<\/a> for economic development and stability efforts in a portion of the East Side. Some of that money has flowed as COVID-19 relief to small businesses that largely missed out on the federal help.And after a years-long pressure campaign by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcpublicschools.org\/about\/tax-incentives-kcps\">public school leaders<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kc-tifwatch.org\/\">civic groups<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/business\/development\/article185794143.html\">others<\/a> alarmed at the loss of tax revenue that would otherwise fund public services, the City Council imposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcur.org\/news\/2021-02-24\/kansas-city-developers-were-getting-millions-in-tax-breaks-more-of-that-money-could-soon-stay-with-schools\">modest limits on tax incentives<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"related-articles\">\n        <div class=\"related-articles__inner\">\n            \n                <h3 class=\"related-articles__head\">How we did it<\/h3>\n                        <ul class=\"related-articles__items\">\n                                    <li class=\"tz-related\">\n\n                        <div class=\"tz-related__text\">\n\n                                                            <h4 class=\"tz-related__topic\">\n                                    <a class=\"tz-related__topic-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/topics\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/\">Coronavirus and Inequality<\/a>\n                                <\/h4>\n                            \n                            <h3 class=\"tz-related__title\">\n                                <a class=\"tz-related__title-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/methodology-analysis-ppp-loans-kansas-city\/\">How we analyzed PPP loans in Kansas City<\/a>\n                            <\/h3>\n\n                            <p class=\"tz-related__read\">\n                                <a class=\"tz-related__read-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/methodology-analysis-ppp-loans-kansas-city\/\">Read\n                                    <svg>\n                                        <use xlink:href=\"#arrow-small\"><\/use>\n                                    <\/svg>\n                                <\/a>\n                            <\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n\n                        <div class=\"tz-related__image\">\n                            <a class=\"tz-related__image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/methodology-analysis-ppp-loans-kansas-city\/\">\n                                                                    <img src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1199887267-scaled-100x100-c-default.jpg\" alt=\"Charts and bar graphs are displayed.\"\/>\n                                                            <\/a>\n                        <\/div>\n\n                    <\/li>\n                                    <li class=\"tz-related\">\n\n                        <div class=\"tz-related__text\">\n\n                                                            <h4 class=\"tz-related__topic\">\n                                    <a class=\"tz-related__topic-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/topics\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/\">Coronavirus and Inequality<\/a>\n                                <\/h4>\n                            \n                            <h3 class=\"tz-related__title\">\n                                <a class=\"tz-related__title-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/paycheck-protection-program-deadline-runs-out\/\">What to know about the Paycheck Protection Program before your chance to get it runs out<\/a>\n                            <\/h3>\n\n                            <p class=\"tz-related__read\">\n                                <a class=\"tz-related__read-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/paycheck-protection-program-deadline-runs-out\/\">Read\n                                    <svg>\n                                        <use xlink:href=\"#arrow-small\"><\/use>\n                                    <\/svg>\n                                <\/a>\n                            <\/p>\n                        <\/div>\n\n                        <div class=\"tz-related__image\">\n                            <a class=\"tz-related__image-link\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/paycheck-protection-program-deadline-runs-out\/\">\n                                                                    <img src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/AdobeStock_344450945-scaled-100x100-c-default.jpeg\" alt=\"Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) written on the mask and money.\"\/>\n                                                            <\/a>\n                        <\/div>\n\n                    <\/li>\n                            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But what happened with the Paycheck Protection Program is just the latest reminder that equal opportunity remains miles off. Congress asked the Small Business Administration to<a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/inequality-poverty-opportunity\/covid-divide\/ppp-loans-did-not-prioritize-low-income-areas-small-businesses-pandemic\/\"> prioritize small firms in \u201cunderserved\u201d markets for PPP loans<\/a>, which should have quickly boosted places like Kansas City\u2019s East Side. And yet assumptions in the program design \u2014 about business owners\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/Financing_Patterns_and_Credit_Market_Experiences_report.pdf\">access to banking<\/a> or certain documents or even clear information about who qualifies \u2014 didn\u2019t account for the reality that many firms in such markets face, according to interviews with several dozen experts and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sixty-three percent of eligible applicants for the East Side coronavirus relief grants from Kansas City sales tax revenue did not get a PPP loan. A handful were turned down for PPP help, according to a survey by LISC Greater Kansas City, a field office of the Local Initiatives Support Corp., which administered the city\u2019s grants. Ten percent applied and got no response. Many didn\u2019t apply at all, in most cases because they hadn\u2019t heard about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a finding that LISC said befuddled some regional business leaders. Never heard of the much-discussed PPP?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But that\u2019s west-of-Troost thinking. For people living and working east of Troost, the LISC survey results show what officials should have known from the start: A program that isn\u2019t designed to counteract the effect of decades-long discrimination will probably replicate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can write it in the law that you\u2019re supposed to [beneficially] target Black and brown businesses, but then it gets out into the system,\u201d said Melissa Patterson Hazley, vice chair of the board overseeing the economic development sales tax. \u201cAnd the system isn\u2019t designed to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"671\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-1024x671.jpg\" alt=\"Darrian Davis lives in the 64128 ZIP code, one of the few places in Kansas City where Black people were permitted to live during the redlining era.\" class=\"wp-image-99945\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/CPI-me-041121-rs-0080f-2048x1341.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Darrian Davis, who has lived in 64128 for 15 years, is a serial entrepreneur who heard about the PPP, but &#8220;I remember thinking that I wasn&#8217;t going to be eligible,&#8221; he said. He is seen here at the Kansas City Urban Farm Co-Op orchard, located south of his community. (Rich Sugg \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-separated-by-a-few-miles-and-a-vast-gulf\"><strong>Separated by a few miles and a vast gulf<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Darrian Davis co-founded a fledgling industrial hemp business and an urban farm cooperative. He also owns a construction contracting business, holds rental properties in a limited liability corporation and runs a side effort buying items from auctions to resell.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He received a PPP loan for none of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI remember thinking that I wasn\u2019t going to be eligible,\u201d he said. He kept hearing references to payroll, and he doesn\u2019t have employees, so he didn\u2019t apply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s possible he could have gotten PPP money. One-person operations can qualify, and the SBA tweaked the program<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/article\/2021\/jan\/13\/sba-re-opening-paycheck-protection-program-small-lenders-friday-january-15-all-lenders-tuesday\"> in January<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/page\/coronavirus-covid-19-small-business-guidance-loan-resources#section-header-3\"> again in February<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sba.gov\/article\/2021\/mar\/09\/fact-sheet-changes-paycheck-protection-program-biden-harris-administration-increase-equitable-access\">March<\/a> to try to make it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/02\/22\/the-smallest-businesses-are-getting-extra-ppp-attention-what-to-know.html\">more equitable<\/a>. Even so, Davis might have fallen through the eligibility cracks \u2014 or ended up like a small dessert maker near him who jumped through the hoops last year and received just $416.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The East Side ZIP code where Davis lives, 64128, was one of the few places in Kansas City where Black people were permitted to live during the redlining era. Even today, there\u2019s just one bank branch. Nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/censusreporter.org\/profiles\/86000US64128-64128\/\">a third of residents<\/a> live below the poverty line. Home values are low, making it hard to build generational wealth.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the SBA handed out PPP loans last year, only 59 made it to 64128. Compared with its share of small employers, that\u2019s one of the lowest levels in the city.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Public Integrity, which itself <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/inside-publici\/public-integrity-receives-second-ppp-loan\/\">received PPP loans<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/inside-publici\/judge-rules-in-favor-of-public-integrity-in-lawsuit-over-ppp-data\/\">sued the SBA<\/a> last year to release the information about recipients that made this analysis possible. The newsroom melded that dataset with Census Bureau figures and <a href=\"https:\/\/dsl.richmond.edu\/panorama\/redlining\/#loc=5\/39.1\/-94.58\">redlining-map information<\/a> from a team led by the University of Richmond. It\u2019s not a perfect measure because the federal government doesn\u2019t track the universe of potentially PPP-eligible businesses at a local level, but comparing loans to the share of small employers helps show which areas are getting more or less than expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some very small businesses in 64128, both a lack of assistance and a process that seemed to be continually changing acted as barriers. As she attempted to keep renovations going on a transitional house for women leaving prison, Monecia Smith contacted the SBA for help. She said she didn\u2019t get anywhere. Then she reached out to Bank of America, but at that point last year the PPP funding was gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know anyone that applied for it,\u201d said Answer, the pastor, who lives in that ZIP code. Some \u201chave multiple hustles, whether it be lawn care, catering, different things to survive. No one\u2019s making a ton of money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Map-PPP-loan-map-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100201\" width=\"613\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Map-PPP-loan-map-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Map-PPP-loan-map-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Map-PPP-loan-map-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Map-PPP-loan-map.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" \/><figcaption>Neil Nakahodo \/ The Kansas City Star<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>About two-and-a-half miles southwest, across the Troost Avenue divide, sits the 64113 ZIP code. Here, prohibitions on Black residents <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/local\/article92156112.html\">were written into deeds<\/a> in a pre-redlining practice that Kansas City developer <a href=\"https:\/\/pendergastkc.org\/article\/biography\/jesse-clyde-nichols\">J.C. Nichols<\/a> helped spread around the country. The Home Owners\u2019 Loan Corp. graded these neighborhoods highly desirable in the 1930s, <a href=\"https:\/\/dsl.richmond.edu\/panorama\/redlining\/#loc=13\/39.031\/-94.632&amp;city=greater-kansas-city-mo&amp;area=A8\">a stand-out green<\/a> on a map pockmarked with red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, 90 percent of residents in 64113 are white. The typical household makes<a href=\"https:\/\/censusreporter.org\/profiles\/86000US64113-64113\/\"> $138,000<\/a>, five times the figure in Davis\u2019s community. And 64113\u2019s access to PPP loans, 262 in all, was among the highest in Kansas City compared with its share of small employers \u2014 92 loans more than would have been expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Davis was not surprised to hear it. Just as the consequences of redlining still linger in his neighborhood, he said, marking some communities green has also compounded over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny disparity you can think of,\u201d he said, \u201cyou\u2019ll see the same pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video controls src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/kc-ppp-loans.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption>The Paycheck Protection Plan failed to help minority business owners during the pandemic.<br>(Rich Sugg \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/Kansas+City,+MO+64108\/@39.0838403,-94.6179615,13z\/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x87c0f03f97727f89:0xb85e50b73b47316d!8m2!3d39.0795392!4d-94.5985613\">only one Kansas City ZIP code<\/a> that was predominantly redlined with Black residents in the 1930s did not have worse-than-average access to the PPP last year. A key secret to its success: It\u2019s almost entirely west of Troost Avenue, benefiting from years of investments in and around downtown.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stark differences between neighborhoods in Kansas City can be found throughout America. That\u2019s why Bruce Katz, director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University, said the federal government must stop assuming that programs like the PPP are enough. What\u2019s often missing in communities is a robust small-business support system to make sure people without banking connections or much money get the help, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUnless you\u2019re thinking about delivery of this locally, it falls flat,\u201d Katz said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get it embedded in every part of Biden policy that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael L. Barrera, director of the SBA\u2019s Kansas City district office, said that since he stepped into the job in February, he\u2019s been on an outreach tear. A former president of both the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City and U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, he\u2019s been repeatedly talking to local business groups \u2014 including the Asian, Black and Hispanic chambers \u2014 about the PPP and other pandemic assistance programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t contact every business in our district, so we have to rely on our partners to do that,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd having relationships with these partners is going to be critical going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PPP data for January through March shows the once-redlined areas of Kansas City\u2019s East Side still falling short, though the gap has narrowed. City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, whose district includes 64128, traces those better results to all-hands-on-deck efforts by people on the East Side. She said she pressed to get funding for the local <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbakc.org\/\">Prospect Business Association<\/a> so it could help more firms with PPP applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the <a href=\"https:\/\/heartlandblackchamber.com\/\">Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce<\/a>, headquartered in Kansas City and covering four Midwestern states, pieced together government funding and donations to launch its own program in February. By the third day, about 100 businesses had applied for the help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe need is so great,\u201d said Kim Randolph, chief executive of the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s still time, though not a lot: The program\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/ppp-extension-law-deadline-may-31\/\">application deadline is May 31<\/a>. And the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/04\/07\/paycheck-protection-program-may-run-out-of-money-before-may-deadline.html\">money might run out before then<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-1024x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100098\" width=\"512\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-1024x672.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-768x504.jpg 768w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-1536x1007.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-lucas-2048x1343.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption>Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. (File photo \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who grew up on the East Side, said the local experience with the PPP illustrates a broader national problem: The federal government keeps relying on local advocates to fix inequities that should have been anticipated from the start. \u201cRarely are there ever exceptions, particularly when you see the initial rollout of programs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is, as a Black man, incredibly frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not many of Randolph\u2019s members obtained a PPP loan last year, when quick help was most needed. It was clear last spring that the pandemic was hitting U.S. communities of color particularly hard and fast \u2014 the<a href=\"https:\/\/siepr.stanford.edu\/research\/publications\/impact-covid-19-small-business-owners-evidence-early-stage-losses-april-2020\"> number of Black small business owners<\/a> dropped 41 percent nationally between February and April 2020, compared with 17 percent for white entrepreneurs. Randolph thinks the country should be ashamed of how the PPP rolled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen the dust settles, we\u2019re going to have a desert,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t do something about it now, we\u2019re going to be in a worse situation than we ever thought we could be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"623\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-1024x623.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100128\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-1024x623.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-768x467.jpg 768w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-1536x935.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-meyer-fountain-2048x1246.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Dexter Gooley adjusts spray nozzles while performing maintenance on the Meyer Circle Fountain in Kansas City&#8217;s affluent 64113 ZIP code. The center sculpture was shipped from Italy by developer J.C. Nichols. (Rich Sugg \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-fighting-redlining-in-kansas-city\"><strong>Fighting redlining in Kansas City<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For every dollar on which Kansas City<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcmo.gov\/home\/showdocument?id=1333\"> collects sales tax<\/a>, half a cent goes to parks. A quarter-cent flows to public-safety services. In two of the city\u2019s counties, an eighth of a cent goes to the zoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaders of the local <a href=\"https:\/\/kcurbansummit.com\/leadership.php\">Urban Summit<\/a> wondered: What if an eighth of a cent also went to economic development east of Troost?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among the people posing that question was Karen E. Curls, president of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.curlsjudejoseph.com\/\">real estate services company<\/a>. Her father, one of the city\u2019s first African American real estate brokers, founded the firm in 1952&nbsp; \u2014 four years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared racist restrictions in deeds legally unenforceable and 16 years before Congress passed the federal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hud.gov\/program_offices\/fair_housing_equal_opp\/aboutfheo\/history\">Fair Housing Act<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those bans on real estate discrimination did not redress the damage already done. Areas like 64128 are caught in a vicious cycle, unable to get much investment because they were blocked from it for so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In theory, the city\u2019s tax incentives for economic development could disrupt that cycle. But a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcmo.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument?id=3298\"> 2018 report for Kansas City<\/a> pointed out what East Side residents knew years earlier: Most incentives go to projects in already \u201chigh-value\u201d parts of the city, particularly downtown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Kansas City voters agreed to charge themselves an eighth-of-a-cent sales tax for East Side efforts, that money couldn\u2019t get diverted. It would be a step, Urban Summit leaders thought, toward banishing redlining\u2019s ghosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s say that: <em>a<\/em> step,\u201d Curls said. \u201cBut this staircase is very long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supporters of the tax <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/politics-government\/article126213989.html\">gathered signatures to put the measure on the ballot<\/a>, then went door to door in 2017, urging people on both sides of the Troost divide to vote yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/local\/article142759754.html\">They did<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s generated more than $32 million over three-and-a-half years for an area that stretches from a street just east of Troost to the western quarter of 64128. Money is flowing to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcmo.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument?id=6322\"> projects<\/a> ranging from a shopping center renovation to a new childcare center, filling gaps in financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor-1024x577.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100107\" width=\"512\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor-1024x577.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor-1536x865.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-taylor.jpg 1893w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption>Marquita Taylor, president of the Santa Fe Area Council in Kansas City. (File photo \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe one-eighth-cent sales tax is really a godsend for us,\u201d said Marquita Taylor, president of the Santa Fe Area Council, whose neighborhood is receiving $610,000 to help residents fix roofs and make other home repairs. What Santa Fe pieced together for the project isn\u2019t enough, Taylor said, but still, \u201cthe impact is going to be so great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sales tax is an idea people in other cities could try. But it\u2019s no cure-all, as Curls warned. It runs out in 2027 unless voters reauthorize it for another decade.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/opinion\/editorials\/article240670091.html\"> Work was painfully slow to get started<\/a>. And the amount of money pales compared with development needs, frustrating residents as proposed projects lose out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city tax incentives that largely go elsewhere, meanwhile, are far larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those incentives drained nearly $100 million in revenue from the city in 2019 alone, according to a calculation by <a href=\"https:\/\/taxbreaktracker.goodjobsfirst.org\/prog.php?state=MO&amp;state_jurisdiction1=MO+Kansas+City&amp;state_jurisdiction2=&amp;state_jurisdiction3=\">Good Jobs First<\/a>. That\u2019s mostly through programs that let developers put money they would have paid in taxes toward project costs instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kansas City Public Schools district serves a portion of the city that includes both the heavily subsidized downtown and the 64128 ZIP code. Its officials calculated that the district lost $1,069 per student to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcpublicschools.org\/about\/tax-incentives-kcps\">tax abatements<\/a> in the 2018-19 school year \u2014 far more than other, mostly whiter districts in the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEnough is enough,\u201d Superintendent Mark T. Bedell wrote in a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theplugkcps.org\/featured\/dr-bedell-enough-is-enough-when-it-comes-to-tax-incentives\/\"> 2020 letter<\/a> after a firm that had its property tax wiped out for two decades<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/business\/article247959575.html\"> asked for 13 years more<\/a>. That \u201cspeaks loudly to the systemically racist real estate practices we have allowed to exist here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid growing outrage, the City Council denied the firm\u2019s request and recently<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcur.org\/news\/2021-02-24\/kansas-city-developers-were-getting-millions-in-tax-breaks-more-of-that-money-could-soon-stay-with-schools\"> reduced the level of incentives developers can get<\/a>. The council also tweaked rules to better target tax breaks to the distressed neighborhoods that keep missing out. But exceptions in the new law could undermine that goal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robinson, the councilwoman, wants more reform because she sees no practical difference between redlining and modern-day decisions about where to funnel investment. \u201cIt\u2019s just much more covert,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-morris.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-100104\" width=\"366\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-morris.jpeg 732w, https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/ppp-morris-214x300.jpeg 214w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 366px) 100vw, 366px\" \/><figcaption>Ajia Morris, CEO and co-founder of The Greenline Initiative in Kansas City. (File photo \/ The Kansas City Star)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Ajia Morris, an East Side resident who rehabs houses locally, would like efforts that invest \u201cdirectly in the people who live there.\u201d Support for small businesses, for instance, or a mortgage pool to help renters buy. Her company, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thegreenlineinitiative\/\">The Greenline Initiative<\/a>, named in reaction to redlining, finds that East Side rents are just as high as \u2014 or higher than \u2014 a mortgage would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Morris, a lawyer and former school board member, said what gets classified as \u201cinvestment\u201d in the area often extracts money from the people there rather than going to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One program launched by the city\u2019s health department and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ccfkansascity.org\/\">local community development corporation<\/a> last year does get <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/55cfd1dbe4b05658d747f0c0\/t\/5f19eee591f4ea42bf683ece\/1595535078097\/2020SAFEApplication_fillableFINAL.pdf\">funds into the hands of startups<\/a> on the East Side, though the grants are small \u2014 $2,000 maximum. Kansas City and the Community Capital Fund see entrepreneurship as a way to increase well-being in an area where, in the case of 64128, people die nearly 18 years younger on average than in the greenlined 64113. (The reason for that disparity, the health department says in a<a href=\"https:\/\/dashboards.mysidewalk.com\/kansas-city-mo-cha-dashboard\/dashboardpage-1536610187711-3296957302-480479\"> blunt assessment<\/a>: racism, including the \u201cdevastating &amp; lasting impact\u201d of redlining and later practices.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Megan Crook, who led the Community Capital Fund when the program launched, said residents \u201cknow what\u2019s going on in their neighborhood, they want to address it, they have the energy and ideas to address it. There\u2019s just a lack of resources, a lack of a platform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Davis, whose industrial hemp startup received one of those microgrants, said lack of resources is exactly what makes the PPP harder to get in his community. Businesses without a lawyer or an accountant are at a disadvantage \u2014 and it\u2019s no accident that his community has so many like that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He sees redlining at the root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAccess to capital is the main thing,\u201d he said. \u201cAccess to capital. That\u2019s what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Jamie Smith Hopkins is a senior reporter and editor at the Center for Public Integrity. She can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:jhopkins@publicintegrity.org\"><em>jhopkins@publicintegrity.org<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>Public Integrity data journalist Pratheek Rebala contributed to this article.<\/em> He can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:prebala@publicintegrity.org\"><em>prebala@publicintegrity.org<\/em><\/a><em>. Follow him on Twitter at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pratheekrebala\"><em>@pratheekrebala.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/kansas-city-redlining-businesses-pandemic-ppp\/\">Kansas City businesses haunted by redlining legacy amid the pandemic<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/kansas-city-redlining-businesses-pandemic-ppp\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Darryl Answer knows a lot of entrepreneurs in the majority-Black East Side of Kansas City, Missouri, people running companies or side gigs. But the local pastor couldn\u2019t think of even one who\u2019s received help from the federal government\u2019s pandemic lifeline for small businesses. That\u2019s because most hadn\u2019t. In Kansas City neighborhoods seared by decades of [\u2026]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/health\/coronavirus-and-inequality\/kansas-city-redlining-businesses-pandemic-ppp\/\">Kansas City businesses haunted by redlining legacy amid the pandemic<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1370,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3499,15496],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1370"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136159,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136158\/revisions\/136159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}