The federal Paycheck Protection Program, part of the 2020 CARES Act, was designed to help small businesses, especially those in underserved or rural markets, weather the pandemic. To date, the program has injected more than $770 billion into businesses, making it one of the biggest financial bailouts since the Great Depression.

But many small businesses in Black, Asian, and Latinx communities were left out.

Today, senior reporter and producer Emily Harris and reporter Laura Morel from Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting join us to share their research into the PPP’s racial disparities.

Read the full story: “Rampant racial disparities plagued how billions of dollars in PPP loans were distributed in the U.S.”

Listen to Reveal‘s podcast episode on this story: “Banking on inequity”

Emily Harris is a senior reporter and producer for Reveal. She previously served as an NPR international correspondent, based first in Berlin and later in Jerusalem.

Laura Morel is an immigration reporting fellow for Reveal. Her work focuses on migrant children and families.

Cover photo by erik reardon on Unsplash