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Thousands of Philadelphia companies and small businesses were awarded Paycheck Protection Program loans to stave off the financial freefall of the coronavirus pandemic.
An updated data set with new details about the U.S. Small Business Administration program was released mid-December.
Since inception, the PPP has been fraught with frustration and glitches for biz owners and entrepreneurs. Restaurants, for example, had trouble complying with the requirement to hire back employees because of local safety restrictions. Some corporate chains that got loans ended up giving them back.
Wondering which local outfits participated, and how much they got? Data editor Julie Christie of solutions journalism collaborative Resolve Philly mapped the PPP recipients across the city.
Nearly 2,500 Philly companies got more than $150k in aid, and another 15,200 spots received loans under the $150k threshold. Organizations that received more than $2 million to keep their employees on the payroll are slated for a full audit to make sure the money is properly used.
(Disclosure: WHYY, Billy Penn’s parent company, received a PPP loan, as did Resolve Philly.)
In Philadelphia, most of the loans greater than $150k were concentrated in Center City’s 19103 ZIP code. Check out the map below.
There’s also a searchable database where you can get some more specifics, thanks to a lawsuit brought by a coalition of national news organizations that sued to obtain the info.
The Department of Treasury split the data into two groups: loans more than $150k, and loans less than $150k. Among the companies in the higher threshold, we know the name and address of the business that received the loan — but not the exact amount. For the smaller loans, the data does include the exact amount awarded.
Find all the info in the tables below.
