Bean Town Times

When Jenny Camacho applied for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), she didn’t expect to be turned away.

“There was so much talk about providing funding for small businesses but we're not getting any,” Camacho told the Bean Town Times. “The money is staying at the top and flowing to those corporations that have been open for a while, have more employees and earn in half a day what I earn in a week.”

As previously reported, Camacho was denied PPP money because one of the requirements is to submit 2019 tax returns and her family’s bakery, Cafe El Dorado, had just reopened on March 1, after having been closed seven years due to a fire.

“It was crushing and disappointing,” she said in an interview. “We were not open prior to the deadline, which was Feb. 15, and in order to qualify for the PPP, your business had to be open prior to February.”

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act allocated $2.2 trillion to businesses in forgivable loans through the PPP to ease restrictions created by the COVID-19 outbreak but Cafe El Dorado is among the businesses that have fallen through the program’s cracks for one reason or another.

Specific data demonstrated how a number of larger companies, celebrities, and some politicians received large sums from the program leaving experts wondering how well the PPP was administered, and whether it met its intended purpose, according to media reports.

Thankfully, Camacho was able to find financial alternatives. The cafe received a $5,000 grant from the Chelsea Business Foundation and support on how to navigate through the pandemic from the local man who works with MassDevelopment, a state agency that finances or manages projects that create investment in the Massachusetts economy.  

“The funding we received from the Chelsea Business Foundation covered our rent for a couple of months,” Camacho said. “The rest of the operating expenses are coming out of the business itself and, of course, our savings. That has helped us tremendously during the pandemic to remain open and it's still continuing to stay afloat.”

The federal government could do better the next time by making the application available in Spanish, she said.

“We are a Latino-owned business as are a lot of the businesses here in Chelsea and many business owners don't speak English,” Camacho said. “By time they figured out what they needed to file the application, the deadline had passed so having information available in both languages and actually having a representative available to discuss it with you when you have a second language is imperative especially because we pay taxes and fees to be open.”

Camacho also foresees that the government could be more proactive in reaching out to and assisting small businesses.

“For businesses that are registered, they already collect taxes on us and membership fees for the small business bureau here in Massachusetts,” she said. “Why not automatically go to these small businesses, see who qualifies for certain funding and seek for what is it that we are going to need?”