ABOUT THE PROJECT: Our analysis found a stark pattern of lending inequity by neighborhood emerged, and held, in cities across the nation. Businesses in majority-White areas persistently enjoyed better access to the biggest American business bailout in decades, in a time of unprecedented existential threat to small businesses in particular.

Los Angeles had some of the worst racial disparities in lending. Overall, businesses in majority-White areas there received loans at twice the rate that majority-Latinx tracts received, one and a half times the rate of businesses in majority-Black areas and 1.2 times the rate in Asian areas. According to our calculations, if every community in LA had received loan support at the rate that majority-White neighborhoods did, some 79,000 more businesses in majority-Asian, Black and Latinx communities could have gotten support at the height of the Covid crisis.

Although the specifics varied, similar disparities appeared across metro areas including New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, Kansas City, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Phoenix. I

In fall 2020, a congressional select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis issued a report sharply criticizing the program's failure to follow Congress' instructions and prioritize underserved communities and “economically disadvantaged individuals.”

At that time, members of Congress knew that the SBA, Treasury and the country’s biggest banks failed to implement this directive. But they did not have the analysis linking loans approved to census tract by race that our reporting provided.

On the morning of Sunday, May 2, Democratic U.S. Rep. Judy Chu was reading the Los Angeles Times, which co-published Reveal’s investigation. “I practically stood straight up and ran to the computer to say to the staff that we need to do something about this,” Chu told Reveal. From her Twitter account, Chu wrote: “For a year, I have warned that w/out better rules, PPP loans meant for ALL #SmallBiz will pass over communities of color. Now we have evidence that’s exactly what happened.” Representative Chu also wrote to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging "immediate action to address racial disparities" in the PPP program. She also cited Reveal's investigation when questioning the SBA administrator at a subsequent small business committee hearing (YouTube link; see 1:35:12)

We amplified the reporting by sharing data and training resources with reporters across the country through our Reveal Reporting Networks. Using our tools, local reporters investigated how payday lenders in Salt Lake City drove residents to despair while accepting government aid; how minority churches in Sacramento missed out on assistance; and how Latino businesses in metro Detroit didn't receive aid that flowed to Whiter areas nearby. All told, more than a dozen local outlets used the data for their own purposes, and we elevated some of their work onto our national radio show and podcast in August 2021.

Our investigation was covered through interviews with Reveal reporters on a number of news outlets, particularly local news organizations, around the U.S.

RUNNER UP: Tie: Surya Mattu (with Aaron Sankin, Dhruv Mehrohtra, Annie Gilbertson, Dell Cameron, Josh Lash, Daniel Lempres and Evelyn Larrubia, "Prediction: Bias" (1 / 2), The Markup, in partnership with Gizmodo; Leon Yin, Adrianne Jeffries and Evelyn Larrubia, "Amazon's Advantage" (1 / 2 / 3), The Markup