Data released last week by the U.S. Department of the Treasury showed that the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or “PPP”, was able to save thousands of jobs in East Boston during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data was released by the Treasury’s Small Business Administration (SBA) and showed that 46 small businesses in Eastie benefited from the program by receiving more than $150,00 in loans.
These 46 businesses were able to save 1,943 local jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic when many businesses were forced to scale back significantly or close all together.
The data also showed 377 Eastie businesses that received SBA loans less than $150,000 were able to save 1.497 local jobs.
“Small businesses are the driving force of American economic stability, and are essential to America’s economic rebound from the pandemic,” said the SBA in a statement.
Places like Zumix, Angela’s Cafe, East Boston Central Catholic, and Little Folks Community Day Care Center all received PPP loans from the SBA. Some like Zumix, Central Catholic and Little Folks were forced to close in March due to the pandemic and others like Angela’s Cafe were forced to cease dine-in service until late June.
The SBA said they released the data as a key aspect of the SBA’s Values Transparency program.
“SBA is maintaining a balance between providing transparency to American taxpayers and protecting small businesses’ confidential business information, such as payroll, and personally identifiable information,” continued SBA’s statement. “SBA is committed to ensuring that any release of PPP loan data does not harm small businesses or their employees.”