In spending memos and legislative appropriations bills, state lawmakers explicitly instructed the Department of Commerce to target Working Washington funds to business owners from disadvantaged groups, specifically Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs who missed out on the first round of PPP. It’s not clear if that effort was successful.
Conclusions about Working Washington grant distribution by race are difficult to draw. The question format changed each round, and data on applicants’ racial and ethnic identities was not collected in every round. Commerce officials say they believe that numbers of applicants self-attesting to marginalized groups may be underreported due to fear of discrimination.
Rounds 3, 4 and 5 represent 95% of total Working Washington grant funds. Within those rounds, roughly 5% of grant recipient businesses identified themselves as Black-owned. The most recent U.S. Census indicates African-Americans make up 4.6% of Washington residents while the Small Business Administration estimates Black people own 4% of Washington businesses.
About 3% of Working Washington grants went to businesses that identified as Native American-owned, Crosscut found. Native Americans make up 2% of Washington residents but own less than half of 1% of Washington businesses, according to SBA data.
Hispanic/Latino-owned businesses accounted for about 10% of grants in rounds 3, 4 and 5. About 5.5% of Washington businesses are Latino-owned, the SBA estimates, though Latinos make up nearly 14% of Washington residents according to the 2020 Census.
Asian-owned businesses were awarded about 28% of grants in those rounds. Asian-Americans make up 10.5% of Washington’s population and own 9.5% of businesses, federal data show.
Find tools and resources in Crosscut’s Follow the Funds guide to track down federal recovery spending in your community.
The share of grants awarded to minority business owners rose significantly in Round 5, when Commerce appears to have prioritized applicants who self-identified as minority, LGBTQ+, women or veterans. In Round 5, 17% of grants went to Black-owned businesses, 10% to Native American-owned businesses, and another 17% to Hispanic/Latino-owned businesses.
After the fourth round of grants went out in May 2021, Commerce sent out a press release highlighting the agency’s commitment to supporting disadvantaged business owners.
“We continue to focus our grant programs on sectors most disproportionately impacted or businesses most likely to be left out of federal aid programs,” read a statement attributed to then-director Lisa Brown, “hoping to minimize the risk of a ‘k-shaped recovery’ where some succeed more easily while others are left behind.”
