To combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Congress has authorized a total of $659 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses with job retention and other expenses.

In the Keller-Roanoke-Northeast Fort Worth area, a total of 258 businesses have received more than $70 million in PPP loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, ranging individually from $150,000 to more than $5 million, according to data from the SBA.

Three Keller-Roanoke-Northeast Fort Worth-based businesses received PPP loans in the $5 million-$10 million range: 2020 Communications Inc., GDC Technics LLC and Recaro Aircraft Seating Americas LLC.

An additional nine area businesses received PPP loans in the $2 million-$5 million range; however, the vast majority of loans—more than 68%—were in the $150,000-$350,000 range.

Data was released by the SBA on July 6 after the administration was sued by 11 media organizations, including The New York Times and Associated Press, for its initial refusal to release detailed PPP loan data.


At the federal level, the SBA has administered more than $518 billion in loans as of July 17. Texas businesses have received $40.7 billion in PPP loans, second only to California at $67.5 billion.

According to John Arensmeyer, CEO of the national small business advocacy group Small Business Majority, one of every four small businesses in its network reported receiving a lower amount than requested; he said the data is a "far cry" from an accurate representation of the program.

"Serious questions remain about whether PPP funds were equitably distributed to minority-owned businesses, and there is an alarming rate of small-dollar loans," Arensmeyer said.

Jack Flagler contributed to this report. Editor's note: Community Impact Newspaper, headquartered in Pflugerville, and Community Impact Printing were recipients of PPP funding.