Customer Voices.
Your Stories With Ponce Bank
We interviewed our business customers to hear their experiences with Ponce Bank’s PPP loan process. Their stories have deeply inspired us and reminded us of the impact our work can have for our customers and the larger communities we serve. We remain true to the mission to serve the local, underserved communities in the greater New York City area. We share their stories here to celebrate their tenacity, entrepreneurial spirit, and our commitment to be their financial fuel.
We’re #ponceproud to be from our community, in our community, and for our community.
“We were being called upon to provide a task that our community needed us to do. There were people that needed to eat, and if we’re going to do our part, this is what our part is.
It was a call to arms.”
Tell us about Red Rabbit
We’ve been in E Harlem for 10 years now. We started in 2005. We now have 110 employees. We deliver healthy meals to public schools around the city. Before COVID, we were delivering 20,000 to 22,000 meals everyday to kids in 200 schools.
What was it like to navigate the PPP loan process?
When the government first announced the PPP program, there was a lot of confusion and misinformation. Every day or two there was different info coming in from the Congress and the SBA. Juan was the only stable, reliable source and guidance for us. There’s a lot of organizations that didn’t have that. He gave me the information I needed to do my job as the CEO of my organization.
PPP loan was a lifeline for us. It let us make sure we kept our best employees, and it enabled us to shift our business when new opportunities came about. We started providing emergency relief meals to adults.
“Keeping banking in the community is so important. The relationship I’ve built with your Business Development Manager shows that the difference is actually having a real person who cares about your organization in a personal way. It adds tangible value to banking.”
Tell us more about this pivot. How did you reopen the facility to provide emergency meals for adults?
At the time I was figuring out what it meant to open our facility in a way that was COVID-safe. It meant finding and distributing PPE, taking temperatures, turning around the whole operation so that we could implement social distancing, and doing it all on a weekend. We provided transportation to and from work for all of our employees when we realized that the subways could be a high-risk environment… I felt a personal responsibility to keep everyone safe. There was no clear guidelines on what to do. So we did everything that we heard could make the space safer... We were throwing everything at this.
We also had to bring in new employees since about a third of our employees would be in quarantine at any given time. We went on a hiring spree… our HR team did a great job finding people in the community, onboarding them, and training them in the midst of the pandemic.
What was on your mind as you communicated to your staff in the midst of the pandemic?
How I approached the whole situation was to communicate to our staff that we’re being called upon to provide a task that our community needed us to do, it wasn’t fair and there was no guarantee of safety. But at the end of the day, there were people that needed to eat, and if they didn’t get food, then they may die, or there’d be lots of other negative consequences. It was a call to arms – this is the position we’re in, no one asked to be here, there’s no one to blame for it, but it’s here nonetheless, and if we’re to move forward if we’re going to do our part, this is what our part is. And everyone showed up when we first opened up the kitchen. There was a chance that no one would show up. You really couldn’t blame anyone at that time, because it was a period when it really wasn’t good for people to leave their homes and come into a facility where they’d be working with other people. I was humbled that everyone showed up. I guess they felt that it was part of their responsibility and duty, and this was a thing that they could add value when we were all hit really hard.
“Ponce showed me, ‘we are here to help you, we don’t care if you have an account with us, a relationship can start right now.’ It’s like we say in Spanish, mi Familia...
Ponce felt like a family to me.”
What was your PPP application process like?
Initially I was pursuing my PPP through my bank that I had done business funding with. I have banked with them for over 18yrs. I thought a relationship was already established if not in person, loosely through the process of being a recognized business client of theirs. I thought my track record of being a good customer and a consistent revenue over the years would allow me to have a conversation with the lender to successfully complete the PPP application. After the first round of PPP loans was distributed to corporate giants, however, I realized that this bank was giving their funding to larger corporations and not tending to small businesses like mine.
What it made me understand was the importance to go back to your community bank to remain in your community. That although working with a larger bank may have some perceived benefits, they are not real. Having Sandra and Debbie to reach out through their personal phones, and they would be available over text - that’s a real benefit.
“Working with Ponce made me see the importance in going back to your community”
What was it like to work with the teams at Ponce Bank?
Ponce showed that it’s not only a community based bank but they care in the process… Ponce immediately responded around 12:42 am in the morning. A representative who was reviewing the application, informed me that my application was missing key initials - that was the same application that I submitted to this national bank and they had never responded back to me to inform me what my application was missing.
5 different people from Ponce reviewed my application for accuracy, making sure that a small business like mine could participate in the PPP process, that we had an equal chance of getting accepted.
“Ponce made sure that a small business like mine could participate in the PPP process, that we had an equal chance of getting accepted.”
What was at stake for you?
We are not just a woman-owned small business but part of an essential community that hires from the community and is behind families' reentry into the workforce... Ponce said we care about YOU. We don’t care if you are Spanish, women owned business, we don’t care if you don’t have an account with us… we don’t care if you don’t have a relationship with us, we are going to help you… and through the process we’ll help you get off the ground… Ponce gave me a lifeline to open my doors to the community.
“Ponce said, we don’t care if you don’t have a relationship with us, we are going to help you and through the process we’ll help you get off the ground. Ponce gave me a life line to open my doors to the community.”
