On a recent evening in Detroit’s Mexicantown neighborhood, notes from a guitar played by a busker on the sidewalk reverberated off the walls of the mural-covered buildings. The smells of Mexican street food filled the air, and Valeria Lopez was bent over a clipboard at a booth inside Taqueria Lupita’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant. Regulars just call it Lupita’s.
Valeria Lopez took over her parents business during the pandemic. She said she did not qualify for a PPP loan.
Credit Tyler Scott
Lopez runs the place now. She took over the business from her parents, who decided to retire when the pandemic hit. Her plan was to get a forgivable loan for small businesses from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help pay her staff.