The Debt Trap: Small Business Lending & Predatory Capital
Across Baltimore, many small business owners are not choosing between “good” and “bad” capital. They are often choosing between survival and closure. This session explores how predatory lending, merchant cash advances, delayed reimbursements, and high-cost financing impact neighborhood businesses, organizations, and long-term economic stability.
Through conversation, interactive debt scenarios, and collective reflection, participants will examine how capital systems can either stabilize businesses or deepen financial vulnerability for entrepreneurs operating in historically underinvested communities.
Download the Interactive Scenarios
Participants will work through three fictionalized but reality-based scenarios that reflect common financial pressures experienced across Baltimore’s neighborhood economies.
Scenario #1: Restaurant Owner Facing a Cash Flow Crisis
A neighborhood restaurant owner needs immediate capital to cover payroll, vendor payments, and emergency equipment repairs while trying to remain a trusted gathering place in the community.
Scenario #2: Creative Arts Organization in Survival Mode
A creative arts organization faces delayed reimbursements, rising operating costs, and difficult financing decisions while trying to sustain community programming.
Scenario #3: The Building That Was Supposed to Create Stability
A business owner invests in property as a path toward stability, but debt pressure threatens both the business and the neighborhood asset they hoped to preserve.
Featured Speakers
Featured Speakers
Mac McComas
Senior Program Manager, Baltimore Social Environmental Collaborative (BSEC), Johns Hopkins University
Karida Collins
Owner, Neighborhood Fiber Company
Jennifer Smith Funn
Regional Director for Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Maryland Small Business Development Center
Tim A. Thornton
VP Business Banking Relationship Manager, Fulton Bank
What to Expect
Participants will begin with a grounding conversation on the realities of small business debt, delayed capital access, and the difficult financial decisions entrepreneurs and organizations are often forced to make.
Interactive Debt Scenario Exercise
Attendees will work through three interactive scenarios centered on urgent capital needs, repayment pressure, operational instability, and business survival. Each scenario reflects a different part of Baltimore’s neighborhood economy.
Group Reflection
Participants will evaluate different lending pathways, discuss tradeoffs, and reflect on how financial systems shape outcomes for entrepreneurs, employees, corridors, supply chains, and neighborhood stability.
Closing Discussion
The session will conclude with a collective reflection exploring what healthier and more equitable capital systems could look like for Baltimore entrepreneurs, neighborhood businesses, and community wealth building.