Chicago City Wire

A top administrator and investigator at Chicago's Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) received a federal "PPP" loan of $21,106 for an alleged babysitting business while she was a full-time employee of the agency.

That's according to a review of U.S. Small Business Administration records by Chicago City Wire.

Sharday Jackson, "deputy chief administrator" at COPA, where she leads investigations into civilian allegations of police misconduct, was approved for the loan for her "child day care services" company, which she said had a single employee, on May 20, 2021, records show. 

Jackson told her lender, Phoenix-based Prestamos CDFI LLC, that she needed a $20,832 federally-backed loan to cover "payroll" for her single employee. The loan accrued $274 in interest before being forgiven by the federal government, covered by taxpayers.

According to her Linkedin page, Jackson joined COPA in Oct. 2018 and was working full-time as a "supervising investigator" in May 2021, when she was approved for the PPP loan.

Jackson received a promotion to "deputy chief administrator" in Dec. 2021.

She previously worked as an assistant state's attorney at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office under Anita Alvarez and Kim Foxx.

As reported by Blockshopper.com, Jackson paid $275,500 for a home at 10831 S. Longwood Drive in Chicago's Morgan Park neighborhood on Aug. 21, 2020.

A Chicago City Wire analysis found that 6,282 West Garfield Park residents received PPP loans totaling $120 million in 2021, averaging $19,119 each.

"Businesses" in Auburn Gresham, on the South Side, received $187.7 million in PPP loans. The neighborhood received 13 times as many loans as it has licensed businesses.