Yesterday, the White House released a fact-sheet on New Actions to Build Black Wealth and Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap, which includes changes to small business ownership, in communities of color and disadvantaged communities.
Specifically, the Administration has set the following goals:
- Use the government’s purchasing power to drive an additional $100 billion to small disadvantaged business owners.
- Increase the share of contracts going to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs) by 50 percent by 2026—translating to an additional $100 billion to SDBs over the 5-year period. To achieve this goal, agencies will assess every available tool to lower barriers to entry and increase opportunities for small businesses and traditionally-underserved entrepreneurs to compete for federal contracts.
- Invest $31 billion to scale up efforts to support minority-owned small businesses.
- Invest $30 billion in new Small Business Administration (SBA) initiatives that will reduce barriers to small business ownership and success. These initiatives will increase access to capital by establishing a new direct loan program for the smallest businesses, developing new loan products to support small manufacturers and businesses that invest in clean energy, and launching a new Small Business Investment Corporation that will make early stage equity investments in small businesses with priority for those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. The American Jobs Plan will also invest billions of dollars in SBA technical assistance programs that incubate and offer mentoring and technical assistance to 8(a) firms, reinforce the American subcontracting network to create pathways to prime contracting, encourage Fortune 500 firms to diversify their procurements, and bring more socially and economically disadvantaged businesses into federal research and development programs. These investments will also include an innovative new $1 billion grant program through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help minority-owned manufacturers access private capital.