Micro Enterprise Research and Policy

Browse our database of research related to micro business.

Featured Research

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Understanding CDFI Financial Data: A Primer for New Investors

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are gaining broader recognition as effective conduits of capital to underserved communities. As a result of the diversity of CDFI business models and their unique approach to blending different capital sources, these mission-driven capital providers have varied and often complex financial structures, and their financial statements can be difficult to understand for those not familiar with the sector. As interest in the sector from prospective investors has grown, so too has the need for broader understanding of how to assess CDFI financial health and soundness. This brief highlights sector dynamics that provide important context for any analysis of individual CDFIs, and shares suggestions for both the CDFI industry and investors new to the sector for how to improve understanding of CDFI financial metrics.


cover page for Minority Depository Institutions Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Lending Insights

Minority Depository Institutions: Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Lending Insights

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to stabilize businesses and their workers. Minority depository institutions (MDIs) – mission-driven lenders that serve marginalized communities – played a vital role in supporting small businesses through PPP lending. In this report, we document how MDIs outperformed non-MDI lenders in deploying PPP loans and loan dollars to minority and low-income communities.

Resource Categories:


Resource Author Categories Pub Date
Pacific Community Ventures 2023 Impact Report
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Our 2023 Impact Report outlines the strategies and services we offered to meet this moment, and highlights what worked and what needs continued innovation to match the intended impact. We are grateful to everyone who is on this journey with us and hope the report serves as inspiration, as it is also an invitation to join us on the journey toward achieving financial prosperity for all.

Author: 
Pacific Community Ventures
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Microlending, Nonprofits
Publication Date: 
06/12/2024
Historic Redlining and Mortgage Lending Since 1981
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The HLD effectively bridges the gap between the different eras of HMDA data collection and clarifies it for researchers, using the same census tract boundaries to organize the information. This accessible format should open new doors for investigating the historical effects of redlining and disinvestment through new, geographic alignment across multiple decades of mortgage reporting.

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
05/31/2024
2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends
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New data on how nonprofits are using and responding to AI How nonprofits think the 2024 election will affect their communications The nonprofit response to the changes at Twitter (now X)

Author: 
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
Categories: 
Nonprofits
Publication Date: 
05/27/2024
2024 Racial Equity Progress Report
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This report details the steps the Treasury has taken to drive an inclusive economy, the results observed to date, and additional steps planned in 2024 and beyond.

Author: 
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities
Publication Date: 
05/08/2024
Removing Barriers to Government Contracting for Entrepreneurs of Color
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To explore state and local procurement practices, especially within the current legal landscape, our research team conducted more than three dozen interviews with leaders and staff in government procurement, including training and technical assistance providers, disparity study consultants, legal experts, government officials across a wide range of departments, advocates, researchers, small-business owners, and others.

Author: 
Urban Institute
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
05/01/2024
Effects of Price Complexity on Market Outcomes
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This paper provides new insights on how price complexity may affect markets for consumer goods. We report on two laboratory experiments that investigated the effects of price complexity on market outcomes. The experiments had human participants interact in basic markets. Across experiment sessions, the experiments varied how complex sellers were allowed to make their prices. In treatment 1, sellers could describe their price only using a single number. In treatment 2, sellers described their products using up to eight “sub-prices,” prices that added up to one total price. And, in treatment 3, sellers could use up to sixteen sub-prices. On average, we found that allowing more complex pricing led sellers to ask for higher total prices and buyers to make more mistakes (choosing higher-priced offerings). These effects translated into higher average transaction prices. Using data from our experiments to fit a model of seller behavior, we find that allowing sellers to use complex pricing disrupts the standard market equilibrium in which sellers compete for buyers by setting prices equal to their marginal cost of production. Instead, when prices are low, sellers can expect higher profits by raising both their total price and the complexity of their price.

Author: 
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
04/30/2024
Navigating the AI Frontier
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Small businesses increasingly embrace AI and often lead in adoption and implementation. A recent BPC and Morning Consult survey revealed that many small businesses are actively adopting and testing AI tools to optimize their operations. BPC hosted roundtable conversations with small business owners, which provided additional context into how they approach AI. Small business owners emphasized that “AI levels the playing field and supercharges human tasks,” and that, “AI policy can’t be designed around big company use.”

Author: 
Bipartisan Policy Center
Categories: 
Capacity Building
Publication Date: 
04/29/2024
Closing the Gender Gap in Startup Financing
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A global analysis of previous research over the last three decades shows that women entrepreneurs face a higher rate of business loan denials and increased interest rates in loan decisions made by commercial bankers.

Author: 
Harvard Business Review
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Women
Publication Date: 
04/12/2024
Business Formation Statistics March 2024
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The U.S. Census Bureau announced the following seasonally adjusted business application and formation statistics for March 2024. The Business Application Series describe the business applications for tax IDs as indicated by applications for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) through filings of the IRS Form SS-4. The Business Formation Series describe employer business formations as indicated by the first instance of payroll tax liabilities for the corresponding business applications.

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
04/11/2024
Hidden Costs of Small Dollar Loans
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Earned wage advances (EWA) and cash advance products are small, short-term loans that are typically repaid on the consumer’s next payday either directly from a bank account or as a payroll deduction. Consumers access these products using an app on their smartphone by linking their bank accounts or by enrolling through their employer. The costs of these very short-term loans are not always transparent to consumers, who often pay fees and leave tips to access money and run the risk of unexpected overdraft fees. Workers who are already living paycheck to paycheck may frequently find themselves pulled into a cycle of reborrowing that depletes their net earnings and further erodes their financial stability. Through a mixed-methods approach, this research aims to better understand the costs and risks of using EWA and cash advances as well as their impacts on the financial lives of low- and moderate-income consumers.

Author: 
Center for Responsible Lending
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
04/03/2024
2024 Report on Employer Firms
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The 2023 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) shows signs of a further waning of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on firms, as challenges closely associated with the pandemic—like supply chain issues—eased between 2022 and 2023. Measures of firm performance remained elevated well above pandemic-era lows and remained steady year-over-year but lagged prepandemic levels. 

Author: 
U.S. Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
03/07/2024
Best Practices for Equitable Lending
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Development finance agencies (DFAs) are tasked with providing financial services to underserved communities in order to see them grow and thrive. DFAs are defined here as community lenders including but not limited to community development financial institutions (CDFIs), credit unions, banks, private firms, finance authorities, and public agencies across both the private and non-profit sectors. Furthermore, this paper addresses issues faced by commercial lenders in the DFA space. Because no two communities are exactly alike, DFAs often differ in how they address the unique challenges to capital access that small businesses in their communities face. DFAs should consider the unique needs of their communities and borrowers while maintaining focus on responsible lending and risk management.

Author: 
CDFA Foundation
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
12/29/2023
Redlining the Reservation
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The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 sought to address the practice of redlining – the intentional exclusion by banks of minority, immigrant and poor communities from financial services. In late 2023, new CRA regulations specifically included Native Land Areas for the first time. This paper sets a baseline for measuring access to capital by tribal communities in hope of a more just financial services landscape in Indian Country.

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities
Publication Date: 
12/29/2023
A View of PPP from the Inside
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This brief examines the financing activity, financial performance, and efficiency and operations of Opportunity Finance Network’s member CDFIs that served as PPP lenders. These members devoted a substantial portion of their fiscal year 2021 lending activity to PPP, had higher self-sufficiency and change in net assets than non-PPP lenders, and achieved high rates of operational efficiency. In the short term, PPP provided an essential economic lifeline to businesses and communities. It may have also enhanced the enduring ability of CDFIs to advance mission impact.

Author: 
Opportunity Finance Network
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
12/19/2023
Understanding CDFI Financial Data
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This brief highlights sector dynamics that provide important context for any analysis of individual CDFIs, and shares suggestions for both the CDFI industry and investors new to the sector for how to improve understanding of CDFI financial metrics.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending
Publication Date: 
12/19/2023
Healthcare Costs and Small Business
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A new national survey of 1,015 small business owners including responses from Michigan, North Carolina, Texas and Washington has unveiled a bipartisan concern on critical insights into the challenges and perspectives surrounding healthcare costs.

Author: 
Small Business for America's Future
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
12/13/2023
Contracting, Procurement & Supplier Diversity
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Reimagine Main Street, in partnership with 14 other national business organizations, surveyed businesses about their experiences with corporate and government contracting. The results come out against a backdrop of significant Federal investments and a wave of litigation against diverse businesses, business diversity and efforts to increase contracting with diverse-owned and small businesses.

Author: 
Reimagine Main Street
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/30/2023
Employee Benefits Offered by Entrepreneurs of Color
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This report presents an analysis of employee benefits provision among Hispanic, Black, and White business owners. Leveraging data from the 2022 Entrepreneurship in the Population Survey Project (EPOP), the study exclusively focuses on businesses employing more than 10 individuals to delve deeper into the benefits landscape.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/14/2023
State Community Reinvestment Acts
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Many states have adopted Community Reinvestment Acts (CRAs) similar in purpose and structure to the federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. These state laws were developed following the passage of the federal CRA but contain differences that reflect the unique reinvestment priorities of individual states. State CRAs have also developed during, and often in response to, a substantial increase in the nonbank mortgage company share of the mortgage market. This report focuses on state CRA laws that provide an affirmative obligation for financial institutions to meet the lending, services, and/or investment needs of their communities. The states included are Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. It summarizes the key factors of each of these laws, organizes them into ten issue groups, and identifies five findings that inform how states could consider establishing reinvestment obligations.

Author: 
CFPB
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
11/02/2023
Keeping Small Businesses in Place
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The case studies contained in this report are the result of a year-long process, during which the SBAN team worked with organizations from diverse neighborhoods and metropolitan regions to tell stories about effective small business anti-displacement strategies.

Author: 
Small Business Anti-Displacement Network
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
11/01/2023
State of Inclusion in Financial System
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The State of Inclusion in the U.S. Financial System follows Aspen FSP’s report, Towards a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, and moves from making the case for why the U.S. should have a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion to how. In this publication, we introduce U.S. policymakers to an assessment of the current state of inclusion in the U.S. financial system, and share processes, disparities, gaps and assess the overall state of inclusion.

Author: 
The Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/01/2023
Small Independent Landlords
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This brief identifies opportunities to work with Black and other landlords of color to support racial economic justice efforts focused on wealth preservation and renters’ financial well-being.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
11/01/2023
Small Business Capital: A Place-Based Approach
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Accelerator for America and the International Economic Development Council are excited to present the first segment in a two-part series exploring the needs and opportunities to drive more equitable entrepreneurship and small business growth in communities across the U.S. This first piece addresses equitable capital access, and the second will delve into the other critical elements of the entrepreneurial and small business ecosystem that are necessary to foster inclusive growth. Both parts of the series will focus on the role that mayors, local governments, and place-based philanthropies can play in addressing gaps and creating more equitable opportunities in their communities.

Author: 
Anne Bovaird Nevins
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/20/2023
New Tools to Capitalize CDFI Growth
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This brief addresses a set of critical questions that will arise as the industry puts this powerful growth strategy to work, focusing on how CDFI funders and investors should reconsider how they interpret key financial metrics related to portfolio quality, capital deployment, and earned income for CDFIs that are selling loans. For example, to more accurately assess the lending activity of CDFIs that are selling loans, we recommend that funders request and evaluate total assets under management rather than simply looking at outstanding loans held on the balance sheet or total deployment ratio.

Author: 
The Aspen Institute's Business Ownership Initiative
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending, Nonprofits
Publication Date: 
10/11/2023
Small Business Perspectives on Government Budget Negotiations
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Between Aug. 4-24, 2023, Small Business for America’s Future conducted a national survey of 1,089 small business owners to gauge their sentiment on the current economic climate and their perspectives on government budget negotiations. As Congress reconvenes, more lawmakers are acknowledging the potential of a government shutdown. 

Author: 
Small Business for America's Future
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
09/14/2023
Building Ecosystems for Black Entrepreneurs
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According to the latest US Census data, there are more than 3 million Black-owned businesses in the country; 66% of these have fewer than ten employees, and 17% have no employees other than the owner. Despite making up just 3% of small businesses nationwide, Black-owned enterprises provide critical services to their communities, and they contribute substantially to both local and national economies through hundreds of billions of dollars in wages, spending, and tax revenue. However, historical and structural inequities have created significant obstacles to success for Black entrepreneurs, limiting their ability to start, grow, and scale their small businesses. This research study, with a specific focus on the experiences of established Black-owned small businesses, reveals new findings about the nuances of their successes and challenges, and lays out specific tools needed to build a truly supportive ecosystem for Black entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Accion Opportunity Fund
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/12/2023
2023 Association Community Benchmarks
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This report offers data specifically for the association and nonprofit industries. It will help you analyze how you compare to similar organizations and provide you with insights to aid your strategic decision-making, resource allocation, and the refinement of your engagement strategies.

Author: 
Higher Logic
Categories: 
Nonprofits
Publication Date: 
08/30/2023
MDIs: PPP Lending Insights
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to stabilize businesses and their workers. Minority depository institutions (MDIs) – mission-driven lenders that serve marginalized communities – played a vital role in supporting small businesses through PPP lending. In this report, we document how MDIs outperformed non-MDI lenders in deploying PPP loans and loan dollars to minority and low-income communities.  

Author: 
National Bankers Association Foundation
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities
Publication Date: 
08/30/2023
2023 CDFI Survey
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Survey results have shown that demand for CDFIs’ products and services has continually grown for years. In the 2019 survey, almost three-quarters of respondents said demand had increased from 2018. An even larger share (86%) foresaw demand continuing to increase in 2020. Although CDFIs’ business slowed briefly at the onset of the pandemic, the 2020 COVID-19 CDFI Survey revealed that the resulting economic environment spurred many financially underserved individuals and businesses to seek banking or lending services, and demand for CDFIs quickly regained momentum. As demand for their products and services continued to grow, CDFIs expressed wanting to offer additional products and services. In the 2021 survey, 76% of respondents said they wanted to expand their offerings but could not on a sustained basis. Limited staffing was frequently reported as a top inhibitor to growth. Lending capital was the secondary issue.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
08/30/2023
Small Business Economic Perspectives & Policy Priorities
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Between Aug. 4-15, 2023, Small Business for America’s Future conducted a national survey of 961 small business owners to gauge their sentiment around the economy and the Inflation Reduction Act on its one-year anniversary.

Author: 
Small Business for America's Future
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
08/16/2023
Role of Banks in Funding Climate Change
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California communities have been ravaged by fires, flooding, extreme heat and paralyzing spring snowstorms. Big changes in public policy and corporate conduct are needed to solve the crisis of climate change. This report analyzes the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a public-private initiative created in 2020 to help alleviate financial pressures businesses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlights the unexpected impacts the loan program has had on climate change. This first-of-its-kind analysis looks at all bank financing of oil, gas and coal companies under the PPP.

Author: 
RISE Economy
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
08/10/2023
Employee Ownership for Manufacturers
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This report presents employee ownership as a strategy to address all three challenges with a flexible and proactive succession planning tool. We highlight the growing number of cases in which employee ownership has been successfully used to strengthen small- and medium-sized American manufacturers, including an innovative partnership the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OMEP) has formed with Project Equity to offer their clients employee ownership succession planning services. By connecting these pressing challenges with this powerful solution, this report aims to equip key stakeholders to incorporate employee ownership into their toolkits to support small- and medium-sized manufacturers across the country, taking a critical step toward building quality jobs, forming resilient supply chains, and establishing sustainable business models.

Author: 
Project Equity
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
08/09/2023
Breaking Barriers to Capital Access for Returning Citizens
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Endeavor Ready 3.0: Breaking Barriers to Capital Access for Returning Citizens report outlines actions that lenders and organizations in the reentry community can take to improve outcomes in their programs and remove barriers to capital access to better serve millions of returning citizens. 

Author: 
Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
08/02/2023
California Competitiveness Report
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CALIFORNIA IS A CROWN JEWEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT – The economy of California is the largest in the country, with a $3.598 trillion (GSP) as of 2022. – It is the largest subnational economy in the world. – If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank in terms of nominal GDP as the world’s fifth-largest economy, behind Germany and ahead of India.

Author: 
Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
08/02/2023
Women’s Small Business Ownership Report
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Women represent more than half of the United States population and make significant contributions across all industries and sectors. Americans filed about 5.1 million business applications in 2022, nearly 14,000 a day, up from 3.5 million in 2019. That compares to just 29 percent of all business filings pre-pandemic. Women in particular have been the driving force behind America’s economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, creating about half of new businesses for the third year in a row. Women of color, specifically Black women, have had a tremendous impact on the post-pandemic economy with the number of Black-women-owned employer businesses increasing to around 18 percent from 2017-2020, compared to a 9 percent increase in the number of women-owned businesses. According to an analysis produced by the Boston Consulting Group, if women participated equally to men as entrepreneurs, global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could increase by approximately 3 to 6 percent, adding $2.5 to $5 trillion to the global economy.

Author: 
Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship
Categories: 
Women
Publication Date: 
07/31/2023
The Startup Surge Continues
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Here we highlight several major takeaways for business formation through the first half of 2023. We focus on applications from likely employers because of their crucial role in job creation. We make most comparisons to 2019 in order to explicitly highlight how the pandemic-era economy has dramatically differed from prior trends up to 2020 when the pandemic hit, and to emphasize the staying power of the startup surge.

Author: 
Economic Innovation Group
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
07/24/2023
CA Small Business Owners Support Paid Leave Policies
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As the California Legislature considers updating the state’s small business paid family leave and sick day policies, a new poll shows that small businesses owners strongly support expanding family leave protections and other benefits to their employees, including increasing the amount of paid sick days that employees can take.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
07/12/2023
Well-Being in Rural California 2023
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Well-Being in Rural California 2023 paints a picture of well-being and access to opportunity across race, place, and gender in rural California today. Using the American Human Development Index (HDI), this report presents how residents in rural California are doing on three key dimensions of well-being—a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Broken down by race and ethnicity, by gender, and by census tract, the index shows how communities are faring relative to one another and to the state and country as a whole. The report found that stark variation exists by place and by demographic group—resulting in significant inequalities across rural areas.

Author: 
Measure of America
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Rural
Publication Date: 
06/29/2023
State of Diverse Businesses in California
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The California African American, Asian Pacific, and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce have partnered with Beacon Economics and the California Office of the Small Business Advocate to develop an annual report to share insights on the economic, fiscal, and social impact of the state’s diverse small business community.

Author: 
California Office of the Small Business Advocate
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/28/2023
Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs: Removing Barriers
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The Kauffman Foundation continues to recognize, with urgency, the significance of the role new and existing businesses play in local, regional, and the national economy. This report continues our series of sharing the state of capital access for entrepreneurs highlighting the need for innovative products and models to improve capital delivery systems.

Author: 
Kauffman Foundation
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
06/27/2023
Levels of Wealth Creation
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Last fall, the ICA Fund team built the 5-year plan for organization towards achieving our mission to accelerate great businesses through mentoring and investments and close the racial and gender wealth gaps. Part of our strategy for this first year of our plan has been to test the effectiveness of our integrated advising and investment model on driving wealth creation in diverse communities. We partnered with an exceptional researcher, Lucy Odgie-Turley, from OT Consulting (OTC) to conduct this research. OTC led an extensive literature review, conducted qualitative interviews with our alumni, and surveyed local and state-level business owners.

Author: 
ICA Fund
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services
Publication Date: 
06/26/2023
The State of Diverse Businesses in California
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The following findings represent the most detailed available estimates of California minority-owned small businesses and their corresponding economic, fiscal, and social impacts.

Author: 
California Office of the Small Business Advocate
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/16/2023
Economic Well-Being of Households 2022
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The Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2022 report examines the financial lives of U.S. adults and their families. The report draws from the 10th annual Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, or SHED, which was conducted in October 2022. The report, downloadable data, data visualizations, and a video summarizing the survey’s findings are found here.

Author: 
U.S. Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
05/22/2023
Bank Types, Inclusivity, and PPP Lending During COVID-19
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How do differences in bank or lending institution type shape access to credit for small businesses in poor and/or minority communities in the United States? Banking systems are populated by lenders that differ qualitatively in their organizational forms, business models and missions, and that connect—or fail to connect—to small business borrowers and local communities in divergent ways. The authors analyze data on the Paycheck Protection Program and its over 11 million loans made to businesses across the United States to trace how these differences shaped the flow of credit to poor and minority communities. The authors find substantial differences across seven lender types, both in their propensities to avoid or lend to firms in traditionally marginalized communities, and in how much they lend to poor and majority–minority communities relative to their nonpoor and majority White counterparts. From this variety within American banking, the authors identify two potential pathways for more inclusive lending.

Author: 
Mark K. Cassell , Michael Schwan and Marc Schneiberg
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/20/2024
Lending to Entrepreneurs of Color: Strategies & Tactics
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In this paper, we share lessons in six key areas related to microloan origination, including specific practices of CDFIs that are currently originating many hundreds or thousands of microloans annually. The findings are drawn from the members of BOI’s Microfinance Impact Collaborative (MIC), which has been convening and collaborating since 2015 and whose members collectively originated 11,978 loans totaling just under $310 million in 2022. This paper follows a prior one that described the critical role that microloans — loans less than $50,000 — play in meeting the needs of Black and Latinx borrowers and the challenges that CDFIs face in scaling microlending.

Author: 
Business Ownership Initiative
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/14/2023
2023 Report on Employer Firms
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Small business revenue, employment, and profitability each improved from 2021, but expectations worsened year-over-year. With the end of pandemic-related funding programs, the application rate for traditional financing rebounded to prepandemic levels.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/08/2023
Black and Hispanic Real Estate Developers
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Standing at the intersection of real estate ownership and business ownership, the real estate development industry has the potential to be a powerful engine for Black and Hispanic Americans to build wealth. This commissioned report, created by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) with Grove Impact as part of its Obsidian Ecosystem Initiative (OEI), presents the findings of first-of-its kind research on Black and Hispanic real estate developers. The report sheds light on the current state of Black and Hispanic real estate developers by identifying a representation crisis among real estate developers, a revenue gap for mid-sized Black developers, and revenue cliffs facing large Black and Hispanic developers. This report estimates the potential impact of removing the constraints on Black and Hispanic developers and recommends steps that real estate developers and their organizations, investors, public policymakers, and foundations could take to increase diversity in the real estate development industry.

Author: 
Initiative for A Competitive Inner City
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/03/2023
From Prison to Business
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The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and as many as a third of Americans have some type of criminal record. Upon reentry, individuals with a justice history, whom we refer to as returning citizens, face significant barriers to economic security and reintegration into their communities. Among the most formidable barriers to reentry are a disadvantaged living environment, low levels of education, mental health challenges, and stigma that excludes them from job opportunities and other resources.

Author: 
Progressive Policy Institute
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/02/2023
2023 Report on the Creative Economy
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The focus of this year’s report is viewing the future of the creative economy through an increasingly important lens: gaming technology. The video game industry has experienced explosive growth in recent years, and it is having an impact far beyond the gaming community in transformational ways. Gaming technology is foundational to the development of nearly all sectors, not just the creative ones, prompting both structural and operational shifts throughout the entire economy.

Author: 
Otis College of Art & Design
Categories: 
New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
02/15/2023
How Did Self-Care Industries Perform at Start of Pandemic?
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According to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Service Annual Survey (SAS), while overall estimated Services Total revenue for employer firms decreased 1.7% from 2019 to 2020, estimated employer firm revenue for some of the service industries supporting self-care grew from 2019 to 2020.

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
02/13/2023
Biden Economic Agenda 2021-23
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President Biden made a series of concrete commitments to the American people about his plan for economic recovery and renewal. This blog post reviews those commitments and progress made in the two years since they were made.

Author: 
Brian Deese, National Economic Council
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
01/20/2023
Business Dynamics During COVID-19
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Preliminary results suggest that small businesses helped soften the economic blow of COVID-19, and they may have helped the economy innovate and adapt. Further research on the relationships between performance, business applications, startup rates, and job quits during COVID-19 could shed light on the importance of small businesses in combating and recovering from economic crises.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
01/18/2023
SBA Advocacy Annual Report
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Now, more than ever, it is important to focus on the need for strong connections between founders and the investors looking to support them, as reflected in the visual theme of this year’s annual report: building bridges. We call on Congress, the Commission, and our partners to support small businesses and their investors, with a particular focus on underrepresented founders and their investors.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
01/05/2023
Minority Business Ownership by Sector
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There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Annual Business Survey (ABS).

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
01/04/2023
Listening to the Businesses of East LA
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This report tracks results from the East LA Business Connector (EL ABC), an action research project that as of October 2022 has engaged over 650 local and small businesses in East Los Angeles to better understand and meet community needs. This is a continuing work of action research, with every hour of effort directed toward actually supporting local businesses, both by connecting them with resources in the short-term and by informing policy and practice to better support a business ecosystem that is thriving, dynamic, and inclusive.

Author: 
Los Angeles Economic Equity Accelerator & Fellowship
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
12/30/2022
Increase in Number of U.S. Black-Owned Businesses Between 2017 and 2019


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The number of U.S. Black-owned businesses grew from 2017 to 2019 in all sectors of the U.S. economy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey (ABS). We reviewed business patterns among Black business owners, drawing on Census Bureau …

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Immigrants
Publication Date: 
12/28/2022
Entrepreneurship in 2020: California Snapshot
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Entrepreneurship is important for job creation, innovation, and the economy. This brief provides a snapshot of various indicators related to early-stage entrepreneurial activity in California. Kauffman

Author: 
Kauffman
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/28/2022
Economic Wellness: Meeting Families Where They Are
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In our new report, we examine the barriers low-income, BIPOC communities face in the US banking system. Based on data from nearly 900 participants in Southern California, the report looks at access to affordable banking options, trust and confidence in …

Author: 
CRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
Building Wealth Inclusively Through Business Ownership
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Although business ownership may not be the primary way that most individuals and families build wealth in the United States, in any capitalist economy it’s a route that cannot be ignored. Especially when the rules of that economy have been set such tha …

Author: 
Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
Making CRA Relevant for a Changing Financial Services Industry
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This paper examines shifts in the market share of banks and nonbank financial institutions in important product markets. Banks are covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which requires them to serve all communities, including low- and moderate …

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
2021 Small Business Profile : California
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Advocacy’s annual State Profiles provide a snapshot of each state’s small businesses. The profiles gather the latest federal economic data into state-by-state snapshots of small business health and economic activity. This year’s profiles focus on state …

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
Linking Inclusive Finance with Inclusive Insurance in the United States Through Community Development Financial Institutions
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Climate change is altering the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events, disproportionately harming low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Small businesses and microenterprises play a critical economic role in these communities. These bus …

Author: 
EDF
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
Untangling the Personal and Professional
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Entrepreneurship has historically been viewed as a pathway to economic opportunity and social mobility. While this remains true for many, more and more Americans are becoming entrepreneurs out of necessity. In Spring 2022, SaverLife, with the support o …

Author: 
SaverLife
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
12/27/2022
2022 Otis College Report on the Creative Economy
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The 2022 Otis College Report on the Creative Economy is part of an ongoing research project, first commissioned in 2007, to better understand the size, growth, structure, and character of the creative economy in California, with an emphasis on Los Ange …

Author: 
CVL Economics
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
State of Entrepreneurship Report
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The report includes Inland Empire key statistics and trends in entrepreneurship, an inventory and assessment of the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and direct insight from over 1,000 entrepreneurs in the region. The report aims to give a voice to t …

Author: 
Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship and School of Entrepreneurship at Cal State San Bernardino
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions
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For this report, the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) analyzed findings from multiple surveys of our varied constituents. First, we conducted a survey of 13 large national banks about their investments in broadband access and adoption initiative …

Author: 
CRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
California’s Digital Divide
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Broadband access has been expanding steadily, but significant gaps persist. PPIC

Author: 
PPIC
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
Debunking Risk in Food System Lending
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Food and agriculture-related businesses are often perceived as too risky for traditional lending approaches, yet CDFA research tells a different story. This report, with loan-level data from over a thousand funds nationwide, demonstrates that food syst …

Author: 
CDFA
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Rural
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
Using Technical Assistance to Improve Minority and Rural Small Business Access to Capital
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Minority owned small businesses face more challenges in obtaining capital than other small businesses. As stated in the PayPal-funded report, Reducing the Racial Financial Health Gap: The Opportunity for Responsible Fintech, “Black-owned small business …

Author: 
Project REACh
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
UNFINISHED BUSINESS: How Food Regulations Starve Sidewalk Vendors of Opportunity and What Can Be Done to Finish the Legalization of Street Food
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The City of LA began issuing its vending permits in 2020, yet it has only issued 165 permits to sidewalk food vendors, even though there are an estimated ten thousand eligible vendors. The report, “UNFINISHED BUSINESS: How Food Regulations Starve Sidew …

Author: 
Public Counsel and the UCLA School of Law Community Economic Development Clinic
Categories: 
Immigrants, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
The Rise of the Creator Economy
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The rise of Creators and of the broader Creator Economy is the digital manifestation of the rise of creativity as a key element in our economy, society, and everyday lives. Creative Class Group

Author: 
Creative Class Group
Categories: 
Economics (General), Youth
Publication Date: 
12/19/2022
Entrepreneurship Research Methodologies for Equity and Inclusion
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Historically, research on entrepreneurship and innovation has rarely been conducted using community-engaged methodologies – even in work that seeks to address barriers to entrepreneurship in systemically marginalized communities. We believe that including the voices of entrepreneurs in the research process may produce more nuanced and robust findings that, ultimately, can serve as the basis for programs and policies that could truly change the landscape of entrepreneurship in the United States.

Author: 
Kauffman Foundation
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
12/12/2022
Equitable Economic Development across California
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In its report, the Commission calls on state government to do more to facilitate inclusive regional economic development, including by directing resources to regions that need them the most, investing in regional capacity, aligning funding and state programs to support regional development strategies, and ensuring that regions balance the goals of growth and inclusion.

Author: 
Little Hoover Commission
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
11/03/2022
Faulty Foundations: Mystery-Shopper Testing In Home Appraisals Exposes Racial Bias Undermining Black Wealth October 2022
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The way that homeowners, lenders and policymakers use the term “property values” often implies that there is one organic, objective, correct definition of what someone’s home is worth. But that is not the case. Our cultural conception of property value …

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities
Publication Date: 
10/27/2022
The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Disparities in Small Business Earnings
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New research from Advocacy indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic led to greater earnings losses for business owners of color than white business owners. SBA Office of Advocacy.

Author: 
SBA
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Immigrants, Minorities
Publication Date: 
10/24/2022
Small Business Facts: Small Business Innovation Measured by Patenting Activity
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Data from the National Science Foundation show that small businesses that engage in R&D generate more patents per employee than larger businesses that engage in R&D. SBA Office of Advocacy

Author: 
SBA
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/24/2022
California 2022 Small Business Profile
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Advocacy’s annual State Profiles gather the latest federal economic data into state-by-state snapshots of small business economic activity.   SBA Office of Advocacy 

Author: 
SBA
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
10/24/2022
National Small Business Perspectives on Child Care
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SBAF Surveys Show Childcare has a big Impact on Small Business Small Business for America

Author: 
Small Business for America
Categories: 
Youth
Publication Date: 
10/20/2022
California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions
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California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions: Findings from California Reinvestment Coalition Surveys California Reinvestment Coalition

Author: 
California Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending
Publication Date: 
10/20/2022
Understanding the American Entrepreneurship Landscape: A New Resource
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The Entrepreneurship in the Population (EPOP) Survey is a new publicly available resource for understanding the scope of entrepreneurial activities across the United States. The EPOP Survey includes a variety of measures of entrepreneurial behavior at …

Author: 
EPOP
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/19/2022
Small Business Facts: An Overview of Immigrant Business Ownership
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Immigrant owners consist of roughly 18 percent of business owners with employees and almost 23 percent of business owners without employees. Immigrant-owned businesses are found in every sector of the U.S. economy. Immigrants made up 36.8% of employer …

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/19/2022
Bridging the Capital Access Gap Report : An Overview of the Small Business Financing Industry
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Although entrepreneurship is often touted as an arena of equal opportunity, there are major systemic barriers to realizing this ideal – one being access to capital. ICIC and LISC came together for an in-depth look at the small business financing indust …

Author: 
ICIC, LISC
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
08/27/2022
The Power of Procurement
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Women-owned small businesses make up a significant proportion of all firms in the Los Angeles region with just over 20 percent of all businesses in the Los Angeles region being owned by women. And women-owned businesses are extremely diverse, with almo …

Author: 
City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Economic Development
Categories: 
Women
Publication Date: 
08/19/2022
Exploring Job Quality in Latinx & Black-owned Small Businesses
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Entrepreneurship is a critical pathway to wealth-building and job creation. If Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) started and owned businesses at the same rate as White people, they would add approximately 9.5 million jobs to the US economy …

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/19/2022
Small Business Economic Bulletin: June 2022
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Recent trends, including the number of small employer firms and proprietors’ income, show small firms have weathered the COVID-19 shock. However, the demand for small business finance has outpaced supply, indicating that banks have not fully recognized …

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
06/14/2022
Economic Well-Being ofU.S. Households in 2021
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This report describes the responses to the 2021 Survey of Household Economics and Decision making (SHED). The Federal Reserve Board has fielded this survey each fall since 2013 to understand the wide range of financial challenges and opportunities faci …

Author: 
Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
05/22/2022
Small business owner liquid wealth at firm startup and exit
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The relationship between small business ownership and wealth looms large in the imagination of policymakers and entrepreneurs alike. Indeed, people who own businesses are wealthier than those who do not. In 2019, the median net worth of self-employed f …

Author: 
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending
Publication Date: 
05/19/2022
Economic Well-Being ofU.S. Households in 2021
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Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021 BOARD OF GOVERNORS of the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Published May 2022

Author: 
BOARD OF GOVERNORS of the FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
05/01/2022
The Small Business Boom Under the Biden-Harris Administration
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Through the American Rescue Plan and the equitable implementation of emergency relief programs, President Biden and Vice President Harris fostered the strongest recovery for Main Street on record. In 2021, Americans applied to start 5.4 million new bus …

Author: 
The White House
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/19/2022
Financially Inclusive and Sustainable Tacoma WA
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The policy brief was informed by research conducted with the William Factory Small Business Incubator which is one of the longest serving incubators in America. It is based in Tacoma, Washington and caters to the needs of early and growth stage entrepreneurs.

Author: 
University of Bedfordshire
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
03/02/2022
Barriers to Business
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You shouldn’t need a law degree to start the small business of your dreams. But too often, entrepreneurs struggle with local regulatory burdens, finding themselves trapped by high fees, long wait times, and complex paperwork. These burdens amount to a …

Author: 
Injustice for Justice
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
02/28/2022
Fed Credit Survey Finds Small Businesses Experiencing Uneven Economic Recovery; 85% Have Faced Financial Challenges in 2021
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The Small Business Credit Survey 2022 Report on Employer Firms, issued today by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, found many small businesses have not recovered to prepandemic levels, with the effects of the pandemic hitting disproportionately hard among f …

Author: 
Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
02/22/2022
A Real-Time Look at ‘The Great Resignation:’ January 2022
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The most recent data from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report showed that the United States is still in the midst of an unprecedentedly tight labor market, with both the job-quitting rate and the number of job openings across …

Author: 
Gusto
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
02/11/2022
Small Business Finance FAQ February 2022
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Small businesses borrow mainly for four reasons: to start a business, purchase inventory, expand, or to strengthen the firm’s financial health. Firms choose different means of financing depending on the intended purpose.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
02/01/2022
NCRC 2020 Home Mortgage Report: Examining Shifts During COVID-19
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In this paper the National Community Reinvestment Coalition presents a broad and detailed analysis of 2020 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. Our analysis reveals how the private or conventional mortgage lending market is failing to serve econom …

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
01/28/2022
How Entrepreneurship Can Revitalize Local Communities
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This report from Harvard Business Review discusses some of the failings of business-driven revitalization programs, and argues that to truly produce real, enduring impact, we must shift away from a focus on scaling up, and instead encourage founders to …

Author: 
Harvard Business Review
Categories: 
Publication Date: 
01/17/2022
Does Perceived Socio-Economic Status Impact Access To Credit In The Small Business Arena?
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From November 1, 2020, to December 14, 2020, NCRC conducted multi-layered matched-pair tests of 22 different financial institutions. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of socio-economic status (SES), specifically perceived education, on …

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
12/28/2021
Small businesses share views on current issues: vaccine mandates, supply chain disruptions and Build Back Better
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From ongoing supply chain disruptions to new fears surrounding potential impacts stemming from the Omicron variant, small business owners continue to face uncertainty about the future of their businesses. A new survey from Small Business Majority sheds …

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
12/14/2021
Lending to Entrepreneurs of Color: Operational Challenges
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Because business ownership has been a means for many Americans to build wealth, providing loans and grants to entrepreneurs of color has been seen by many as an important way to address the racial wealth gap. Although successfully reaching excluded entrepreneurs will require practices and competencies that meet their specific contexts, the lessons we have learned and practices that have proven successful will apply to all entrepreneurs who face barriers in accessing credit because of low levels of wealth, thin or nonexistent credit files, differences in cultural experiences and languages, discrimination, and/or the amount of credit they are seeking. This brief — the first in a series on this topic — discusses the core operational challenges that community development financial institutions (CDFIs) face in scaling their lending to entrepreneurs of color.

Author: 
Business Ownership Initiative
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/17/2021
California Cooperatives : Today’s Landscape of Worker, Housing and Childcare Cooperatives
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California, like the rest of the United States, is in the midst of multiple crises, where increasing inequality and racial inequity are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social impacts. After years of struggling with the high pr …

Author: 
Project Equity
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
10/28/2021
National Survey Shows Small Businesses Hurt by Lack of Affordable Child Care and Owners Support Federal Child Care Investments
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A national survey of more than 1,000 small business owners in, Small Business for America’s Future’s small business network finds that small businesses are being hurt by a lack of affordable child care, and small business owners support increases in fe …

Author: 
Small Business for America’s Future
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
10/04/2021
Most Nonemployer Businesses Owned by U.S.-Born But Foreign-Born Hispanic and Asian Owners Had a Large Presence in Some Sectors
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Most U.S. business owners with no employees were U.S.-born but in some sectors and demographic groups, including Asian and Hispanic populations, more business owners were foreign-born. About 77.9% of owners of nonemployer businesses — firms that do not …

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/29/2021
Building Organizational Capabilities in Service of Equitable and Inclusive Small Business Ecosystems
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Small businesses are the beating heart of local economies and communities across the country. As mainstays of neighborhood identity, small businesses1 strengthen community pride and connections among residents. Small businesses also serve as a signific …

Author: 
LISC
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/27/2021
Policy Brief: An Impact Investing Policy Agenda for Growing Employee Ownership to Support COVID-19 Recovery
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The COVID pandemic has been a perfect storm hitting the small and local businesses that make our neighborhoods and cities unique. It’s estimated that 200,000 more small businesses than normal shutdown in the last year, and that from February to April 2 …

Author: 
PCV
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
09/27/2021
Program Changes Increased Lending to the Smallest Businesses and in Underserved Locations
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The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) supports small businesses through forgivable loans for payroll and other eligible costs. Early lending favored larger and rural businesses, according to GAO’s analysis of Small Business Administration (SBA) data. S …

Author: 
GAO
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
09/27/2021
CRA Mortgages: A Failure to Implement
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Banking has changed considerably since the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) was passed in 1977, and updates to its implementing regulation in the mid-1990s were soon outdated. In 2015 the agencies responsible for regulating banks subject to CRA require …

Author: 
Woodstock Institute
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
09/27/2021
Small Business Facts: Equally Male/Female-Owned Employer Businesses
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In 2018, equally male/female-owned businesses (EOB), businesses half owned by men and half owned by women, totaled 860,754 employer businesses, employed 7,970,121 workers, generated $1.3 trillion in annual sales receipt, and paid $280 billion in annual …

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
09/27/2021
Small Business Commodity Challenges
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– Small Businesses are struggling to obtain key goods to operate, further financially impacting them as they recover from the pandemic – Domestic supply delays are coinciding with higher commodity prices for small businesses

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/05/2021
Facts on Women-owned Employer Businesses
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There were roughly 12 million women-owned businesses in 2017.* According to the 2019 Annual Business Survey, women employer businesses numbered 1.1 million, employed 10.1 million workers, and accumulated $1.8 trillion in receipts. Women-owned firms make up 20% of all employer firms. Women remain underrepresented in every demographic group. Most women-owned firms are small. 90% of all women-owned businesses have no employees.* Over half of women employers have 1-4 employees.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/05/2021
Survey: Small businesses support bold investments in child care and paid leave, share views on mask and vaccine requirement
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As Congress debates a bipartisan infrastructure plan and a larger $3.5 trillion investment in “human infrastructure,” Small Business Majority surveyed its network to understand their views on key issues being considered such as child care and paid fami …

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
08/03/2021
COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: June 2021
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The KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor is an ongoing research project tracking the public’s attitudes and experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations. The most recent update, published June 30, 2021, contains important insights for business leaders that can inform workplace approaches to help end the pandemic.

Author: 
Kaiser Family Foundation
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/30/2021
The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be
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Dismantling the barriers that have kept Black Americans from fully participating in the US economy could unleash a tremendous wave of growth, dynamism, and productivity. This research identifies critical gaps Black Americans face in their roles as work …

Author: 
McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility and the McKinsey Global Institute
Categories: 
Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/19/2021
Are Small Businesses Rebounding from COVID-19?
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Reimagine Main Street and its partners fielded a national survey of small business owners from April 28-May 12, 2021 to provide insights into how small businesses are faring and to understand what they expect the near future to bring.

Author: 
Reimagine Main Street
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
05/27/2021
Addressing the Capitalization of CDFI Microlenders
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Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) loan funds face a common capitalization challenge as they seek to grow—they must raise net assets to enable the additional debt financing needed to support an expanding portfolio. Among CDFIs that focus on microlending—making small dollar loans of up to $50,000 to small businesses—the financial challenges are even greater, as the revenue earned on these small-dollar, relatively short-term loans typically does not cover the cost to originate and service them (Klein & Okagaki, 2018, 12-14). Thus, CDFI microlenders must also raise grant (subsidy) dollars to support the increase in their lending costs as their portfolio grows.

Author: 
Business Ownership Initiative
Categories: 
Microlending
Publication Date: 
05/19/2021
Economic Bulletin May 2021
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The COVID-19 pandemic was an economic shock to small firms and the effects were not easily predictable. An unprecedented number of establishments closed at least temporarily, jobs are rebounding but have not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, proprietor’s income rebounded quicky, and business bankruptcies seem unaffected so far. Financial conditions have improved and remain accommodative to economic growth. Meanwhile, financing remains reasonably tight for small businesses with subpar credit scores.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/18/2021
Small Biz Owners on American Rescue Plan
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Small Business for America’s Future released a national survey of small business owners about their feelings toward the American Jobs Plan and the tax code.

Author: 
Small Business for America’s Future
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/13/2021
PPP Loans Marred by Racial Disparities
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An analysis of Paycheck Protection Program lending reveals stark disparities across the country. In the LA area, businesses in White neighborhoods received loans at a far higher rate than in Latinx, Black and Asian ones.

Author: 
Reveal, LA Times
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
05/01/2021
SBA Semiannual Report to Congress
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More than a year has passed since the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic sparked a nationwide economic crisis. Since March 2020, our focus has been on providing oversight of SBA’s pandemic response efforts to combat program fraud, ensuring these programs are being efficiently and effectively managed.

Author: 
Office of the Inspector General
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/30/2021
2021 Report on Firms Owned by BIPOC
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The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted communities of color and small busi- nesses of color, in many cases to a greater extent than their white counterparts. Prior to the pandemic, small businesses owned by people of color, in aggregate, faced greater challenges than white-owned firms The 2020 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS) provides evidence that the pandemic exacerbated those challenges, an important finding as those businesses continue to weather the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
04/15/2021
State of the Older Entrepreneur during COVID-19
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Description

Business ownership has the potential to be a financial bulwark, especially for business owners of color. Age 45+ business owners entered the pandemic with much stronger financial cushions than similar age employees and business owners under the age of 45. However, our analysis of survey data for small employer firms collected in late 2020 and detailed interviews with 25 business owners finds that older small business owners, and particularly business owners of color, had difficulty accessing funds to stay open and have experienced significant personal financial hardship during the pandemic. The future of these businesses—and the owners’ personal financial lives—is particularly salient, given that they are the lion’s share of small businesses.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, AARP
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/08/2021
Promoting Racial Equity through Taxes
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Description

Legacies of historical racist policies and ongoing discrimination in areas such as education, employment, and housing have barred many Californians of color from economic opportunities. As a result, Californians of color — particularly Black, Latinx, and American Indian Californians — are less likely to have high incomes and to have built enough wealth to be able to weather periods of income loss, retire comfortably, and pass on wealth to their children. These barriers have also made Californians of color more likely to have experienced health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. One area policymakers should consider in efforts to address these inequities is the state’s tax and revenue policies. Although these policies may appear race-neutral, they can play a significant role in either worsening existing racial and ethnic income and wealth disparities or promoting greater equity for Californians. A policy need not be explicitly racist in order to have racially inequitable outcomes.1 Because many current state tax policies privilege Californians with higher incomes and wealth, they widen existing racial inequities. Policymakers can also use tax policy as a tool to promote racial equity, both by making the tax code itself more equitable, and by raising revenue to invest in the social and economic well-being of Californians of color.

Author: 
California Budget & Policy Center
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/08/2021
Wealth Equity & Employee Ownership
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Drawing on recent research, this issue brief – co-authored by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program, the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, and the Democracy at Work Institute – makes a case for why policymakers, funders, and investors who care about racial and gender wealth equity should support employee share ownership. Informed by a roundtable discussion which brought together researchers, philanthropic leaders, investors, policy experts, and advocates, the paper provides a set of concrete policy and practice ideas to expand employee ownership and advance equity and economic justice. We hope this paper contributes to a broader collaborative effort to spread employee share ownership policies and practices that support economic recovery and lay the foundation for a more equitable and resilient economy.

Author: 
Democracy at Work Institute, the Aspen Institute, Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
04/01/2021
1 Million Black Businesses Survey
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Description

HOPE and SurveyMonkey released the findings of the inaugural HOPE Minority Small Business Index survey which examines the sentiments and attitudes of aspiring and established Black business owners. Our inaugural survey, the first of its kind, demonstrates a high level of resiliency on the part of African American business owners.

Author: 
Operation HOPE, Survey Monkey
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/31/2021
Science/Tech Workers and Small Firms
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Small businesses play a special role in innovation. In 2018, 37% of high-tech workers worked for small businesses. According to the Census Bureau’s data series, Innovation Measurement Initiative, the bulk of STEM-related researchers working on funded research at universities go into the private sector after completing their research, and a significant share go on to work at small businesses.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/30/2021
Women Business Ownership 2017-2018
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Description

Women-owned firms made up only 19.9% of all firms that employed people in the United States in 2018 but their numbers are growing. There were 6,861 more women-owned firms in 2018 than in 2017, up 0.6% to 1.1 million, according to the Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey (ABS).

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
03/29/2021
Paths to Business Ownership
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Description

About two-thirds of business owners start their business from scratch, while less than a quarter of owners purchased the business they own. The starting method for small businesses tends to be relatively stable over time but differs based on owner demographics.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/23/2021
Who Started Businesses During the Pandemic? A Survey of Women Starting Businesses During COVID
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Description

Economists have long been sounding the alarm that Black, Latinx, and female workers and small business owners are being hit the hardest with the economic fallout from the pandemic. But what’s less talked about is the record number of businesses that st …

Author: 
Gusto
Categories: 
Women
Publication Date: 
03/17/2021
Small Business and Bank Locations
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Description

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) analyzed the relationship between large banks that make small business loans and the number of branches those banks operate in each county in the United States.

Author: 
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/17/2021
Effects of Small Loans on Growth
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Description

Since 1980, the number of commercial banks has dropped from 14,400 to 4,600. Given the decrease in commercial banking options, it is important to understand the long-term trends of banking industry dynamics by size of bank, as well as the impact of small business lending on bank growth and small business success. This report finds a decline in bank dynamism with falling new bank entry rates and increasing exit rates for small banks. Additionally, the authors found that small business loans are positively associated with the growth of small banks and small business success. Read “Effects of Small Loans on Bank and Small Business Growth” to learn more.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/09/2021
Social Compact for Work and Workers
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Description

Through its work, the Future of Work Commission identified critical challenges for California to address for work and workers. Many of the challenges for work and workers have existed for years. Here we focus on those that, if unaddressed, could persist or worsen. These challenges are informed by technological and economic trends underway in California and by anticipated future shocks and opportunities. Many of the challenges identified by the Commission have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author: 
Future of Work California
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
03/02/2021
Effects of COVID-19 on Small Businesses
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Description

A new issue brief from the Office of Advocacy, “The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Small Businesses,” examines the effects of COVID-19 on small businesses using the first sets of available economic data. The economic impact of the pandemic varied from place to place, with metropolitan and coastal areas hardest hit. Additionally, some industries suffered more than others, with the largest declines in restaurant and taxi and limousine services. Disproportionate metropolitan impacts contributed to differences across demographic categories, with Black and Asian business owners suffering the most.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/02/2021
Policy Priorities of Biz Owners of Color
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Description

As the pandemic disproportionately affects small businesses and communities of color, the new administration and Congress are currently debating a range of policy responses. Yet there is a gap in available data reflecting absolute and relative experience and policy preferences of AAPI-, Black-, Hispanic- and Native-owned small businesses. Reimagine Main Street fielded a national survey of small business owners from January 7-27, 2021 to provide timely insight into issue priorities and policy preferences of samples of AAPI-, Black-, Hispanic-, and White-owned businesses.

Author: 
Reimagine Main Street
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/01/2021
Small Biz Struggling to Access Capital
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Description

A new national survey of small business owners sheds light on their struggles to secure financing and their views on policy solutions that could help small businesses survive and grow post-pandemic.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
02/17/2021
NWBC Roundtable Report
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Description

The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) released its 2020 #LetsTalkBusiness Roundtable Series Report, a collection of testimonials from women entrepreneurs on current challenges and opportunities associated with access to capital, childcare, and patenting and trademark.

Author: 
National Women’s Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
02/04/2021
2021 Report on Employer Firms
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Description

The publication of this report seeks to document the toll the COVID-19 pandemic took on small businesses in 2020. At the time our survey was fielded, six months into the pandemic, closures, layoffs, depressed revenue, and uncertainty continued to plague small businesses across the country. Small business debt mounted and business owners plowed their personal savings into their firms to keep them afloat.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
02/03/2021
Loan Modifications for Small Biz in a Pandemic
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Description

The federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program provided forgivable loans to help businesses survive the COVID-19 economic collapse. But that wasn’t enough. About four million small businesses closed permanently in 2020, and many needed other options, like modifications to outstanding loans and credit card debt. New research from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) found that Black and Latino small business owners had less access to those options than White small business owners.

Author: 
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/02/2021
Local Small Business Lending
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Description

Lending to businesses in counties where a bank has no branches is highly sensitive to economic conditions. During the 2007 recession, distant lending contracted far more sharply than local lending, leaving the share of loans made at a distance lower than it had been at the beginning of the century. This study suggests that the presence of local bank branches might help small businesses weather economic downturns.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/30/2020
Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics
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Description

The Nonemployer Statistics by Demographics series (NES-D) provides information on the demographic characteristics of nonemployer businesses.

Author: 
United States Census Bureau
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/17/2020
Economic Bulletin, December 2020
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Description

The Office of Advocacy’s Small Business Economic Bulletin for December examines how small businesses have been faring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall self-employment levels have been relatively steady, but income changes from small business owners have been choppy. Additionally, the lack of recent data on business closures makes it difficult to assess the overall state of small business.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/08/2020
Small Business Pulse Survey
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Description

The Small Business Pulse Survey (SBPS) measures the effect of changing business conditions during the Coronavirus pandemic on our nation’s small businesses. SBPS complements existing U.S. Census Bureau data collections by providing high-frequency, detailed information on the challenges small businesses are facing during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
11/19/2020
The State of Financial Security 2020
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Description

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program has, for five years, tracked the challenges that face American households and learned from the leadership and example of our partners in the field. They have taken a step back to take stock of what leaders have learned over the past five years. The result is their new framework and an updated vision for the financial security field. 

Author: 
The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
11/09/2020
Pandemic Pressures City Businesses
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Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted metropolitan areas, which have seen a higher rate of small business closures than non-metropolitan areas. However, in recent weeks, the New York City metropolitan area has reopened faster than the national rate. Read “Small Business Facts: Pandemic Pressures City Businesses” to learn more.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
11/04/2020
COVID-19 Small Business Insights
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Description

At Core Strategy Partners we were wondering how fellow small business owners are dealing with this new normal. We set out to do what we do best; gather in-depth insights and offer ways to turn those insights into action. We spoke with small business owners across the nation about their experiences. The following pages reveal what we discovered.

Author: 
Core Strategy Partners
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/24/2020
SBA Frequently Asked Questions


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Description

Advocacy’s most requested publication, Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, gathers the most up-to-date statistics about American small businesses in one place. Updated annually, the FAQ is a convenient place to find facts about the total number of small businesses, their share of employment and net new jobs, and their overall contribution to the U.S. economy.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/22/2020
Businesses Won’t Survive Without Additional Relief
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Description

Small Business Majority’s latest survey reveals that the uncertainty of whether more help will arrive has left too many small businesses on the brink of collapse. The survey finds that without additional funding, more than 1 in 3 (35%) small business owners will not survive past the next three months. The number is even higher for small business owners of color: an astounding 41% of Black and Latino-owned businesses won’t make it through the next few months without additional financial support. And 1 in 5 small business owners report they’ve considered filing for bankruptcy.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/20/2020
Big Ideas for Small Business
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Description

Given current market conditions, it is clear that absent major federal interventions, whole swathes of the small-business sector will never return, minority business owners will suffer more than their fair share of the burden, and entrepreneurship levels will remain depressed for a generation or more. But the collision of these forces—COVID-19, economic consolidation, and deep racial inequality—also create a window of opportunity for significant reform. This report provides a five-step roadmap towards a more inclusive, dynamic, and productive small-business sector. We break down the five steps into ten major policy recommendations. While the federal government must take the lead for many of our recommendations, we also suggest how it can galvanize the full energy of public, private and civic institutions.

Author: 
Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab, Yale ISPS
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/19/2020
PPP Neglected the Neediest Small Businesses
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Description

This report provides preliminary findings from the Select Subcommittee’s ongoing investigation of the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury). The report finds that contrary to Congress’s clear intent, the Trump Administration and many big banks failed to prioritize small businesses in underserved markets, including minority and women-owned businesses. As a result, small businesses that were truly in need of financial support during the economic crisis often faced longer waits and more obstacles to receiving PPP funding than larger, wealthier companies.

Author: 
U.S. House of Representatives
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/16/2020
Creating Entrepreneurship Pathways for Opportunity Youth
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Description

In 2017, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions launched the Youth Entrepreneurship Fund, which explores entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic self-determination and wealth-building for opportunity youth. Del Norte County and Tribal Lands, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and San Francisco, California received YEF grants. The Aspen Forum partnered with the Aspen Institute’s Business Ownership Initiative to co-lead a community of practice among the YEF grantees and document the learnings from this work. Their new case study, “Creating Entrepreneurship Pathways for Opportunity Youth: Lessons From Del Norte and Tribal Lands, California,” explores the local context and history of the opportunity youth efforts and how entrepreneurship fits into the larger body of community-building work in Del Norte.

Author: 
The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Youth
Publication Date: 
10/12/2020
San Francisco Entrepreneurs of Color Fund
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Description

San Francisco Entrepreneurs of Color Fund: Creating a Continuum of Capital and Consulting The Aspen Institute First published October 2020 Structural inequities—both historical and current—have created barriers for entrepreneurs of color to build wealt …

Author: 
The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
10/08/2020
Ownership and Opportunity
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Description

In a new report from Urban Reform Institute edited by Joel Kotkin, J.H. Cullum Clark and Anne Snyder explore what happens when opportunity stalls. Pete Saunders and Karla Lopez del Rio tell the story of how homeownership enabled upward mobility for their respective families. Wendell Cox quantifies the connection between urban containment policies and housing affordabilty.

Author: 
Urban Reform Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
10/07/2020
Micro Businesses Create Meaningful Jobs
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Description

The Inland Empire Women’s Business Center and the Coachella Valley Women’s Center conducted a study of their clients to learn more about what helps business owners become employers, creating new jobs for the region. The study also examined the types of jobs provided by micro-businesses and the wages and benefits offered. They discovered that micro-business jobs are often close to home, are flexible to accommodate caregiving and educational pursuits and are a career path.

Author: 
Micro-Enterprise Collaborative of Inland Southern California, Inland Empire & Coachella Valley WBCs
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
09/10/2020
2019 Small Business Lending in the US
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Description

This report uses the latest publicly available lending data from banks to examine changes in small business credit for June 2017 through June 2019. The data used was collected prior to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and provides a precrisis benchmark on the state of small business lending.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
09/10/2020
Black Business Owners Hit Hard by Pandemic
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Description

Black owners show biggest decline in business activity. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on business owners have varied across demographic groups. Data on demographic characteristics and self-employment are collected through the Current Population Survey and available through IPUMS. In July 2020, the total number of people who were self-employed and working was 7.3 percent lower than in July 2019. That decline was a partial recovery from April 2020, when the decline was 20.2 percent relative to April 2019. Declines have been largest for Black self-employed workers, with a decline of 37.6 percent in April and a partial recovery to a decline of 18.4 percent in July. The effects of the pandemic have varied by industry, and demographic differences in the effects of the pandemic reflect demographic differences in distributions across industries.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/31/2020
COVID’s Effect on Female-Owned Small Businesses
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Women-owned small businesses have been more heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic than male-owned small businesses, and they are less likely to anticipate a strong recovery in the year ahead, new data show. The Special Report on Women-Owned Small Businesses During COVID-19  from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also found that women-owned small businesses have less optimistic revenue, investment and hiring plans compared to male-owned small businesses.

Author: 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/25/2020
2020 Small Biz Profiles for CA Congressional Districts
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Description

Each profile focuses on the impact of small businesses in 436 congressional districts. Within, readers can find the congressional district’s total number of small employers and their industry breakout, plus the number of workers employed and payroll expended by small businesses. Additionally, the profiles provide a map showing the total number and distribution of self-employed workers across the district.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/25/2020
Banks Response to Racism and COVID-19
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Given the financial sector’s history of systemic exclusion and discrimination, the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) and the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) worked together to analyze banking relief that is currently being made available to consumers and borrowers, identify gaps and best practices, and outline recommendations for financial institutions and policymakers on how to dismantle systemic racism in banking and to reimagine relief and reforms that banks should embrace.

Author: 
CRC, San Francisco OFE
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities
Publication Date: 
08/05/2020
Vulnerable Households Navigating Impact of COVID-19
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Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had an unprecedented impact on the financial lives of households across the country. During June and July 2020, Prosperity Now conducted a national survey of lower-income households to better understand the circumstances these households are confronted with and the strategies they use to secure resources to navigate this crisis.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
08/05/2020
COVID-19’s Effects in Black Communities
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Description

The effects of the pandemic on small businesses amid forced closings, modified re-openings, and weakened demand, are well documented. Black businesses experienced the most acute decline, with a 41 percent drop. This brief examines the reasons why Black firms have been almost twice as likely to shutter as small firms overall.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
08/05/2020
Lending Discrimination within PPP
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Description

Since March 2020, businesses in the U.S. have been struggling to continue operations in the face of a global pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a recession because of the widespread closures of non-essential businesses enacted to reduce the spread of the virus. Even as things begin to reopen, people are less likely to go out due to possible health risks. In response, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act which created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP is a lending program that provides money, in a potential grant format, to small businesses to help them weather the economic effects of the pandemic. The majority of the loan needs to be allocated for employee salaries and then the remainder can be used for other business expenses like rent and loan payments. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the disparities in small business lending we have detected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic continued with implementation of the PPP program.

Author: 
NCRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
07/15/2020
Impact of COVID-19 on LMI Communities
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The Federal Reserve’s community development function promotes the economic resilience and mobility of low- to moderate-income and underserved households and communities across the country. The spread of COVID-19 is having an impact on communities nationwide. To best respond to this crisis, information is needed about the scope and scale of the pandemic’s challenges. Throughout 2020, all 12 Reserve Banks and the Fed Board of Governors are surveying representatives of nonprofit organizations, financial institutions, government agencies, and other community organizations to understand the effects of COVID-19 on low- to moderate-income communities and the entities serving them. The results of each survey will be released as a downloadable report.

Author: 
Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
07/09/2020
Impact of PPP on Small Businesses
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To determine the initial effectiveness of government relief efforts, Gusto analyzed data from nearly 27,000 of our small business customers who reported receiving PPP loans and compared it to platform data from our 100,000-plus small business customers nationwide[1]. The report below shows that PPP aid has helped to provide stabilization from the initial free fall in March ‘20, with strong increases in hiring and rehiring beginning in the second half of April ‘20.

Author: 
Daniel Sternberg, Sarah Gustafson
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
07/09/2020
A New Rating System for CRA
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Description

NCRC developed a new ratings system for quantitative measures on banks’ community development financing under CRA. Our suggested ratings could increase community development lending and investment between $15 billion to $28 billion annually.

Author: 
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
07/07/2020
Minority-Owned Businesses Hit Hardest by Pandemic
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This fact sheet shows that across the United States, businesses owned by Black, Latinx, and Asian people have closed down at an alarming rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between February and April of 2020 alone, more than 3 million small businesses closed down across the country. Businesses owned by people of color, women, and immigrants have been most severely harmed, closing down faster than the national average

Author: 
Robert Fairlie, Insight Center
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
07/30/2020
Self-Employed Hit Hard by Pandemic
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Self-employed workers in states where businesses are hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic are more likely to face economic hardships, according to new findings from the U.S. Census Bureau’s experimental Household and Small Business Pulse surveys.

Author: 
Mark Klee, Lynda Laughlin, Robert Munk
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
06/30/2020
Small Business Finances During COVID-19
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This report provides a first look at the effect of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic downturn on America’s small businesses. We examine small business changes in cash balances, revenues, and expenses through April 2020 using a de-identified sample of nearly 1.3 million small firms nationwide. This sample is based on the anonymized transactions of deposit accounts and represents both nonemployer and employer firms. The vast majority—over 80 percent—of small businesses are nonemployers, which is reflected in our sample.

Author: 
JPMorgan Chase
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
06/24/2020
Freelancing in America 2019
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Description

Commissioned by Upwork and Freelancers Union, this study analyzes the size and impact of the freelance economy, as well as the motivations and challenges of this way of working. This year 53 percent of Gen Z workers freelanced—the highest independent workforce participation of any age bracket since FIA’s launch in 2014.

Author: 
Upwork, Freelancers Union
Categories: 
Microbusiness, New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
06/22/2020
Opportunity Zones for Equitable Development
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Description

Opportunity Zones (OZs) are gaining momentum, and now that the rules regulating them are clearer, investors, local officials, developers, and businesses have been engaging with the incentive. In the two years since the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 created the incentive and Treasury-designated Zones, hundreds of Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs) have been created, and OZ investment was beginning to flow until the COVID-19 crisis began. But has this capital been reaching projects that benefit low- and moderate-income households and communities? Although the program is still maturing,  and the COVID-19 crisis now poses new challenges whose resolution is unknown, this report offers an early, qualitative assessment of how well OZs have channeled capital into projects aligned with equitable development goals.

Author: 
The Urban Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
06/17/2020
Small Business Employment Plummets
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Description

Since a declaration of emergency for COVID-19 was issued on March 13, 2020, total private employment dropped by over 15 percent. Small businesses employers bore the brunt of the job loss, with a decline of more than 17 percent.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/01/2020
COVID-19’s Effect on Minority Small Businesses
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Whether by necessity or ingenuity, minority-owned small businesses may be giving us an early sign of how US businesses will adapt in the wake of COVID-19. These businesses are experimenting with new ways of working to ensure their employees’ safety, offering monetary relief to employees and community members, and introducing new services such as free delivery to those who need it.

Author: 
McKinsey
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
05/29/2020
Responsible Lending in Subprime Automotive Finance
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Since its founding in 2007, Tricolor has empowered customers by providing access to affordable financing on high quality, certified vehicles in order to enhance the quality of their lives and ultimately help them to build a better future. For more than a decade, Tricolor has successfully scored no file and thin file Hispanics, as evidenced by five well-received ABS securitizations.

Author: 
Tricolor Holdings
Categories: 
Microlending
Publication Date: 
05/22/2020
California 2020 Small Business Profile
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In the fourth quarter of 2019, California grew at an annual rate of 2.2%, which was faster than the overall US growth rate of 2.1%. California’s 2019 overall growth rate of 2.6% was down from the 2018 rate of 4.3%. (Source: BEA) In April 2020, the unemployment rate was 15.5%, up from 4.2% in April 2019. This was above the April 2020 national unemployment rate of 14.7%. (Source: CPS)

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/20/2020
2018 Annual Business Survey
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The U.S. Census Bureau released new estimates showing 1.1 million employer firms were owned by women and 1.0 million by minorities. According to the 2018 Annual Business Survey (ABS), covering year 2017, 5.6% (322,076) of all U.S. businesses were Hispanic-owned and 6.1% (351,237) were owned by veterans.

Author: 
U.S. Census Bureau
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
05/19/2020
State of Small Business Report
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The Small Business Roundtable (SBR) and Facebook have partnered to release the State of Small Business Report on the impact of small businesses on the U.S. economy. The survey was conducted with approximately 86,000 people who owned, managed or worked for a small or medium-sized business (“SMB”).

Author: 
Facebook, Small Business Roundtable
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
05/18/2020
Did the PPP Hit the Target?
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This paper takes an early look at the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a large and novel small business support program that was part of the initial policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We use new data on the distribution of the first round of PPP loans and high-frequency microlevel employment data to consider two dimensions of program targeting.

Author: 
National Bureau of Economic Research
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/06/2020
Bank Lending and the Financial Crisis
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This report provides an analysis of how lending changed overall and in rural vs. urban areas before, during, and after the financial crisis of 2008-2010. The analysis shows that rural firms have poorer access to bank credit than their urban counterparts in terms of both the amount and number of loans and that this situation has deteriorated, rather than improved during the post-crisis years of 2011-2016.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy, Rural
Publication Date: 
05/05/2020
Economically Vulnerable Neighborhoods to COVID-19
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This report and its accompanying interactive map show the vulnerability of every U.S. neighborhood to the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Author: 
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities
Publication Date: 
04/30/2020
The Impact of COVID-19 on Communities
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This report offers findings of a survey designed to collect information on the effects of COVID-19 on communities and the entities serving them.

Author: 
Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
04/30/2020
Small Business Facts: COVID-19 Disruptions
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When economic conditions are changing rapidly, data collected in the course of administering government programs can provide valuable information about recent developments. Timely data about economic conditions during the coronavirus pandemic have been provided by initial unemployment insurance claims and applications related to new businesses. These administrative data reveal severe economic disruptions in recent weeks.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/24/2020
COVID-19 California Small Business Poll
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The poll, conducted by Chesapeake Beach Consulting for Small Business Majority, surveyed California small business owners between April 7 and 10, 2020. The survey sheds light on a shocking rate of business closures, as well as small business owners’ views on proposals that can help ensure they are able to reopen and recover once the crisis is over. 

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/21/2020
Can Small Firms Weather COVID-19?
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With each day that passes, the far-reaching economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic become increasingly apparent. Of particular concern are the effects the pandemic is having and will continue to have on small businesses as they endure the direct impacts of social distancing directives, including temporary closures and modified operations. With declining revenues, many small firms have had to lay off employees. Governments have begun offering small business loans with attractive interest rates and repayment terms in order to help smooth cash flow and retain employees. While we do not have real-time data on the quickly changing small business conditions, the 2019 Small Business Credit Survey sheds light on how firms are likely to remain afloat during this uncertain time.

Author: 
Federal Reserve
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/10/2020
2020 Report on Employer Firms
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The results of the survey raise several important considerations in the current environment: most firms are ill-prepared for a sustained period of revenue loss; firms’ reliance on personal funds could mean severe repercussions for those individuals and households in the event of failure; and many small businesses do not rely on traditional banks for credit, and, therefore, any program designed to support them should take that into consideration.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/10/2020
Federal Fiscal Relief and COVID-19
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The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020 and provides the largest amount of fiscal relief to date – approximately $2 trillion. The CARES Act includes one-time cash rebates for low- and middle-income households; additional support for unemployment benefits; loans for small businesses; direct funding for states, local governments, and tribal communities; funds changes to food assistance in the Families First legislation; an array of additional health care supports; and some additional support for human services, housing and homelessness, and student debt relief. While this analysis will focus on the relief and assistance summarized above, the CARES Act also includes $500 billion in loans and other investment for businesses and a series of tax provisions that primarily will primarily benefit large corporations and higher-income households.

Author: 
California Budget and Policy Center
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
04/06/2020
CDFI Friendly America
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CDFI Friendly America: A White Paper Introducing the CDFI Friendly Strategy for Smaller Cities and Towns By Mark A. Pinsky & Adina Abramowitz First posted March 2020 The purpose of this White Paper is to introduce a new way for America’s small citi …

Author: 
Mark A. Pinsky & Adina Abramowitz
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/13/2020
Community Investment Fund Handbook
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This handbook shines a spotlight on an emerging generation of practical, intelligent activists who are reinventing local financial systems. Even as they criticize capitalism, they are using – and mastering – its financial tools to solve local challenges. In the pages ahead you’ll find an emerging set of tools we call community investment funds. Our purpose and hope in preparing this guide is that you’ll consider creating one of these funds for your own community.

Author: 
National Coalition for Community Capital
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Local Economy (DIY Economy)
Publication Date: 
03/06/2020
SBA Lending Data
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The San Francisco District office has released new data on SBA guaranteed lending programs, accompanied with a user-friendly interface for visualizing and customizing the data to local areas. Create custom reports with lists of businesses that have benefited from SBA programs, find the active lenders in your neighborhood, and see trends going back to 1990.

Author: 
Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/05/2020
California’s Nonprofit Sector 2019
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California’s nonprofits bring more than $40 billion into California each year from out-of-state sources, and one in every 14 California jobs is at a nonprofit.

Author: 
CalNonprofits
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
02/26/2020
Community Quality of Life Placemaking
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Entrepreneurial ecosystem building is about growing an environment where entrepreneurial talent can be inspired and supported. More and better entrepreneurial ventures are outcomes of strong community-based entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Author: 
E2 Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Rural
Publication Date: 
02/26/2020
2019 U.S. Worker Cooperatives
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This report is a co-production of Democracy at Work Institute and the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives. It is based on the participating 106 businesses. Only responding businesses that are incorporated, generated revenue and paid workers during FY2018 were included in the effort.

Author: 
Democracy at Work Institute
Categories: 
New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
02/10/2020
2017 Small Business Lending in the U.S.
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U.S. banks play an integral role as credit suppliers to small businesses. Small businesses comprise of nearly all employer firms in the economy and employ 47.3 percent of the private sector workforce (SBA Advocacy, 2019). The existence and performance of these vibrant businesses depend on how banks and other financial intermediaries are responding to their credit needs. This report uses publicly available data on U.S. banks to analyze the patterns in small business lending.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/29/2020
Characteristics Of Older Self-Employed Individuals
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Older workers are an economically important group as they represent a large and growing portion of the United States workforce. These workers are more likely to experience health conditions that limit their options in terms of the type and amount of work they pursue. Self-employed workers who report a new work-limiting health condition are more likely to remain in the workforce than wage and salary workers who also report a work-limiting health condition. Previous research suggests that self-employment provides more opportunities to accommodate work-limiting health conditions; this report explores whether self-employed workers with work-limiting health conditions report less physically demanding jobs or different hours and weeks worked than wage and salary workers who also report work-limiting health conditions.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
01/15/2020
Small Business Owners Voting in Primary States
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Thumbtack released results of its first survey of small business owners in the 2020 presidential election. The data captures sentiment and preferences from over 400 individuals in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

Author: 
Thumbtack
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/13/2020
CalSavers: 2019 Highlights
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As we begin 2020 focused on major program growth, we’re proud to offer these highlights of CalSavers’ historic first year of active participation. In 2019, we saw our first pilot saver contributions on January 2 nd; welcomed our new board chair State Treasurer Fiona Ma on January 7th; fully launched the program statewide on July 1st; supported our early savers in amassing $1.4 million; and made many program enhancements along the way.

Author: 
CalSavers
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
01/06/2020
NWBC 2019 Annual Report
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As this year’s report findings and policy recommendations demonstrate, we have made significant strides in advancing a new generation of women entrepreneurs. However, much work still lies ahead. In 2020, we will build on the efforts of this past year, with a laser focus on our three main policy priorities—Access to Capital and Opportunity, Women in STEM, and Rural Women’s Entrepreneurship. As a Council, we remain dedicated to furthering our mission.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
12/20/2019
Advancing Gender Equality in Venture Capital
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This research report describes the current state of gender equality in the U.S. venture capital (VC) industry and offers a practical way forward to close its significant gender gaps. It is intended to be an accessible resource for practitioners in the venture ecosystem, as well as a helpful reference document for journalists, scholars, and others interested in understanding gender dynamics in venture capital.

Author: 
Harvard Kennedy School
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Women
Publication Date: 
10/03/2019
Local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Toolkit
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Rural economic development strategies need to adjust to these new trends to include a place-based approach to rural economic development that will foster a healthy ecosystem for the creation and growth of small businesses. This toolkit describes the elements of a healthy ecosystem. The introduction flushes out why a new economic development tool is needed and briefly describes the elements. The five subsequent chapters explore more in-depth the five elements that make up a strong ecosystem.

Author: 
Heidi Pickman, Susan Brown
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Rural
Publication Date: 
11/12/2019
Small Businesses Advancing Equity
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Leaders in philanthropy increasingly recognize the role of business in advancing their objectives. To date, the focus of most efforts to engage business has been primarily on large companies. By contrast, the role of small business in creating healthy, equitable communities has generally not been explored.

Author: 
Public Private Strategies
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/25/2019
CDFIs by The Numbers
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The Richmond Fed’s recent report, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) by the Numbers, provides findings from the 2019 Federal Reserve CDFI Survey. CDFIs are specialized financial institutions operating in markets that are underserved by traditional financial institutions.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
10/23/2019
Small Business Economic Bulletin October 2019
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Small businesses show strength in self-employment increases, proprietors’ income gains, job creation advances and births staying above deaths. Loan delinquency rates remain low, but small business loan demand is waning.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/21/2019
Diversity and Inclusion at CDFIs
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FUND CI conducted research to identify the best practices of CDFIs that are recognized as being ahead of the curve in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and externally. The purpose is to share both innovative and replicable practices for use by other CDFIs in advancing their own diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces.

Author: 
FUND Community Institute
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Minorities
Publication Date: 
10/21/2019
Causes Count – Sneak Peek
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The nonprofit sector is a powerful economic engine in California, especially when it comes to employment and wages. The nonprofit industry employs more than 1.2 million Californians and, in 2016, paid a total of $74 Billion in wages.

Author: 
CalNonprofits
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
10/08/2019
Female Founding Gaps in Agri-FoodTech
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Agri-FoodTech is an emerging category within the food startup universe with enormous potential to impact critical issues from climate change to food insecurity. More and more venture capital is being invested in the sector, but it’s not reaching one of the leading groups of entrepreneurs—female founders.

Author: 
AgFunder, KK&P, The New Food Economy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/04/2019
Income Inequality Widens among Californians
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New Census figures released show rising income inequality across the state and millions of California residents who are struggling to get by on extremely low incomes, while higher-income households experienced more income growth. Even as the latest figures also show there is a decline in the official poverty rate in California, these findings underscore the need for policymakers to ensure that the benefits of California’s strong economy and recent economic growth are shared among all Californians.

Author: 
California Budget & Policy Center
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
09/27/2019
Small Business Owners on Healthcare
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There are an estimated 30.7 million small businesses (defined as those with fewer than 500 employees) in the United States, employing approximately 60 million people.1 Small firms make up 99 percent of U.S. employers, and these businesses create 66 percent of new private-sector jobs.2 Small businesses, like their larger counterparts, have not been shielded from the increasing cost of health care. Without advantages such as a larger pool of insured employees, more bargaining power with health insurance companies, and the benefit of full-time human resources personnel, small-business owners are often left with little recourse and few options when a health insurance carrier hikes costs.

Author: 
The Commonwealth Fund
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
09/09/2019
Inequity in Small Business Lending
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Better-qualified black and Hispanic testers who shopped for small business loans at Los Angeles area bank branches were treated worse than less qualified white testers, a new study found. The study, from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), also found steep declines in government-backed lending to black business owners between 2008 and 2016.

Author: 
Amber Lee, Bruce Mitchell, Anneliese Lederer
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
09/04/2019
Building Women’s Wealth Through Business Ownership
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This report explores ways business ownership can serve as a wealth-building tool for women, explains the systemic barriers impeding women’s ability to build wealth through business ownership, and suggests ways grant makers, policy advocates, and practitioners can intentionally promote wealth-building by entrepreneurial women through business ownership.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/23/2019
Latino Economic Well-Being in CA
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In this report, we provide an up-to-date overview of the current economic conditions for Latinos, focused on the four key relating factors of income distribution, education, housing, and entrepreneurship. The report establishes a baseline of data that can be used to measure Latino economic progress over time. We also introduce the Latino Economic Index (LEI) that provides a visual data snapshot of Latino economic well-being at the regional and community level in California. With this index, we explore geographic hot spots of opportunity and identify areas that call for the most urgent investment and policy outcomes.

Author: 
Mindy S. Romero
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Minorities
Publication Date: 
07/09/2019
2019 California Economy Facts
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California’s economy in 2018 ranks as the fifth largest in the world – larger than the UK, India, France, Brazil, Italy, Canada, Korea, and Russia. 

Author: 
California Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
07/09/2019
The State of Independence 2019
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The MBO Partners State of Independence report presents an annual snapshot of a rapidly evolving and increasingly important component of the U.S. economy: the independent workforce. In 2019, the 9th annual report and the industry’s longest-running comprehensive study shows that the independent workforce is strong and confident.

Author: 
Emergent Research
Categories: 
Microbusiness, New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
06/18/2019
Small Businesses after The Great Recession
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Small businesses are essential to the economic infrastructure of both lower-income and higher-income neighborhoods. In this report, we compare small business performance in lower-income vs higher-income areas. Findings offer some directions for growing small businesses in LMI and ethnic/minority neighborhoods.

Author: 
Maude Toussaint-Comeau, Robin Newberger, and Mark O’Dell
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/07/2019
The Future of Banking
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This report is based on research findings from focus groups and interviews. The focus groups were conducted with LMI individuals in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, and the interviews were done with policy experts, regulators and representatives from the financial services sector. In sharing their experiences with the financial system, we have identified common challenges encountered by LMI consumers of color, and offer recommendations to address on-going barriers to financial inclusion.

Author: 
UnidosUS, PolicyLink
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/06/2019
Entrepreneurship in Communities of Color
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This guide gives ecosystem builders and local developers an overview of key concepts and general recommendations on how to use entrepreneurship ecosystem building to develop high-growth entrepreneurship in communities of color. The information in this guide was compiled through conversations with industry leaders, prior research and current ecosystem builders who have designed and led successful inclusive ecosystem building strategies in communities of color.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Local Economy (DIY Economy), Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/06/2019
California 2019 Small Biz Profile
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Overall California Economy• In the third quarter of 2018, California grew at an annual rate of 3.5%, which was faster than the overall US growth rate of 3.4%. California’s 2017 growth rate of 3.0% was down from the 2016 rate of 3.1%. (Source: BEA)• In February 2019, the unemployment rate was 4.2%, down from 4.3% in February 2018. This was above the February 2019 national unemployment rate of 3.8%. (Source: CPS)

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/24/2019
Establish a Public Credit Registry
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America’s credit reporting system is controlled by 3 big, for-profit companies—Experian, Transunion, and Equifax—which collect lending and payment data on 220 million Americans. They collect this data without consumers’ permission or approval, there is no way for consumers to opt out, and consumers must pay to access their own scores.

Author: 
Amy Traub
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
04/17/2019
Women-Owned Employer Businesses
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In March 2019, the Office of Advocacy published a fact sheet titled “Small Business Facts: Spotlight on Women-Owned Employer Businesses”, written by Nora Esposito, Economic Research Fellow. This fact sheet highlights contributions made by 1.1 million women-owned employer businesses to the U.S. economy, as well as areas for future growth. The fact sheet also provides information on industrial and geographic diversity of women-owned employer businesses. Read the fact sheet to learn more.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
03/25/2019
Nonprofit Professional Development
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NTEN and partner Cornerstone asked nonprofit staff in all departments and of all job types to share their experiences of the practices, culture, and investment in professional development at their organization.

Author: 
Robert Hulshof-Schmidt
Categories: 
Capacity Building
Publication Date: 
03/25/2019
Small Business, Big Dreams
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Small Business, Big Dreams profiles nine National CAPACD members that serve AAPI small business clients in low-income communities across the country. The work of these community-based organizations is critical to maintaining and promoting the vitality of AAPI neighborhoods. This report provides a more nuanced narrative about the challenges to wealth building through entrepreneurship in low-income AAPI communities.

Author: 
National CAPACD
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/18/2019
Community Development Financial Institutions
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The CDFI Coalition, representing the nation’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), released a new report at a gathering of lawmakers, industry leaders and stakeholders today in Washington, DC. The report showcases 67 CDFIs’ work in revitalizing rural and urban areas across the country and their success in creating economic opportunity, jobs, and services.

Author: 
CDFI Coalition
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/13/2019
CA Small Business Owners On Healthcare Policies
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Small Business Majority published a new report, California small business owners support policies to expand health coverage access and lower costs. The poll of 300 California small business owners revealed entrepreneurs strongly support proposals to bolster the state’s healthcare system, including expanding access to tax credits and addressing issues related to cost and transparency.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/12/2019
Closing The Wealth Gap for Millennial Women
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Today, there are about 40 million millennial women, representing 31.5% of the female population in the U.S. Millennial women do not benefit from many economic policies and systems designed by, and built to meet the needs of, men as primary breadwinners. Millennial women came of age during the Great Recession, the rise of mass incarceration, unprecedented student debt levels, and changing workforce dynamics. All of these factors contribute to the fact that millennial women are 37% more likely than Generation Xers (those born between 1965 and 1984) to be living below the federal poverty line and are more likely to be underemployed or unemployed than previous generations.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network
Categories: 
Economics (General), Women, Youth
Publication Date: 
03/11/2019
Microfinance in The United States
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Nonprofit research organization MDRC and Grameen America, Inc., the fastest growing nonprofit microfinance organization in the United States, today released the early results of a research study, Microfinance in the United States: Early Impacts of the Grameen America Program. The study, funded by Robin Hood, is the most rigorous, independent, third-party evaluation of group microfinance in the United States, assessing Grameen America’s program, a microfinance model that provides small loans to low-income women entrepreneurs in the United States seeking to launch or expand small businesses. 

Author: 
MDRC
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Women
Publication Date: 
03/08/2019
Small Business Economic Bulletin March 2019
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The Office of Advocacy’s Small Business Economic Bulletin for March 2019 shows gains in the number of employer small firms, owner’s income, and net job creation. The recovery of small business lending remains tentative, even with low loan delinquency rates. The bulletin provides the latest quarterly government statistics on small business income, job creation, startups, and finance. Read the Small Business Economic Bulletin to learn more.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/07/2019
Build Her Up
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We at Thumbtack, along with our partner for this report, Square, take pride in our shared mission to make it easier than ever for aspiring entrepreneurs to take the leap and start their own business. And in celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 and Women’s History Month, we fielded an extensive survey of female small business owners to better understand their experiences of working for themselves.

Author: 
Thumbtack
Categories: 
Microbusiness, New Era Workforce, Women
Publication Date: 
02/26/2019
Shaping Small Business Lending Policy
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With limited financial sophistication, entrepreneurial consumers approach the financial marketplace more like retail financial consumers than like business customers. However, an assumption of both legislators and regulators is that business borrowers are more financially savvy than consumer borrowers and thus do not require protections that are as broad reaching. This gap between marketplace policy protections and the lived reality of the vast majority of small business entrepreneurs sets the stage for entrepreneurial consumers to fall through the regulatory cracks, creating the potential for exploitation and abuse. This situation may be exacerbated for minority entrepreneurs, who belong to protected classes that generally are more vulnerable to exploitation in marketplaces, including the small business lending marketplace. This article details the current status of the policy gap relative to minority entrepreneurial consumers and presents a matched-pair mystery shopping study to demonstrate the critical need for reliable, primary data to inform regulatory agencies as they work to implement appropriate protections to ensure equal access to credit across the small business lending marketplace.

Author: 
Sterling A. Bone, Glenn L. Christensen, Jerome D. Williams, Stella Adams, Anneliese Lederer, and Paul C. Lubin
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
02/26/2019
Bank Credit to Small Businesses
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In February 2019, the Office of Advocacy published a fact sheet titled “Small Business Facts: What Is the Status of Bank Credit to Small Businesses?” written by Victoria Williams, Research Economist. The fact sheet finds that small business lending growth lagged behind large business lending growth from 2016 to 2017. While small banks had higher shares of small business loans relative to their assets than large banks, large banks issued the majority of small business loans overall. Read the fact sheet to learn more.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
02/21/2019
Food Systems & Development Finance
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CDFA is pleased to announce the debut of our first white paper on how traditional development finance tools can be used to demonstrate the viability of the food system as an asset class. Many food-related initiatives, projects, and businesses have lacked sufficient resources and financing for economic and community development, largely because the food system as a whole has not been formally defined as an asset class.

Author: 
Council of Development Finance Agencies
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
02/20/2019
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2019
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Author: 
Niels Bosma, Donna Kelley
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
02/07/2019
Entrepreneurship Pathways for Youth
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This new report explores the potential for using entrepreneurship to engage and create pathways for opportunity youth, by examining existing entrepreneurship programs and sharing emerging models for creating and adapting entrepreneurship programming targeted to the specific needs and aspirations of opportunity youth.

Author: 
Joyce A. Klein, Yelena Nemoy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Youth
Publication Date: 
01/29/2019
2019 Prosperity Now Scorecard
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The Prosperity Now Scorecard is a comprehensive resource for data on household financial health, racial economic inequality and policy recommendations to help put everyone in our country on a path to prosperity.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/29/2019
Women in The CDFI Industry
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FUND Community Institute continues to engage in dialogue and analysis around data from its landmark study, Perception versus Reality:  Women and Change in the CDFI Industry (available at www.fundci.org).  This month, we examined the prevalence of women as leaders of CDFIs, and how this role may have changed since the founding of the industry. The findings suggest that women are playing leadership roles in large numbers (although not at all sizes and types of CDFIs) and that the organizations they head up may be leading the way in fostering more inclusive, family-friendly work environments.

Author: 
Ruth Barber
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microlending, Women
Publication Date: 
01/22/2019
Before Getting An Online Business Loan
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Simply put, the purpose of this e-book is to help you fully understand what taking on an online loan truly involves and how it can impact your bottom line. While many money guides are loaded with jargon and confusing language, we break down everything you need to know into easy-to-grasp terms and examples based on real-life situations.

Author: 
CDC Small Business Finance
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
01/15/2019
2019 Roadmap to Shared Prosperity
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The 2018 Roadmap to Shared Prosperity outlines the California Economic Summit’s plans for a comprehensive agenda to address with a triple bottom line approach to solving the state’s biggest challenges.

Author: 
California Economic Summit
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
01/03/2019
2017 Nonemployer Firms Credit Survey
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Nonemployer firms are important to the United States’ economy, comprising 81% of all small businesses, employing 17% of the American workforce, and generating $1.2 trillion in annual sales. While previous research has explored why individuals seek self-employment or what conditions drive nonemployers to become employer firms, less is understood about the financial experiences and challenges of nonemployers—namely, whether or not nonemployers are succeeding financially.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
12/12/2018
State of Worker Cooperatives 2017
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Covering five years of business progress, the 2017 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector is a report on worker-owned business in the United States. This report is a co-production of Democracy at Work Institute and U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives, drawing upon the latest developments in the field, and deepens our understanding of the sector.

Author: 
Democracy At Work Institute, U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/06/2018
Millennial Women Entrepreneurs
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Millennial women, those born between 1982 and 2000, represent the future of entrepreneurship in America. According to the 2015 Census Bureau data, there are 83.1 million millennials in the United States. By the year 2025, millennials will comprise 75 percent of the American workforce, and many will become entrepreneurs.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Women, Youth
Publication Date: 
11/28/2018
Financial Security of Single Women
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The gender wealth gap continues growing even though single women have benefited from regulatory protections to reduce wealth stripping and have had increased access to institutions, products, and services that help them build wealth. This growing gap not only impacts their financial security in retirement but also their ability to pass resources on to future generations. To shepherd our collective efforts and move the needle to improve the economic well-being of single low-income women, we must understand how asset inequality is compounded by structural barriers to wealth building for women, including accessing income, tax benefits, social services programs, and financial products and services.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
11/27/2018
Growth & Evolution of CDFI Partnerships
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has researched developments in the community development financial institution (CDFI) industry on a regular basis since the 2009 inaugural launch of the biennial Survey of CDFIs in the Southeast. 

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microlending
Publication Date: 
11/21/2018
2018 State of Nonprofit Cybersecurity
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In a world where news about cyber attacks and hackers regularly make the headlines, we knew it was necessary to better understand how nonprofit organizations were – or were not – managing security and privacy. NTEN and Microsoft surveyed more than 250 nonprofits across the US for the first State of Nonprofit Cybersecurity Report.

Author: 
Nonprofit Technology Network
Categories: 
Capacity Building
Publication Date: 
11/03/2018
Lending in Underserved Markets
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The contribution and importance of small businesses to the nation’s economy is well-researched and understood; for minority-owned small businesses, the impact and significance are even greater. Not only do minority-owned small businesses help drive job creation, raise wages, and elevate better standards of living, they also offer a critical pathway for Black and Hispanic populations to close the racial wealth gap. An increase in entrepreneurship among people of color can create income for both entrepreneurs and the people of color who work at the businesses. Yet, starting a new firm or growing an established business requires capital, and Black and Hispanic businesses have higher barriers to accessing capital.

Author: 
Carolyn Schulman
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/02/2018
Veteran Entrepreneurs and Capital Access
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Part of the US Small Business Administration’s mission is to facilitate a successful transition to civilian life for military veterans. Understanding the current state of veteran entrepreneurship, in particular, the type of challenges veterans face in starting and growing businesses is fundamental to fulfilling this responsibility. The US Small Business Administration’s Office of Veteran Business Development (OVBD) has partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to examine veteran business financing, which is critically tied to their performance and growth. Of particular concern for policymakers is whether veterans have a more difficult time accessing capital than nonveteran business owners. In order to substantiate policy intervention on behalf of veteran entrepreneurs, it is necessary to size the market and understand the needs and challenges. While anecdotal evidence points to capital access challenges, systematic data collection has been limited. This paper first outlines the current literature on veteran entrepreneurship and then presents new small business credit data from the Federal Reserve Banks’ Small Business Credit Survey. The data, for the first time, provide substantial evidence that veteran-owned businesses face greater difficulty in accessing capital relative to nonveteran-owned businesses.

Author: 
Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy, Veterans
Publication Date: 
11/01/2018
Freelancing in America 2018
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This study, conducted by an independent research firm and commissioned in partnership by Upwork and Freelancers Union, surveyed more than 6,000 U.S. workers. In its fifth annual year, findings show Americans are spending more than 1 billion hours per week freelancing. Beyond quantifying the amount of freelancing happening, new insights delve into why people are increasingly choosing to work this way.

Author: 
Upwork, Freelancers Union
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
10/31/2018
Race, Wealth and Taxes
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will widen racial disparities in economic well-being, according to the new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), released with Prosperity Now. ITEP’s estimates provide valuable insights into how the recent federal tax changes will worsen the wealth disparity between white families and families of color.

Author: 
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/29/2018
Analysis of States’ APR Caps
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This National Consumer Law Center report examines the annual percentage rate (APR), including both interest and fees, allowed in each state and the District of Columbia for a $10,000 five-year loan. An APR cap is the single most effective step states can implement to deter abusive lending and ensure that families are not caught in a debt trap that’s nearly impossible to escape.

Author: 
National Consumer Law Center
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/18/2018
California Feudalism & The Middle Class
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California Feudalism: The Squeeze on The Middle Class Chapman University, Center for Demographics and Policy First published October 2018 California was built by people with aspirations, many of them lacking cultural polish or elite educations, but ded …

Author: 
Chapman University
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Immigrants, Minorities, Policy, Rural
Publication Date: 
10/14/2018
CRA and The Creative Economy
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Upstart Co-Lab has published The Community Reinvestment Act and the Creative Economy: Investing in Creative Places and Businesses as Part of Comprehensive Community Development  with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Author: 
Laura Callanan, Ward Wolff
Categories: 
Microbusiness, New Era Workforce, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/06/2018
Catalyzing Workplace Financial Coaching Programs
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The following report presents four nonprofit organizations implementing workplace-based financial coaching models: $tand by Me located in Delaware, Working Credit NFP in Illinois, Neighborhood Trust in New York, and WorkLife Partnership in Colorado.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
09/27/2018
T.A. Programs Serving Black and Hispanic Entrepreneurs
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In conjunction with the Partnership for Lending in Underserved Markets (PLUM), a Milken Institute and U.S. Small Business Administration initiative to develop actionable solutions to long-standing barriers that constrain minority entrepreneurs from accessing capital, the PLUM Los Angeles Technical Assistance Working Group spent considerable time exploring what culturally competent technical assistance looks like and identifying best practices around program design, service delivery, curriculum, and marketing and outreach.

Author: 
Milken Institute
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/26/2018
Black Women Business Startups
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Black women launch new businesses more often than any other group in the nation. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City went to the source to find out what motivates them to take the leap. Black Women Business Startups, by Dell Gines, a senior community development advisor, offers a research-driven look at black women business owners, their business insights, and ideas for increasing the number, strength, and growth of businesses owned by black women.

Author: 
Dell Gines
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
09/20/2018
Credit Experiences of Minority-Owned Firms
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Given the relationship between a small business’s access to financing and its outcomes, and given the growing share of minorities in the U.S. population, it is important that creditworthy firms and entrepreneurs, irrespective of race or ethnicity, are able to secure adequate financing to achieve growth and success. Data from the Federal Reserve System’s 2016 Small Business Credit Survey allow for a closer examination of the experiences of minority-owned small businesses in applying for and obtaining financing.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Cleveland
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/17/2018
Small Business Lending in the U.S.
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The growth and survival of U.S. small businesses depend on how depository lending institutions and other financial intermediaries are attending to the credit needs of small firms. The financing and credit needs of small firms vary by business size, type of lender, business owner, and age of the business. Thus, all these components tend to contribute to the challenges small firms face when seeking access to credit. Nonetheless, 99.7 percent of firms with paid employees are small businesses, employing 47.5 percent of the private workforce in 2015 (SBA Advocacy, 2018). These tenacious businesses accounted for roughly 40 percent of U.S. private nonfarm output (Petkov, 2016), and for 63 percent share of net jobs between 2010 and 2016 (SBA Advocacy, 2017). This study predominantly uses public sources of information on U.S. banks to analyze the patterns in small business lending by evaluating aggregate data of depository lending institutions.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
09/10/2018
2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses
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The State of Women-Owned Businesses reports are used by the women’s enterprise development community — media, funders, entrepreneurial support organizations, elected officials, suppliers and customers and even women themselves–to inform practices, policies and advocacy efforts that encourage successful business outcomes, as well as to inspire and motivate women to start and grow businesses.

Author: 
American Express
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/31/2018
Women Freelancers Make 50% Less
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Research conducted by Website Planet (WSP) recently uncovered that female freelancers are being paid significantly less than men—in some cases half as much—on two of the most highly used and reputable freelance job platforms, Upwork and Fiverr. This is shocking. For women tied to the gig economy and rely on these very same websites to find jobs, this is directly tied to their own personal livelihood.

Author: 
Website Planet
Categories: 
New Era Workforce, Women
Publication Date: 
08/28/2018
Small Business Friendliness Survey
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Since 2012, the Thumbtack Small Business Friendliness Survey has surveyed thousands of entrepreneurs on the state and local public policies that affect their ability to start, operate, and grow a business. It is the largest continuous study of small business perceptions of government policy in the United States.

Author: 
Thumbtack
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/14/2018
Fintech Investigative Report
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Last year, Congressman Cleaver launched a groundbreaking investigation into the small business lending practices of Financial Technology (FinTech) companies, studying the various methods companies use to protect against discriminatory practices. One of the primary concerns raised by Congressman Cleaver was the specific algorithms used by FinTech firms. While many FinTech firms claim these algorithms protect against discrimination, they have generally provided little evidence into how they are utilized to do so. The questions surrounding the algorithms are particularly troubling because, in some cases, they have the ability to utilize certain information about loan-seekers without their knowledge. Information collected can come from a wide range of sources, including the loan seeker’s Twitter or Facebook profiles, specifically who they follow, and the number of criminal records and/or bankruptcies in the loan seeker’s zip code. Not only is this information unrelated to the purposes of loan-seeking, it can be used to discriminate against certain people, predominantly lower-income borrowers and people of color. The following report includes the detailed findings of Congressman Cleaver’s investigation.

Author: 
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
08/10/2018
Municipal Policy Blueprint
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This Municipal Blueprint is designed to guide municipal leaders and advocates toward meaningful, manageable and moveable policy solutions for building financial security within communities of color. We include approaches and strategies that complement both city-level advocacy and the tools and concepts described for racial wealth equity advocacy in our Racial Equity Primer. The policies presented here will not solve every problem, but they can lay the first steps along a pathway to prosperity for all city-dwellers.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/09/2018
Building Immigrant Financial Security
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The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) consulted nonprofit members, partners, and allies, including financial services providers, to develop recommendations for banks on how to better support immigrant clients in the current political climate.

Author: 
California Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Immigrants
Publication Date: 
08/06/2018
Improving Small Business Financing
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The report starts with background and context on the importance of small businesses to the U.S. economy as well as recent trends in small business health and access to credit. The first section discusses ways to improve the quality and quantity of data available on small business financing. Good data are necessary both to improve credit-application processes and to enable lawmakers and regulators to make better-informed decisions when developing government policy. The second section reviews the financial regulation that impacts access to credit for small businesses and recommends ways to recalibrate regulations to make them more efficient and effective. The third section delves into how to make U.S. capital markets work better for small businesses. The final section sets forth ideas on how policymakers can promote innovation in financial products and services and better integrate technology into financial markets.

Author: 
Bipartisan Policy Center
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/06/2018
The State of Independence 2018
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The MBO Partners State of Independence report, the industry’s longest running comprehensive study of the American independent workforce, serves as a State of the Union for a dynamic movement. In 2018, the 8th annual report finds that the state of the independent workforce is strong, evolving, and multi-faceted.

Author: 
Emergent Research, MBO Partners
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
07/11/2018
Small Business Perspectives on Online Lenders
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This report discusses findings of a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland to gauge small business owners’ perceptions of online lenders and their understanding and interpretation of information online lenders use to describe their credit products. The Federal Reserve has an ongoing interest in small businesses and their access to the credit they need to succeed and grow. As the small business credit market evolves, prompting discussion about borrower protections, the perspectives of small business owners are an important consideration.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Board
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
06/10/2018
The Real Cost Measure in California 2018
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The United Ways of California released “Struggling to Stay Afloat: The Real Cost Measure in California 2018,” a new statewide report on financial challenges for working families.

Author: 
Betsy Baum Block, Henry Gascon, Peter Manzo, Adam D. Parker, United Ways of California
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
06/07/2018
Advancing Minority Small Business Capital Access
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Through the Milken Institute and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Partnership for Lending in Underserved Markets (PLUM) initiative, we are learning how to improve collaborative efforts in a given market and around specific capital access solutions. There have been many across-the-board lessons learned through our local pilot programs and national work to date. Some speak to approaches to partnership and coalition-building while others are reflections and recommendations for existing capital and technical service providers.

Author: 
Carolyn Karo Schulman
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/30/2018
The Business Case for Racial Equity
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This report makes a compelling economic argument for the social justice imperative of racial equity. Beyond an increase in economic output, advancing racial equity can translate into meaningful increases in consumer spending and tax revenues, and decreases in social services spending and health-related costs. For example, in consumer spending alone, closing the racial equity gap in Michigan would generate an additional $1.5 billion in spending on food, $4 billion on housing, $423 million on apparel, $2 billion on automobiles and transportation, and $625 million on entertainment each year. An additional $1.5 billion would be generated in state and local tax revenues.

Author: 
Ani Turner, Beth Beaudin-Seiler, Altarum Institute, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/29/2018
2017 Employer Firms Credit Survey
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The Federal Reserve released “2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms.” Learn more about how small business owners nationwide are faring, including their credit needs and challenges. The report examines the results of an annual survey of small business owners nationwide and focuses on small employer firms, businesses with 1-499 full- or part-time employees.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
05/22/2018
Why Do Businesses Close?
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Over the last 25 years, about 7–9 percent of employer firms close every year and a slightly higher share open. These figures have been trending down, illustrating a decline in business turnover.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
05/10/2018
Access to Markets for Women Entrepreneurs
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The goal of this report is to support the council in establishing a knowledge base about women business owners’, leaders’, and entrepreneurs’ access to markets for goods and services. This report represents a high-level situational analysis, exploring major issues and developments affecting women entrepreneurs to inform the NWBC’s framework for defining research priorities and engagement efforts.

Author: 
Library of Congress, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/10/2018
Implication of the Tax Bill for Small Businesses
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Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform released “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Implications for Small Businesses” that argues that the new tax laws put small businesses at a disadvantage to large businesses.

Author: 
Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/01/2018
California Small Business Profile
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The Small Business Profiles are an annual portrait of each state’s small businesses. They gather the latest federal data into state-by-state snapshots of small business health and economic activity. Limited economic data is also provided for the U.S. territories.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/25/2018
Building Inclusive Ecosystems
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This report examines opportunities to further enhance inclusion and support of current and future women founders in Washington, D.C.’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Its analysis provides an overview of women-owned businesses both nationally and in Washington, D.C., makes four top-level recommendations with pragmatic strategies for implementation, and highlights existing approaches to inclusive development.

Author: 
BEACON
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
04/18/2018
2017 Disaster-Affected Firms Credit Survey
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The Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco, New York, Dallas, and Richmond issued the 2017 Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Disaster-Affected Firms. This is the first in a series of reports this year examining the results of an annual survey of small business owners. 61 percent of affected firms had revenue losses ranging from $1-$25,000, and 35 percent had revenue losses over $25,000.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Dallas, Richmond, San Francisco
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/17/2018
Impact Study of Small Business Lending
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Accion in the U.S. and Opportunity Fund recently released a groundbreaking report that examines the impact of mission-based small business lending services on borrowers’ businesses, their household financial security, and their overall quality of life.

Author: 
Harder+Company Community Research, Accion, Opportunity Fund
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
04/03/2018
Supporting Returning Citizen Entrepreneurs
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Credit Builders Alliance released Achieving Credit Strength: A Toolkit for Supporting Returning Citizen Entrepreneurs. This toolkit provides financial capability and reentry practitioners with tools and resources for helping returning citizens to build strong credit, and strong businesses. In conjunction with the release of this toolkit, CBA is hosting convenings in partnership with community leaders that are experts in this space. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with the toolkit and national experts discussing credit building, entrepreneurship and ways to support the financial stability of returning citizens pre- and post-incarceration. See below for more details on each convening.

Author: 
Credit Builders Alliance
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Capacity Building, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/02/2018
How Microlenders Price For Growth
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Aspen’s FIELD program released a new report, “The Price of Access: How Scale-Focused Microlenders Are Pricing for Growth.” The report explores how microfinance institutions are pricing their smallest loans at higher interest rates in order to expand their reach. The resulting revenue allows them to meet the needs of more underserved entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Joyce Klein, Alan Okagaki, FIELD at the Aspen Insittute
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
04/02/2018
One Year of Equity Crowdfunding
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On May 16, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s new investment crowdfunding rule, Regulation Crowdfunding (Regulation CF), went into effect, marking an important step in the federal government embracing financial technology (FinTech) to increase access to capital for small businesses. Regulation Crowdfunding enabled small businesses to raise up to $1,000,000 annually by offering and selling securities through internet-based crowdfunding campaigns. This issue brief analyzes all crowdfunding filings made pursuant to Regulation CF during the first year of activity (May 16, 2016 – May 16, 2017). It highlights key attributes of the firms that have attempted to raise capital through this financing method, including firm location, legal structure, age, employment, and gender. This analysis also describes trends among the online intermediaries responsible for hosting the campaigns as well as transactional characteristics, such as the type of securities offered and the amount of capital sought and raised. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy implications for small businesses seeking capital through crowdfunding and other innovative financing methods.

Author: 
Lindsay M. Abate, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/29/2018
Baby Boomer Small Business Owners
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Thumbtack surveyed more than 14,000 small business owners 55 and older across the United States, to evaluate the business friendliness of their local governments, what motivated them to start their own small business and how their experience impacts their business success.

Author: 
Thumbtack
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/28/2018
Firms’ Response to Hiring Difficulties
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Understanding the sources of mismatch between the labor pool and the needs of firms is important. There can be significant variation in hiring challenges by type of firm, and how a firm responds may depend systematically on the nature of the problem. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank’s 2017 Small Business Credit Survey allows for a closer examination of hiring difficulties and firm responses.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/22/2018
The Racial Wealth Divide And Economic Security
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In August 2016, Prosperity Now, in collaboration with the Institute for Policy Studies, published The EverGrowing Gap: Without Change, African American and Latino Families Won’t Match White Wealth for Centuries. In the report, we examined data from the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances over a 30-year period (1983-2013) to understand the scope of the racial wealth divide facing Black and Latino households and to project the future of racial wealth inequality. In exploring wealth inequality facing these communities, we looked at average rather than median economic data.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities
Publication Date: 
03/22/2018
Crowdfunding for Women Entrepreneurs: Kiva
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This research seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics of the successful crowdfunding on Kiva, a non-profit lending crowdfunding platform based in the U.S. It investigates whether a larger social network will increase the likelihood of women’s success on Kiva in comparison to their male counterparts. To this end, using a novel dataset received from Kiva for the period between 2011 and 2017, a series of multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted. These analyses were coupled by iv comprehensive descriptive analysis to better distill and describe the gender dynamics, as well as the relationship between women’s success and crowdfunding variables on Kiva. 

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
03/21/2018
Crowdfunding for Women Entrepreneurs: Kickstarter
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The study attempts to investigate, from a gender perspective, the role of a project creator’s online social network in contributing to the success of fundraising campaigns in reward-based crowdfunding. It also tries to provide a deeper insight into successful crowdfunding dynamics. Using a novel dataset received from Kickstarter (i.e. the largest reward crowdfunding platform in the U.S.) for the period between 2009 (its inception) and 2017, a series of logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted. These analyses were combined with comprehensive descriptive analysis and extensive visuals to better illustrate and explain the gender dynamics, as well as the relationship between women’s success and crowdfunding variables on Kickstarter.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
03/21/2018
Consumer Debt: A Primer
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EPIC’s particular focus is on non-mortgage consumer debt, such as loans to pay for college or to purchase a vehicle, money borrowed on credit cards, and non-loan debt (i.e. municipal fines and fees, medical debt, and unpaid bills). Non-mortgage debt has not received the extensive attention given to housing borrowing, largely because of the size of the mortgage market. However, housing debt is declining as a share of household debt and current causes for concern—such as rising rate of serious delinquency in credit cards and the emergence of subprime auto loans—relate to other areas of the market. This primer distills the research on consumer debt, from its drivers and its dimensions to its impacts on households and society as a whole. EPIC will use this critical knowledge base to articulate a framework for developing solutions to improve the financial lives of millions of Americans.

Author: 
The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
03/20/2018
H.R. 5050 and Women Business Owners
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NAWBO released a white paper – “Spotlight on H.R. 5050: The Bill that Changed Everything for Women Business Owners”. The paper reflects on the provisions that transformed the course for women business owners and highlights the current areas for improved policy and better women involvement.

Author: 
NAWBO
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
03/02/2018
Access to Capital for Women Entrepreneurs
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The goal of this report is to support the council in establishing a knowledge base about women business owners’, leaders’, and entrepreneurs’ access to capital. This report represents a high-level situational analysis, exploring major issues and developments affecting women entrepreneurs to inform the NWBC’s framework for defining research priorities and engagement efforts.

Author: 
Library of Congress, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
03/01/2018
Tax Law Won’t Help Small Businesses Grow
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A scientific opinion poll performed in four Senate battleground states and with a +10 Republican sample (41% R, 31%D), significantly higher than the national average, shows the majority of small business owners will not be able to hire new employees or give raises because of the new tax law. When asked if they would hire a new employee as a result of the new tax law, 69% of the plurality Republican sample said they would not, while only 25% said they would. When asked if they will be giving their employees raises due to the new tax law, 59% said no, while 31% responded that they would.

Author: 
Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
03/01/2018
Financing Patterns by Race and Ethnicity
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The SBA issued “Financing Patterns and Credit Market Experiences: A Comparison by Race and Ethnicity for U.S. Employer Firms“. Hispanic and Black Americans are underrepresented in business ownership compared with their shares of the general population. Asians (73 percent) Hispanics (72 percent) and Blacks or African Americans (70 percent) rely on owner’s personal or family savings as a source of startup capital, while 65 percent of Whites relying on this source.

Author: 
Alicia Robb, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/01/2018
Economic Impact of Immigration By State
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In light of recent developments in U.S. immigration policy, WalletHub compared the economic impact of foreign-born populations on the 50 states and the District of Columbia. We determined which states benefit the most — and least — from immigration using 19 key indicators. Our dataset ranges from median household income of foreign-born population to jobs generated by immigrant-owned businesses as a share of total jobs. 

Author: 
WalletHub
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Economics (General), Immigrants
Publication Date: 
01/30/2018
Latino Business Ownership
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An important contributor to economic inequality in the United States is the large and persistent racial and ethnic disparity found in business ownership and performance. Blocked opportunities for minorities to start and grow businesses create losses in economic efficiency, especially through their effects on limiting job creation, wealth accumulation, innovation, and local economic growth. This report provides several new findings on Latino business ownership and success using the latest available Census Bureau data. Latinos are separated by U.S.-born vs. immigrant status to provide insights into the constraints faced in starting and running successful businesses.

Author: 
Robert W. Fairlie, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
01/26/2018
Amazon’s Small Business Impact
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Amazon released its first-ever Small Business Impact Report which found more than 1 million U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses are selling on Amazon. That report needs to be digested along with the loss of local tax revenue and what happens to Main Street that was reported in Amazon and Empty Storefronts: The Fiscal and Land Use Impacts of Online Retail.

Author: 
Amazon
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
01/03/2018
2016 Rural Firms Credit Survey
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The physical location of rural small employer firms in less densely populated areas presents an economic, demographic and cultural context that is distinct from the one in which urban small employer firms operate. This Report on Rural Employer Firms compares the business and financing conditions of small employer firms located in rural areas to those located in urban areas. This report is part of a series of reports that use data from the 2016 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), a national data-collection effort by the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. All differences between urban and rural small employer firms highlighted in this report are statistically significant based on credibility intervals.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
12/22/2017
2017 UN Report on Poverty & Human Rights in the US
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I have spent the past two weeks visiting the United States, at the invitation of the federal government, to look at whether the persistence of extreme poverty in America undermines the enjoyment of human rights by its citizens.  In my travels through California, Alabama, Georgia, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, and Washington DC I have spoken with dozens of experts and civil society groups, met with senior state and federal government officials and talked with many people who are homeless or living in deep poverty.  I am grateful to the Trump Administration for facilitating my visit and for its continuing cooperation with the UN Human Rights Council’s accountability mechanisms that apply to all states.

Author: 
Philip Alston
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
12/15/2017
CDFIs & Impact Investing
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Many urban and rural communities throughout the country lack the capital and resources necessary to create opportunity and promote growth. The community development financial institution (“CDFI”) industry has focused on filling this gap by investing extensively in these communities to improve their economies, physical environment and the financial well-being of residents. In many ways, CDFIs have been pioneers of promoting progress by investing for social impact.

Author: 
LISC
Categories: 
Access to Capital
Publication Date: 
12/11/2017
What Women Entrepreneurs Need to Thrive
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Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, released a report titled: “Tackling the Gender Gap: What Women Entrepreneurs Need to Thrive.” This timely study draws on interviews with 14 female entrepreneurs, who detail the obstacles they faced and how they overcame them, to highlight current initiatives and provide recommendations to eliminate the unique barriers confronting women-owned small businesses.

Author: 
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
12/01/2017
2016 Microbusinesses Credit Survey
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This report is one in a series based on the findings of the 2016 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), a national collaboration of the Community Development Offices of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. As a supplement to the Report on Employer Firms released in April 2017, this Report on Microbusinesses details findings on the financing experiences and outcomes of the smallest firms in the United States, including the self-employed.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
11/29/2017
2016 Women-Owned Firms Credit Survey
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This report uses a unique dataset to examine the experiences of women-owned small employer firms, especially as compared to their men-owned peers. Small employer firms have traditionally played an important role in U.S. job creation,8 and women-owned firms are an emerging share of the sector. Understanding the opportunities and challenges facing this growing segment of women-owned employers can provide insight into future economic contributions of the sector overall. 

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
11/13/2017
Peer Learning Community Programs
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For the past decade, Catherine Marshall has helped foundations, collaboratives, and associations design and launch their own Peer Learning Community Programs tailored to their constituents. This document is her effort to share what she learned works, and doesn’t work, with this method and to provide a practical program model as a place to start.

Author: 
Catherine Marshall
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Capacity Building
Publication Date: 
11/10/2017
2016 Minority-Owned Firms Credit Survey
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This report is the third in a series of reports based on the 2016 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), a national collaboration of the Community Development Offices of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. As a key financial regulator and economic policymaker, the Federal Reserve System plays an important role in ensuring fair access to credit and promoting economic growth for the well-being of all Americans. Small businesses are an important component of economic success and strong communities; they are responsible for 48% of private sector employees nationwide, are important drivers of local and regional economic growth, and are an important source of household wealth. A healthy small business environment depends on an array of factors, not least of which is the ability to access funds for starting up, scaling up, or maintaining operations. However, as a growing number of studies document, access to funds—whether debt, equity, or personal resources— can vary across race and ethnicity even when business owners are similar in other respects such as business performance and credit risk.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
11/09/2017
Disparities in Small Business Lending
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A study examining disparities in small business lending conducted by the Woodstock Institute found that Fresno minority businesses are losing out in capital and turning to merchant cash advances. (Yikes!) Access Capital, a CAMEO member, is trying to refinance some of those loans.

Author: 
Woodstock Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
11/02/2017
Veteran Women & Business
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This report develops a profile of the veteran women business owner through the presentation of business and business owner characteristics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 and 2012 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons and 2015 Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs. It is not meant to be all inclusive but, rather, to highlight the current landscape of veteran women-owned firms based off of publicly available data.

Author: 
Dolores Rowen, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Veterans, Women
Publication Date: 
11/01/2017
Small Business Owners Want Fair Taxes
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The poll, conducted for Small Business Majority by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found small business owners are generally optimistic about economic conditions for small businesses and want tax reform that levels the playing field for their small business. The poll was an online survey of 500 small business owners conducted between September 29 and October 4, 2017.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/26/2017
Freelancing in America: 2017
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The fourth annual Freelancing in America study shows what many freelancers know intuitively: The freelance workforce is growing rapidly and adapting quickly in a fast-changing economy. The Freelancers Union projects that independent workers will be a majority of the U.S. workforce in just a decade.

Author: 
Freelancers Union, Upwork
Categories: 
New Era Workforce, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/02/2017
Necessity & Women’s Entrepreneurship
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) released “Necessity as a Driver of Women’s Entrepreneurship” this week. The report examines whether and how women turn to entrepreneurship to address potential market failures that limit their ability to attain or maintain economic self-sufficiency, or as an avenue to overcome flexibility bias and potential stigma in balancing work-life conflict assumed in traditional gendered roles and social norms. 

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/02/2017
Small Business Job Creation
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The Office of Advocacy’s fact sheet, “Small Business Job Creation Deconstructed,” shows that small businesses’ role as job creators since the Great Recession is as strong as ever. Since the end of the Great Recession, small businesses (fewer than 500 employees) have created 62 percent (8.3 million) of the net new private-sector jobs (13.4 million), matching their historic rate over the last 25 years.

Author: 
Brian Headd, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
09/30/2017
The Retreat of the Rural Entrepreneur
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The SBA issued The Retreat of the Rural Entrepreneur. In 1988, more than a fourth of the self-employed lived in rural areas. By 2016, that share had fallen to less than 1 in 6 as the US population shifted away from rural areas and the rural rate of self-employment fell. In fact, between 1988 and 2016, the rural rate of self-employment fell by over 20 percent. Despite that decline, the rate of self-employment has remained higher in rural areas than in urban and suburban areas.

Author: 
Daniel Wilmoth, SBA
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Rural
Publication Date: 
09/29/2017
Developing Solutions to Minority Financing Challenges
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Starting a new firm or growing an established business requires capital, but Black and Hispanic businesses are reported to have higher barriers to capital access. The challenges are well documented and many solutions have been proposed, but to achieve change, we need to move ideas into action. The federal government actually has a lot of programs that can help. Between the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Community Advantage Loan Program, Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund), Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), and the Department of Agriculture’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization(OSDBU), there is potential to mobilize resources that drive job creation and economic growth, especially in minority communities throughout the country. We need to leverage these resources, as well as develop and execute new solutions.

Author: 
Carolyn Karo, Jackson Mueller
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
09/26/2017
Hispanic Women Entrepreneurship
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Hispanic Women Entrepreneurship: Understanding Diversity Among Hispanic Women Entrepreneurs identifies the unique characteristics of Hispanic women entrepreneurs, reviews entrepreneurship training practices that work to encourage successful business, highlights specific programs that exemplify these practices, and suggests targeted tactics to unlock their entrepreneurial potential.

Author: 
Susana Martinez-Restrepo, CoreWoman, Geri Stengel, Ventureneer
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
09/15/2017
Small Business Owners Struggle For Credit
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The California Reinvestment Coalition released Small Business Owners Struggle to Access Affordable Credit, a new report focused on the challenges small business owners and entrepreneurs face when trying to get a loan to start, maintain, or grow their businesses.

Author: 
California Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
09/04/2017
The Racial Wealth Divide
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Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies look at the racial wealth divide at the median over the next four and eight years in The Road to Zero Wealth. They find that if you examine median wealth trends over the past three decades, the racial wealth divide will only continue to grow—into perpetuity—and it will do so at an accelerated rate.

Author: 
Prosperity Now, Institute for Policy Studies
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
09/01/2017
Equity Profile of Los Angeles
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Equity Profiles project by PolicyLink recently produced a report for San Francisco, the Bay Area and Los Angeles County. Each profile presents demographic trends and assess how well regions are doing to ensure its diverse residents can participate in the region’s economic vitality, contribute to the readiness of the workforce, and connect to the region’s assets and opportunities.

Author: 
PolicyLink, PERE
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Economics (CA), Economics (General), Immigrants, Minorities, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
08/17/2017
Equity in the Nine-County San Francisco Bay Area
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Equity Profiles project by PolicyLink recently produced a report for San Francisco, the Bay Area and Los Angeles County. Each profile presents demographic trends and assess how well regions are doing to ensure its diverse residents can participate in the region’s economic vitality, contribute to the readiness of the workforce, and connect to the region’s assets and opportunities.

Author: 
PolicyLink, PERE
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/17/2017
Equity in the Five-County San Francisco Bay Area
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Equity Profiles project by PolicyLink recently produced a report for San Francisco, the Bay Area and Los Angeles County. Each profile presents demographic trends and assess how well regions are doing to ensure its diverse residents can participate in the region’s economic vitality, contribute to the readiness of the workforce, and connect to the region’s assets and opportunities.

Author: 
PolicyLink, PERE
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/17/2017
2016 Startup Firms Credit Survey
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This report is the second in a series of reports based on the 2016 Small Business Credit Survey (SBCS), a national collaboration of the Community Development Offices of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. As a followup to the Report on Employer Firms issued in April 2017, the Report on Startup Firms provides an in-depth look at the financing and credit experiences of startups with employees—which we define as small businesses that were five years old or younger in 2016 and had full- or part-time employees.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/11/2017
The Role of Microbusiness Employers
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The SBA Office of Advocacy released a report on the impact of microbusiness on the national economy. Microbusinesses, defined in the fact sheet as firms with 1-9 employees, are the smallest of the smalls but they are the most common type of small business and exhibit an oversized role in employment.

Author: 
Brian Headd, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/01/2017
Challenges of African-American Entrepreneurs
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The report, entitled “Stuck From The Start: The Financial Challenges of Low- and Moderate-Income African-American Entrepreneurs in the South,” reflects interviews with 30 African-American business owners in eastern North Carolina, southwestern Georgia and the Jackson and Delta regions of Mississippi. The project was launched to better understand why Black-owned businesses struggle to succeed relative to their White peers.

Author: 
Spectra Myers, Pamela Chan
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Minorities, Rural
Publication Date: 
07/05/2017
Prosperity Now Scorecard – California
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Prosperity Now (formerly known as CFED) released its 2017 Scorecard, which finds that even as many major economic indices suggest that the U.S. economy is gaining momentum, only a lucky few are actually enjoying the opportunity to get by and get ahead. The Scorecard measures how states’ residents are faring economically and what the states do to put them on stronger financial footing. This year’s Scorecard assesses the states on 113 measures in five issue areas: Financial Assets & Income, Businesses & Jobs, Home ownership & Housing, Health Care and Education.

Author: 
Prosperity Now
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
07/03/2017
Millennial Women & Entrepreneurship
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This report explores entrepreneurship among millennial women via multiple avenues. First, the report covers existing research on millennial entrepreneurship, including how the media portrays these entrepreneurs. This section highlights millennial women and identifies knowledge gaps, requiring additional study. Second, the report presents a data-based profile of millennial women entrepreneurs in America utilizing data from the American Community Survey and the Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons. Finally, the conclusion posits further research questions with an eye towards developing action-oriented policy initiatives to assist millennial women in starting and growing businesses.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women, Youth
Publication Date: 
06/14/2017
The Tax Code & Women Business Owners
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This report, in keeping with the mission of the Kogod Tax Policy Center (KTPC) to conduct non-partisan policy research on tax and compliance issues specific to small businesses and entrepreneurs, provides an initial assessment of how the Code’s tax expenditures targeted to help small businesses grow and access capital impact women-owned firms. The results are eye-opening.

Author: 
Caroline Bruckner, Kogod Tax Policy Center
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
06/12/2017
Women’s Business Ownership 2012
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Women’s importance to the U.S. business community is self-evident, and statistics like these help our understanding of their impact. As the only large-scale survey on business demographics, the Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners (SBO) provides an opportunity to evaluate women-owned businesses. Using the SBO data, this report analyzes the unique characteristics, current role, and opportunities for growth of women-owned businesses in the U.S. economy. Due to changes in the SBO’s survey methods, this report is primarily a snapshot of women-owned businesses in 2012.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/31/2017
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Model
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One approach to understanding the interactions between the actors and processes that support segments of entrepreneurs, such as women entrepreneurs, is the application of an “entrepreneurial ecosystem” framework. NWBC’s entirely new ecosystem model serves as a tool to evaluate regional support of women’s entrepreneurship. The convergence of the domains on women-owned ventures, centrally displayed, demonstrates that actors throughout the ecosystem work together to engage, advise, and drive the growth of women entrepreneurs.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/10/2017
Crowdfunding for Women Entrepreneurs
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This research was commissioned by The National Women Business Council (NWBC) and prepared by A2F Consulting LLC to explore the distinct relationship between crowdfunding and women entrepreneurship and develop a deeper understanding of crowdfunding as a capital source. The research aims to: i) identify and document available demographic and other descriptive quantitative information on crowdfunding, including equity crowdfunding; ii) identify gender differences in crowdfunding in terms of industry, goals, investors, platforms used, and success; iii) document existing policies that may support or hinder women’s participation in crowdfunding campaigns; iv) provide additional information and guidance to women entrepreneurs seeking to raise capital through crowdfunding; and v) provide policy recommendations for supporting women entrepreneurs.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/02/2017
Generational Views of Entrepreneurship
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America’s SBDCs did a study – America’s Voice on Small Business – that delves into the entrepreneurial mindsets of different generations of Americans. The findings reinforced previously held beliefs such as a strong entrepreneurial inclination among millennials, while challenging preconceived notions about their motivations for starting a business. One third of Americans (34 percent), have worked in a small business and nearly a quarter (24 percent) of both millennials and GenXers own or have owned a small business.

Author: 
America's SBDC, Center for Generational Kinetics
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Youth
Publication Date: 
05/01/2017
2016 Employer Firms Credit Survey
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The 2016 SBCS, which was fielded in Q3 and Q4 2016, yielded 10,303 responses from employer firms in 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report findings provide an in-depth look at small business performance and debt at the end of 2016.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
04/11/2017
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Women Entrepreneurs
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Women-owned businesses are a significant and growing but underrepresented segment of the U.S. economy. In order for the United States, and its various regions, to reach full economic potential, policymakers need to be able to assess the mechanisms throughout their local economies that support women entrepreneurs and to effectively coordinate the variety of stakeholders that share the same goal.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
04/01/2017
Women in Business Incubators
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) commissioned research prepared by Washington CORE to strengthen stakeholder understanding of incubators and accelerators as they relate to women entrepreneurs and, ultimately, to facilitate the successful participation of women entrepreneurs in these programs. This research includes a literature review, as well as a direct exploration of the experiences and perspectives of women entrepreneurs and incubator and accelerator managers through survey and interview analysis.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Women
Publication Date: 
03/30/2017
Entrepreneurship among Women in STEM
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Commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council and prepared by BD2, LLC and RTI International, On the Commercialization Path: Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Outputs among Women in Stem presents an examination of innovation among women in STEM fields by identifying gaps in their entrepreneurial outcomes and highlighting future opportunities for policy improvements.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
03/06/2017
Black Business Ownership
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AEO recently released “The Tapestry of Black Business Ownership in America: Untapped Opportunities for Success.” The report assesses the economic strength and potential of Black-owned businesses, identifies myths, challenges and opportunities across a mosaic of segments, and suggests a plan for how investors and policymakers can increase the effectiveness of programs designed to support Black entrepreneurship.

Author: 
AEO
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/16/2017
Social Entrepreneurship Amongst Women and Men
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Commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council and prepared by Siri Terjesen, PhD, Social Entrepreneurship Amongst Women and Men in the United States uses brand new data on social entrepreneurship among men and women in the United States to confirm the message that women are successfully launching, leading, and growing social ventures across the country. In particular, this project gives an exciting “first look” at data from the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, and reveals some pretty interesting trends about social enterprises. Learn what percentage of U.S. entrepreneurs report leading a social enterprise, how entrepreneurial motivations differ between men and women, and recommendations for why and how policymakers should support social enterprises.

Author: 
Siri Terjesen, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
02/16/2017
State of Latino Entrepreneurship
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With this report, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) highlights key research findings from its third annual Survey of U.S. Latino Business Owners. In this survey, we examine issues specifically related to Latino entrepreneurs and Latino-owned businesses in the United States. This report expands upon existing studies, including the 2015 and 2016 State of Latino Entrepreneurship reports. We continue to investigate financing and the importance of growth for Latino businesses and conduct further analysis on the role of national banks.

Author: 
Stanford Business, Latino Business Action Network
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/07/2017
The Regulatory Flexibility Act 2016
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Fiscal year 2016 was a milestone in the Office of Advocacy’s history, signaling 40 years since the office’s founding. Today, the SBA Office of Advocacy released its annual report, Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act, FY 2016. The report analyzes federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as well as with provisions of the Small Business JOBS Act of 2010 and Executive Order 13272, “Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Federal Rulemaking.”

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/19/2017
The Immigrant Entrepreneur
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The US SBA’s Office of Advocacy released “Explaining the Emergence of the Immigrant Entrepreneur.” This report found an explanation for the growth in the number of immigrant entrepreneurs. Put simply, age is related to self-employment, and immigrants are getting older. In addition, as the native-born Baby Boomers age and retire, the number of self-employed will decline.

Author: 
Daniel Wilmoth
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
01/12/2017
Immigrants in California
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PPIC published “Immigrants in California.” Our state is home to more than 10 million immigrants-about a quarter of the nation’s foreign-born population. The state economy increasingly depends on immigrants to meet demand for highly educated workers, but it also continues to rely on immigrants with little formal education.

Author: 
Joseph Hayes, PPIC
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Immigrants
Publication Date: 
01/04/2017
Expanding Small Loan Programs
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During 2016, Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) convened an Employer-Based Small Dollar Loan Knowledge Network (Knowledge Network) of nine diverse mission-driven lenders offering employer-based small dollar loan products. OFN managed the Knowledge Network with the support of The Prudential Foundation and the valuable insights of two Knowledge Partners, Center for Financial Services Innovation and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. Through monthly conversations including online and in-person meetings, the Knowledge Network participants shared strategies and learned about common challenges. This paper details learnings from the Knowledge Network’s discussions, organized in six areas: Marketing, Outreach, and Employer Engagement; Customer Experience; Technology; Financial Counseling; Impact and Outcomes; and Partnerships.

Author: 
Opportunity Finance Network
Categories: 
Microlending
Publication Date: 
01/04/2017
Business Ownership And The Racial Wealth Gap
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African Americans & Latinos/as face high barriers to starting and growing businesses, including lower levels of financial assets. What steps can we take to address this?

Author: 
Joyce A. Klein, FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Business Development Services, Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/03/2017
Closing the Ever-Growing Gap
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CFED released “Administrative Actions to Close the Ever-Growing Gap.” This document describes seven administrative policy proposals President Trump could take that would help solve the problems of financial insecurity, wealth inequality and the growing racial wealth divide.

Author: 
CFED
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/02/2017
2015 Nonemployer Firms Credit Survey
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Small nonemployer businesses—those with no employees other than the firms’ owners—make up nearly 80% of all U.S. firms in number. Yet, little is known about the performance or the financing needs and decisions of these 23 million businesses. The few sources that provide insight into small business credit conditions do not distinguish the experiences of nonemployers from small employer firms, which may differ significantly.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
12/20/2016
The Economics of The Independent Workforce
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This study, which was commissioned by Upwork, the world’s largest freelancing marketplace, places the IW in context by examining the economic drivers, impacts, and facts around the growth of work performed by self-employed professionals and other freelance businesses. To more fully understand the IW and provide informed judgments about the wisdom of policy reforms that may affect freelancers and their economic opportunities, this study analyzed two distinct data sources and reviewed the related literature. The primary data sources are the 2014 and 2015 Freelancing in America (“FIA”) survey of American workers co-sponsored by Freelancers Union and Upwork, and the 2015 transactions between buyers and sellers using Upwork’s website.

Author: 
Paul Oyer, Upwork
Categories: 
Economics (General), New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
12/12/2016
Exploring Online and Offline Informal Work
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The growing prevalence of alternative work arrangements has accelerated with the rapidly evolving digital platform transformations in local and global markets (Kenny and Zysman, 2015 and 2016). Although traditional (offline) informal paid work has always been a part of the labor sector (BLS-Contingent Worker Survey, 2005; GAO, 2015 and Katz and Krueger, 2016), the rise of online-enabled paid work activities requires new approaches to measure this growing trend (Farrell and Greig, 2016; Gray et al, 2016; Sundararajan, 2016 and Schor, 2015). In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Federal Reserve Board conducted a nationally representative survey of adults 18 and older to track online and offline income-generating activities as well as their employment status during the six months prior to the surveys. Survey results indicate that 36 percent of respondents undertook informal paid work activities either as a complement to or as a substitute for more traditional and formal work arrangements. We explore the rationale behind respondents’ participation in alternative work arrangements by setting questions that capture participant motives and attitudes towards informal offline and online paid work activities. Sixty-five percent of qualified survey respondents indicate that a main reason for participating in informal work is to earn extra income.

Author: 
Barbara Robles, Marysol McGee, Federal Reserve Board
Categories: 
New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
12/08/2016
Philanthropy and the Future of Work
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In a new paper, Philanthropy and the Future of Work: Dimensions of Change and Opportunities for Action, we address the challenges related to the future of work facing philanthropic leaders who are interested in connecting economically vulnerable individuals and families to opportunities for advancement through work. The paper draws from a series of interviews conducted with more than a dozen individuals in philanthropy, revealing their ideas on the future of work and the implications for their strategies.

Author: 
Maureen Conway, The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General), New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
11/03/2016
Economic Security for the Gig Economy
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Etsy is now forging new ground by lobbying for the economic security of its sellers. In a new report, the company points out the striking growth of the gig economy and calls for reforms to our current benefits system stating, “It’s time to start thinking bigger and reimagine a world that guarantees a social safety net to everyone who works, regardless of how they work.”

Author: 
Etsy
Categories: 
Economics (General), New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
11/02/2016
Freelancing in America 2016
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2016 is the third year we have conducted “Freelancing in America” – the most comprehensive measure of the U.S. independent workforce available. Going into this year’s survey, we already knew that millions of Americans today are choosing to be part of the independent workforce, driven by freedom and flexibility. Moreover, technology is making it easier to find freelance work, making freelancing an increasingly popular way to work and live.

Author: 
Freelancers Union, Upwork
Categories: 
Economics (General), New Era Workforce, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/06/2016
The Arrival of the Immigrant Entrepreneur
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The SBA’s Office of Advocacy has a new report – The Arrival of the Immigrant Entrepreneur. Over the last 20 years, the role of immigrant entrepreneurs has grown. The percentage of the self-employed who were born abroad more than doubled between 1994 and 2015, growing from 8.6 percent to 19.5 percent. This report shows that the growth was caused by three changes — an increase in the size of the population born abroad, an increase in self-employment among those born abroad, and a decrease in self-employment overall.

Author: 
Daniel Wilmoth
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/06/2016
Conditions of Black Women Business Ownership
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The number of women-owned businesses is rapidly growing. Amidst these increases, Black women have become one of the fastest growing segments of entrepreneurs in the country. This work explores the many challenges and opportunities faced by Black women entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Walker's Legacy, National Women's Business Council, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
10/04/2016
Amazon and Empty Storefronts
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Civic Economics new report – Amazon and Empty Storefronts – looks at two broad classes of impact: Fiscal (relating to public revenue) and Land Use (relating to development patterns at the local level).

Author: 
American Booksellers Association, Civic Economics
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
09/01/2016
Monopoly Power and Small Business
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The Institute for Local Self-Reliance issued a new report that suggests a troubling explanation for the dwindling ranks of small businesses. “Drawing on examples in pharmacy, banking, telecommunications, and retail, it finds that big companies routinely use their size and their economic and political power to undermine their smaller rivals and exclude them from markets.”

Author: 
Stacy Mitchell, Institute For Local Self-Reliance
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/01/2016
Fast Facts on the California Economy
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Check out the Fast Facts on California Economy published by the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy (JEDE). The state has the 6th largest economy in the world with a $2.45 trillion GDP, July 2016.

Author: 
Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
07/20/2016
Small Business Finance FAQ
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The Finance FAQ outlines the borrowing and lending universe for startups and existing small businesses, provides demographic information, and touches on important trends in the amount and modes of finance.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
07/20/2016
Small Business FAQ
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The SBA Office of Advocacy has updated its most widely used publication: “Frequently Asked Questions about Small Business.” The Small Business FAQ is the place to go to for the basics – how many small businesses are in the United States, how many employees they have, and what their growth trends are.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
07/20/2016
Prison to Proprietor
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Asset Funders Network recently published “Prison to Proprietor: Entrepreneurship as a Re-Entry Strategy.” The report features several programs that use business ownership to build skills, connections, and attitudes that strengthen the ability of formerly-incarcerated individuals to succeed as they re-enter their communities. Such programs improve chances of employment, reduce recidivism and benefit both the individual and the community. The expansion of business ownership and entrepreneurship opportunities may particularly benefit people and communities of color who are disproportionately affected by incarceration.

Author: 
Asset Funders Network, FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
06/08/2016
The New Business Lending
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Opportunity Fund released a very important research report, “Unaffordable and Unsustainable: The New Business Lending on Main Street.” Until now, we have been relying on stories to explain what’s happening with online lending. Now we’ve got some data on the loans and cash advances being offered to small businesses by short-term, high-cost alternative lenders. Cliff notes on findings: 94% interest rates; average payment is 1.78x income -YIKES.

Author: 
Opportunity Fund
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/24/2016
Growth of Women-Owned Enterprises 2002-2012
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This research is an analysis of the key trends and findings in women’s business ownership, comparing figures from the 2002, 2007, and 2012 Surveys of Business Owners. The project explores the growth and development of women-owned enterprises over the 2002 to 2012 period, paying particular attention to differences between the pre-recession period of 2002-2007 and the more recent 2007-2012 period.

Author: 
Womenable, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
03/07/2016
2015 Employer Firms Credit Survey
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Seven Federal Reserve Banks released Small Business Credit Survey: Report on Employer Firms. The three main findings: financing success improved in 2015; businesses most satisfied with small bank lending; and online lenders are popular—but they have lowest borrower satisfaction levels.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Richmond, St. Louis
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/01/2016
The Declining Cost of Distance
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For centuries, the cost of distance has determined where businesses produce and sell, where employers locate jobs and where families choose to live, work, shop, and play. What if this cost fell dramatically, thanks to new technologies? How would the global economy change if manufacturers could produce locally in small batches, without incurring excess cost? Would existing business models and supply chains, for instance, suddenly become uncompetitive? If people could work from anywhere, would crowded neighborhoods start to thin out? That change already has begun in the world’s advanced economies and is gathering momentum. Over the next two decades, the cost of distance will decline sharply, according to Bain research, altering the way we live and work—faster than most people expect and more broadly than many imagine.

Author: 
Bain & Company
Categories: 
Economics (General), New Era Workforce
Publication Date: 
02/12/2016
State of Latino Entrepreneurship
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With this report, the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) shares research from its 2016 Survey of U.S. Latino Business Owners. By examining issues specifically related to Latino entrepreneurs and the state of Latino-owned businesses, this report expands upon existing studies, including the 2015 State of the Latino Entrepreneurship report. Our data comes from a new, unique survey on U.S.-based Latino entrepreneurs meant to supplement and extend data available through the Kauffman Foundation and U.S. Census Bureau. The report and data provide academic researchers, policymakers, and business leaders with insights into U.S. Latino-owned businesses and the barriers they face to economic success.

Author: 
Stanford Business, Latino Business Action Network
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/08/2016
The Missing Millennial Entrepreneurs
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Entrepreneurship is lower among Millennials than among prior generations. In 2014, less than 2 percent of Millennials reported self-employment, compared with 7.6 percent for Generation X and 8.3 percent for Baby Boomers. These differences largely reflect the youth of Millennials and the positive relationship between age and entrepreneurship among the relatively young. However, growth with age in the proportion of each generation reporting self-employment has been slower for Millennials than for prior generations. At age 30, less than 4 percent of Millennials reported self-employment in their primary job in the previous year, compared with 5.4 percent for Generation X and 6.7 percent for Baby Boomers. Trends among the age groups Millennials will join in future years suggest that entrepreneurship among Millennials will remain relatively low for decades.

Author: 
Daniel Wilmoth, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Youth
Publication Date: 
02/04/2016
Undercapitalization and Women Entrepreneurs
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One of the Council’s key areas of research is on women’s access to capital, a continual challenge for women entrepreneurs. Two of the NWBC’s FY2013 research projects demonstrate that accessing sufficient capital is a problem even for high-growth women-owned businesses. We have learned that women-owned firms face unique challenges because there are significant differences in undercapitalization that exist between men-owned and women-owned firms. First, Robb and Coleman concluded that startup capital is a key indicator of business success. This research confirmed that women start their business with nearly half the amount of capital as men, and further that women entrepreneurs raise substantially less equity and debt throughout the business lifecycle. In a second study, conducted by PQC Consulting, Inc, we learned, that all else equal, undercapitalization negatively impacts business survival.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
01/01/2016
Survey of Online Financing Companies
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The DBO on Dec. 11, 2015, launched an inquiry into the so-called online, or alternative, lending sector. The inquiry’s objective is to determine whether market participants are fully complying with state lending and securities laws. It also aims to assess how the state’s regulatory regime is working, and should work, with respect to the industry.

Author: 
California Department of Business Oversight
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
01/01/2016
The Tipping Point for Women’s Entrepreneurship
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This Annual Report is a synthesis of the Council’s commitment to supporting women in business by producing best-in-class, actionable research on the most relevant issues facing aspiring and current women business owners and leaders, and identifying – through research and engagement – the unique barriers and challenges of women in pursuit of business.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
12/31/2015
Income of Veteran Business Owners
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This study examines the financial success, measured by income and net worth, of households headed by military veterans. The study focuses on comparisons of income and net worth for three groups: (1) veterans and non-veteran households; (2) veterans households with and without small business, and (3) veteran and non-veteran small business households.

Author: 
George Haynes, SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Veterans
Publication Date: 
11/23/2015
Microbusinesses, Gainful Jobs
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Read FIELD’s new report Microbusinesses, Gainful Jobs. They found that workers value the flexibility, fulfillment, and skill-building opportunities offered by their microbusiness jobs and 63% of respondents made wages at or above President Obama’s proposed increase to the minimum wage. They also found out that there’s a 1-5 cost-benefit ratio for micro business development (for every $1 of grant money spent on microbusiness development, $5 is created in economic activity) and microbusinesses create opportunity for those that struggle the most.

Author: 
Luz I. Gomez, Tamara Thetford, FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/28/2015
Best Cities for Minorities
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Best Cities for Minorities: Gauging the Economics of Opportunity By Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox for the Center for Opportunity Urbanism First published May 2015 This study provides an initial analysis of African-American, Latino and Asian economic and …

Author: 
Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox, Center for Opportunity Urbanism
Categories: 
Economics (General), Minorities
Publication Date: 
05/27/2015
Women’s Business Centers and their Performance
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In collaboration with the SBA Office of Women’s Business Ownership, the Council worked with Carnegie Mellon University to review and analyze the effectiveness of Women’s Business Centers. Our hope was to gain an understanding of the Women’s Business Center network, what they need and how we can best support them. Download the report here and read our findings and recommendations for how best to support WBC’s.

Author: 
Carnegie Melon, Small Business Administration, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/01/2015
Build Market-Relevant Microlenders
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 Joyce Klein of Aspen Institute’s FIELD program writes how impact investments can be used to scale microlending. The essay appears in a larger publication – Bottom Line – that addresses how impact investment can improve economic mobility in the U.S.

Author: 
Joyce Klein, FIELD
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/02/2015
2014 Small Business Credit Survey
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Since 2010, the Federal Reserve has been monitoring small business credit conditions through regional surveys of business owners. In 2014, the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Atlanta, Cleveland, and Philadelphia collaborated on a common small business credit survey to cover much of the eastern region of the U.S. The survey offers insight about the quality and pace of the sector’s recovery by providing evidence on credit conditions from the perspective of borrowers.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Atlanta, Cleveland and Philadelphia
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
11/12/2014
Investing on Economic Mobility
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The Bottom Line: Investing for Impact on Economic Mobility in the U.S. draws on the lessons from market-based approaches to identify tools and strategies that can help move the needle on family economic security.

Author: 
The Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microlending
Publication Date: 
12/17/2014
Student Debt Among Young Entrepreneurs
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A quick run down of the ways that student debt and entrepreneurship interact.

Author: 
SBA Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General), Youth
Publication Date: 
11/23/2014
Hiring for Self-Employed and Microbusinesses
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The Council commissioned research on sole proprietorships and the factors leading to these firms’ first hires. The purpose was to discover how to best support the employment growth of microbusinesses.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/01/2014
Access to Capital by Women-Owned Businesses
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This report examines factors affecting access to capital for high growth women-owned or women-led firms. Prior research suggests that significant gender differences in firm employment, size, and growth rates persist (Bitler et al., 2001; Fairlie & Robb, 2009; Coleman & Robb, 2009). Data from the United States Census Bureau indicate that less than 30% of businesses are owned by women and only 12% of those firms employ anyone other than the business owner are herself. Only 2 percent have 10 or more employees. Census data indicate women-owned employer firms make up just 16% of employer firms and that only 2 percent of women-owned firms in the United States have revenues in excess of $1 million. (2007 Survey of Business).

Author: 
Susan Coleman, Alicia Robb, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/01/2014
Barriers to Women’s Entrepreneurship
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Women entrepreneurs still face challenges getting fair access to capital. Only 4 percent of the total dollar value of all small business loans goes to women entrepreneurs. The report proposes expanding microloans and makes SBA’s Intermediary Loan Program permanent to provide more capital to women entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Majority Report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/23/2014
Women’s Economic Priorities
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Women are an important force in America who have, for too long, been undervalued and underrepresented in political leadership and policy making. Our multi-decade march into the American workforce, business ownership, household leadership and consumer spending has elevated women into true leadership of the American economy. The purpose of this report is to highlight the contributions of women to America, outline our current economic condition and state clearly the types of federal budget and policies that are vital to support Women’s Economic Priorities.

Author: 
U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce
Categories: 
Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/21/2014
Entrepreneurship Training in WA
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Title I‐B funds, available nationwide under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), provide critical funding to help low‐income youth, unemployed adults and dislocated workers enter and reenter the workforce. WIA programs contribute toward a better educated and trained workforce capable of adding value to the economy’s output. This report examines the various ways WIA Title I‐B resources in Washington are used to empower job seekers by making good decisions about training and job placement. Those interested in self‐employment are among those who seek out WIA counseling, referral, and training services. This report particularly focuses on the ways that WIA resources are being used in Washington to help aspiring entrepreneurs access the information and services they need to succeed with self‐employment. Observations and findings presented in this report are based on interviews with Workforce Development Council staff and directors in the state’s 12 Workforce Development Areas. Employment Security Department staff helped supply the WIA Title I‐B program expenditure and participant data presented in the report.

Author: 
Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/05/2014
Financial Vulnerabilities of Microbusiness Owners
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The latest report from CFED looks at how micro-businesses manage their finances, the major financial challenges they face, and which components of financial capability help them succeed.

Author: 
CFED
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
04/23/2014
Women’s Business Centers Factsheet
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The SBA’s Women’s Business Center (WBC) Program supports 106 nonprofit organizations that provide business training and counseling to female entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, which includes women in underserved communities. The program is supported by the Small Business Administration and matched by donations.

Author: 
Association of Women's Business Centers
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Capacity Building, Women
Publication Date: 
03/22/2014
Small Business Access to Credit
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The California Reinvestment Coalition’s (CRC) 2010 economic development report documented a dramatic two-thirds plunge in critical bank lending to California small businesses between 2007 and 2009; businesses that are universally seen as the engine of economic recovery. This report unveils the appalling continuing reality that today’s bank lending to small businesses shows only the barest improvement since 2009.

Author: 
California Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microlending, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
12/23/2013
Micro-Businesses: America’s Growth Engine
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This report examines growth trends for small and micro businesses in recent years, the sector’s need for liability protection to increase revenue and retain customers, and the role insurance advisors can play in facilitating micro business growth.

Author: 
Insureon Small Business Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
11/11/2013
2013 California Economic Summit
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As it did in 2012, the Summit is tapping into California’s most vital resource—its people—to identify shared problems and to develop a shared agenda that will lay the foundation for a future of well-paying jobs, a sustainable environment, and equal opportunities for every Californian.

Author: 
California's Regions Committed to Advancing the Triple Bottom Line
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
11/23/2013
Etsy: Redefining Entrepreneurship
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Etsy is an online marketplace where artists and collectors sell their handmade goods, vintage items and craft supplies. Founded in June 2005, Etsy now includes more than 20 million products and over one million sellers worldwide. In the last year alone, they generated over $895 million in sales. A survey of 5,500 U.S. sellers reveals a unique population of Internet-enabled entrepreneurs who are building businesses on their own terms — prioritizing flexibility and independence over rapid growth, and using Etsy income to build resilience in the face of declining job security.

Author: 
Etsy
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy), Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
11/22/2013
Growth of Women-Owned Businesses
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) initiated this research to understand the reasons behind the general lag of women-owned business growth in terms of business size and receipts, as compared to firms owned by men.  Other studies have indicated that, on the whole, women and men approach entrepreneurship differently.  In order to assist women, and the nation, to advance economically, the NWBC looked to the research to provide insights on key considerations when reaching out to women entrepreneurs to encourage maximum growth of their businesses.  The research centered on questions about three key attitudinal areas associated with business ownership and growth: risk tolerance, motivations, and expectations.  The research team also listened for instances where culture could be influencing behaviors or experiences.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/30/2013
Bundled Service Delivery for Entrepreneurs
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This case study is a detailed analysis of one community-based organization’s approach to creating a bundled service delivery model, with a particular focus on the set of services and systems targeted at entrepreneurs. This case study is intended to be a resource that captures and shares many of the lessons from CFED’s partnership with MEDA that convey the most efficient ways to deliver bundled services to entrepreneurs. This study is designed for anyone interested in establishing an integrated approach for serving entrepreneurs with a range of services in an intentional and coordinated way, including community-based organizations, community leaders and practitioners, financial institutions, municipal or state agencies, microenterprise development organizations and other organizations that serve entrepreneurs and their families.

Author: 
Corporation for Enterprise Development
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
09/22/2013
Entrepreneurship in Rural America
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Community affairs offices at the Board and Reserve Banks engage in a wide variety of activities to help financial institutions, community-based organizations, government entities, and the public understand and address financial services issues that affect low- and moderate-income people and geographic regions.

Author: 
The Federal Reserve Banks of St. Louis and Kansas City
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Economics (General), Local Economy (DIY Economy), Policy
Publication Date: 
09/10/2013
2013 Survey of Small Businesses
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland sponsored an online survey of small businesses, which was conducted from July 1 through August 15, 2013. The survey included questions about business conditions, financing, and workforce needs.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
09/01/2013
Business Ownership and Local Economic Well-Being
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Anil Rupasingha, PhD Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Local entrepreneurship matters for local economic performance and smaller local businesses are more important than larger local businesses for local economic performance.

Author: 
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Community and Economic Development Department
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy), Policy
Publication Date: 
08/31/2013
How Much Does Credit Matter?
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Cesare Fracassi and Shimon Kogan, UT Austin; Mark Garmaise, UCLA Anderson; Gabriel Natividad, NYU Stern A team of researchers digs into five years worth of lending data from Accion Texas and reports that startup small businesses that receive a microloan are dramatically more likely to survive, enjoy higher revenues and create more jobs.

Author: 
Cesare Fracassi and Shimon Kogan, UT Austin; Mark Garmaise, UCLA Anderson; Gabriel Natividad, NYU Stern
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
08/28/2013
Scaling through Distance Learning
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Microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) are adept at doing more with less. Compelled by the drive to serve larger numbers of aspiring entrepreneurs amid a tighter funding environment, many are, not surprisingly, looking more closely at distance learning. Both urban and rural programs have grown geographically by establishing branch or regional offices wherever potential clients work and reside in numbers. But, the costs and organizational impact can be high, leading MDOs, especially those focused on training and technical assistance, to explore virtual alternatives.

Author: 
FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
08/23/2013
A Snapshot of Women Small Business Owners
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Women play a central role in rebuilding the middle class and keeping our economy growing. As women continue to start businesses in this country, it is imperative they have the right tools to be successful. But do they? Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation began to explore this question by conducting a brief poll among women small business owners.

Author: 
Business and Professional Women's Foundation
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/10/2013
Small Business Sustainability Report
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Green market opportunities and operating practices should matter to owners of the smallest businesses. As this report makes clear, that’s not just for ethical reasons. Our work – including a national survey of more than 1,300 business owners – reveals a compelling business case for green.

Author: 
Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
07/19/2013
Research on the Women-Owned Small Business Program
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The primary focus of our analysis was to evaluate the impact of the WOSB FCP on the participation of and awards granted to women-owned small businesses. Of principal interest was whether WOSBs are meeting procurement thresholds of 5 percent (in both contract number and dollar amount) of total Federal prime contracting awards since the implementation of the WOSB FCP rules in 2011.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/02/2013
Women in Business: 2007-2010
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In its latest infographic, ‘Women in Business: 2007 – 2010’, the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) builds off its previous analysis in the 2012 annual report to track the performance outcomes of approximately 98% of employer establishments identified in the 2007 Survey of Business Owners.  Using the data sources available to the Census Bureau, NWBC and the Census Bureau have tracked the expansions and contractions in employment, as well as the closing or sale of businesses, through 2010.  This is the most recent government data available on women business owners.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
06/01/2013
Impact of Microenterprise on the Community
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Does microenterprise have an impact on the local economy? Drawing on nearly 25 years of experience and five years of data collected from 753 clients, Women’s Initiative examined the impact of our program on the local economy through increased sales, income, jobs, and sales tax. We found that, even as economic recovery and job growth remained weak in the U.S., our clients – the low-income, high potential women we serve – multiplied their annual gross revenue more than thirteenfold within the first 18 months after training, and in 2012 alone, our clients provided 2,313 jobs for others through their businesses. Including the jobs that they created for themselves, this amounted to a total of 5,317 local jobs created and retained in 2012. The findings in this report indicate that our program has had a significant impact on the local economy. For every $1 invested in our program, $30 was returned to the local economy within 18 months after training. Moreover, this return on investment accumulated each year as clients’ businesses continued to thrive. Five years after training, the return on investment reached $108 for every $1 invested in our program, demonstrating that an investment in microenterprise has a powerful and sustainable economic impact on the community as well as on the individual entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Elizabeth de Renzy, Women's Initiative for Self Employment
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
06/01/2013
Entrepreneurial Assessment for the U.S. 2011
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During the summer of 2011, the United States participated in the 13th annual cycle of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research. Across the globe, 54 economies participated in the survey, spanning diverse geographies and a range of development levels. In the United States over 5,800 adults between the ages of 18 and 99 were interviewed.

Author: 
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
03/22/2013
2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report
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Description

The GEM study is uniquely positioned to advance understanding about entrepreneurship and facilitate decisions and initiatives that promote these endeavours. Each year, GEM provides a broad array of data on societal attitudes, participation levels of individuals at different stages of the entrepreneurship process and the characteristics of entrepreneurs and their businesses. This information can enable comparisons within and across individual economies, geographic regions, and economic development levels.

Author: 
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
03/01/2013
Entrepreneurship in Portland
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Description

The State of Entrepreneurship in Portland reviews the current environment for entrepreneurship in Portland and defines an action plan to complement the City’s target industry cluster and neighborhood economic development strategies and catalytic redevelopment efforts.

Author: 
Portland Development Commission
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy)
Publication Date: 
02/02/2013
2013 Independent Business Survey
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ILSR’s annual survey has found that independent businesses experienced solid revenue growth in 2012, buoyed in part by “buy local first” initiatives.

Author: 
Institute for Local Self Reliance
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy)
Publication Date: 
02/01/2013
The Civic Economics of Retail
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A solid review of several foundational studies on the costs and benefits to cities of locally-owned businesses versus larger chain stores from Civic Economics.

Author: 
Civic Economics
Categories: 
Economics (General), Local Economy (DIY Economy)
Publication Date: 
01/01/2012
2012 NWBC Annual Report
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By all measures 2012 has been a year of opportunity and challenge, both abroad and on our shores. It was a year that brought with it many important issues: uncertainty in the world economy, volatility in financial markets, unrest in multiple areas of the world, a much anticipated election cycle here in the United States, and a potential fiscal cliff that remains daunting for many business owners and entrepreneurs. For the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), this environment was one from which to learn, and in which to take a leadership role to help increase the economic participation of women entrepreneurs.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
12/12/2012
The State of Working America
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In periods of full employment, a healthy employment growth rate would be one that simply matches the growth rate of the labor force. But, contrary to assumptions often made by economists and policymakers, full employment is the exception rather than the rule in the U.S. labor market. An implicit message of this chapter is that ensuring healthy job growth requires an active macroeconomic policy that targets growth in aggregate demand sufficient to meet the growing supply of potential workers.

Author: 
Economic Policy Institute
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
11/22/2012
Entrepreneur Development Post-Recession
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Entrepreneurs – including business, civic and social entrepreneurs, are central to bringing about fundamental change and innovation enabling local, regional and national recovery and longer-term prosperity. This paper explores entrepreneurial talent emerging from the Great Recession.

Author: 
Center for Rural Entrepreneurship
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
11/01/2012
The Financial Crisis and Small Business
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How did the financial crisis that began in 2008 affect credit markets in the U.S.? Anecdotal evidence suggested that small businesses, which largely rely upon banks for credit, were especially hard hit. In this study, the SBA analyzes data on small-business lending collected by U.S. banking regulators to provide new evidence on how bank credit, in general, and bank credit to small businesses, in particular, were affected by the financial crisis.

Author: 
U.S. Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
11/01/2012
Bay Area Economic Assessment
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Description

This study finds that the Bay Area enjoys unique economic assets that have enabled it to prosper across economic cycles. It finds that a strategic focus on the sectors where it is most competitive and which have defined its global leadership offers the best opportunity to generate future jobs and growth. It also finds growing economic inequality, and a risk that significant parts of the population won’t share in the region’s general economic success.

Author: 
Bay Area Council Economic Institute
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
10/03/2012
IP and Women Entrepreneurs Part II
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This second part to the NWBC research project, Intellectual Property and Women Entrepreneurs, covers the qualitative research from the original report and centers on six focus groups with women entrepreneurs and business women. The focus groups were conducted in different parts of the nation. Two of these focus groups were with women who had successfully obtained a patent or trademark, two were with women who had applied for but did not receive a patent or trademark and the remaining two groups were with women who had never applied for a patent or trademark.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
09/10/2012
SBA Veterans Assistance Programs
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Description

Robert Jay Dilger and Sean Lowry of the Congressional Research Service examine the current state of SBA veteran loan programs, and consider whether, as some members of Congress have suggested, combining the program with other services would increase government efficiency.

Author: 
Congressional Research Service
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Microlending, Policy, Veterans
Publication Date: 
09/04/2012
Fast Facts on the California Economy
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California’s economy is one of the ninth largest in the world with a 2011 gross state product (GDP) of $1.95 trillion. In August 2012, the California unemployment rate decreased to 10.6%. The figure represented a 12,000 job increase over the prior month, leaving 1.9 million unemployed workers. The national unemployment rate decreased to 8.1% over the same period.

Author: 
Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
09/01/2012
Guide to Going Local
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We say we want vibrant local economies, healthy neighborhoods and downtown areas, and less sprawl into our outlying green spaces— but we don’t always support the existing local options that will help us realize this vision. Why does “going local” matter?

Author: 
The Center for a New American Dream and BALLE
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy)
Publication Date: 
08/30/2012
Immigrants Driving Small Business Creation
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Description

Robert Fairlie, writing for the Partnership for a New American Economy, looks at how immigrant-owned small and micro-businesses are driving job creation and growth in the United States.

Author: 
The Partnership for a New American Economy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Immigrants, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/23/2012
Creating an Economy Built to Last
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President Obama’s plan for supporting small and micro-businesses as they create jobs and drive innovation.

Author: 
National Economic Council
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/24/2012
Small Business Owner Report
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Description

Bank of America reports on small and micro-business owners, operators and entrepreneurs.

Author: 
Bank of America
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
05/23/2012
Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Access to Capital
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Description

Robert Fairlie of the Small Business Administration looks at how immigrant-owned businesses shape the economy.

Author: 
Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy
Categories: 
Economics (General), Immigrants, Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
05/03/2012
The State of Business Development
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Description

FIELD has released their findings from last year’s microenterprise Census, and so we take a look back at their 2012 report discussing business development services in the sector.

Author: 
FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
05/01/2012
Regional Food Hub Resource Guide
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Description

The USDA guide for food entrepreneurs and their supporters interested in starting or expanding food hubs.

Author: 
United States Department of Agriculture
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
04/23/2012
Sustainable Financial Institution Engagement
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Description

This report for the CFED looks at the Bank On programs that first emerged in San Francisco and have since moved piecemeal across the country.

Author: 
Corporation for Enterprise Development
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
03/27/2012
The State of Women-Owned Businesses
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Description

American Express OPEN provides stakeholders in the women’s enterprise development community with an up-to-date accounting of the state of women-owned businesses in the United States in 2012, building upon the great interest and success of its inaugural effort in 2011.

Author: 
American Express OPEN
Categories: 
Economics (General), Women
Publication Date: 
03/21/2012
Declining Size of Establishments
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Description

The Bureau of Labor Statistics examines the trend of businesses growing smaller, not larger, over the last two decades.

Author: 
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
03/16/2012
Veteran-Owned Businesses
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Description

The SBA’s office of advocacy reports on veteran-owned businesses and micro-businesses and entrepreneurship within the veteran community.

Author: 
U.S. Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Veterans
Publication Date: 
03/15/2012
IP and Women Entrepreneurs Part I
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Description

The number of women awarded patents has soared over the last several decades far beyond previously reported figures, and the percentage of trademarks granted to women has more than doubled, a new study commissioned by the National Women’s Business Council found.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
02/27/2012
The Self-Employment Tax Initiative
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Description

A report from the Center for Enterprise Development on tax preparation and small business.

Author: 
Center For Enterprise Development
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
02/13/2012
Impact of the Recession on California’s Women
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Description

A report from the California Budget Project on the effect of the Great Recession on Californian women.

Author: 
Women's Foundation, California Budget Project
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Women
Publication Date: 
02/12/2012
Healthcare Exchanges & Small Business
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Description

A three-part forum from the Small Business Majority on how to best implement the Small Business Health Options Program Exchange.

Author: 
Small Business Majority
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
02/11/2012
Start-Ups are Key to Job Creation
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Description

Martin A. Sullivan responds to a New York Times article about where new jobs come from in the United States; it isn’t where most people think.

Author: 
Martin A. Sullivan
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
01/13/2012
Women-Owned Firms in the U.S.
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Description

The 2007 data was fully released in June 2011, so the NWBC commissioned a private research company to study this data in-depth. The data was analyzed by different characteristics to further expand the current understanding of women-owned businesses and to search for any interesting or unique findings that bear further study.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
06/01/2012
Entrepreneurship at a Glance: 2011
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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development looks at key indicators on international entrepreneurship.

Author: 
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Categories: 
Economics (General), Immigrants
Publication Date: 
12/17/2011
Job Standards in Economic Development Programs
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Description

Many states offer subsidies to businesses operating within their borders, but many programs do not require any job creation, or mandate a minimum level of job quality to receive the subsidy. Good Jobs First reports.

Author: 
Good Jobs First
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
12/15/2011
The Great Recession and Income Distribution
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The Public Policy Institute of California looks at how the Great Recession affected income distribution in the state.

Author: 
Public Policy Institute of California
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
12/13/2011
State of Small Business Report
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Pepperdine Business School reports on small business in the state of California. (Spoilers: They’re in favor.)

Author: 
Dr. John K. Paglia
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
11/13/2018
Earnings of Female Hispanic Entrepreneurs
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Using microdata from the 2001-2009 American Community Surveys, the 2000 U.S. decennial census, and the 2001-2011 Current Population Surveys, this paper analyzes the earnings and employment patterns of Hispanic entrepreneurs in the first decade of the 2000s. In light of this population’s heterogeneity, our analyses also consider gender- and immigrant-related outcomes. The findings indicate a rising presence of Hispanics in the entrepreneurial sector during the 2000s, especially for immigrants. This increase resulted from the overall growth in the Hispanic population in the U.S. as well as from rising self-employment rates within the Hispanic workforce. Analyses of earnings further indicate that the most recent recession offset some (but not all) of the progress Hispanic women had made with respect to reducing their self-employment “penalties” in the decade, but this was not the case for Hispanic men. Moreover, the recession led to higher rates of microentrepreneurship (defined as having fewer than ten employees) among the self-employed, particularly for foreign-born Hispanic women. These findings indicate Hispanic entrepreneurial growth appeared to have a positive impact on job creation in the 2000s, but mostly at the scale of smaller firms, especially near the end of the decade. The paper concludes with a set of policy implications.

Author: 
Marie T. Mora, Alberto Davila
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
11/10/2011
Survey of High-Performing Small Businesses
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The Gazelle Index is a new national quarterly survey of the current conditions, optimism and future hiring plans of high-performing minority, women and nonminority small firms. Over time, we believe the results will indicate that the views and expectations of small business owners are leading indicators of economic activity. The CEOs of small firms, unlike those of large corporations, are more closely connected to their sales force and as such, are more attuned to turning points in the economy. The Gazelle Index emphasizes businesses owned by minorities and women because they represent 50% of the nation’s 27 million small businesses. In fact, the Census Bureau’s latest Survey of Business Owners found that, between 2002 and 2007, the growth of minority- and women-owned businesses exceeded that of nonminority-owned firms in number, earnings, and employment. Despite their high representation, there is no official market sensitive indicator of the performance of minority and women-owned businesses — and remarkably few indicators of small business activity in general.

Author: 
Thomas D. Boston
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
11/10/2011
Local Roles in Small Business Culture
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Description

Local officials widely recognize that economic competitiveness is contingent upon a strong and growing entrepreneurial and small business community. This is particularly relevant given the national dialogue promoting entrepreneurs and small businesses as key drivers of economic recovery. In order for these businesses to thrive, however, they need a place, or local culture, that does not create barriers and is supportive of their development. While local governments do not necessarily create new businesses, their programs and policies heavily influence this local culture. Building on previous survey research and in-depth fieldwork, we develop a framework to begin to understand and define the underlying characteristics of local efforts supportive of a small business and entrepreneurial culture. We offer case studies of four promising programs in Wichita, Kan., New York, N.Y., Seattle, Wash. and Boston, Mass. to illustrate these characteristics in practice.

Author: 
National League of Cities, Center for Research and Innovation
Categories: 
Local Economy (DIY Economy), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
11/09/2011
Policies to Increase Financial Security
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Description

24 low-cost, politically viable state policy ideas from the Corporation for Enterprise Development to increase financial security and opportunity in tough fiscal times.

Author: 
Corporation for Enterprise Development
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
11/01/2011
Determinants of Rural Self-Employment
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The sustained surge in rural self-employment since 2000 has largely gone unnoticed by policymakers and rural economic developers. Here we document this increase and identify variables associated with expanding self-employment using county-level data. Our regression analysis draws largely on two previous studies, which we update and refine by using more nuanced measures of rural. Results provide mixed evidence about the importance of capital access to self-employment growth but reveal that different policies are needed in rural counties depending on their proximity to metro areas and overall population size if the goal is to increase future rural self-employment rates.

Author: 
Stephan J. Goetz, Anil Rupasingha
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Rural
Publication Date: 
10/17/2011
Building Infrastructure for Entrepreneurship
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Description

This study examines the creation and configuration of infrastructure for entrepreneurship. Using the case of nanotechnology’s emergence, I show how the three elements of infrastructure, public resource endowments, institutional arrangements, and proprietary functions, are generated by a common set of actors, simultaneously, leading to boundary obfuscation and competition. Entrepreneurs did not wait until a critical mass of infrastructure accumulated but started firms despite the lack of infrastructure. The earliest entrepreneurs endured a trifecta of burdens: their liability of newness, nascent market uncertainty, and ambiguity in the emergence of the technology itself. In exchange, early entrepreneurs were part of the infrastructure creation and configuration process. Additionally, I find that infrastructure is not measured by the number of resources within an element or the efficacy. Infrastructure configures because of interactions between elements, in the space between the actors and elements where boundaries blur.

Author: 
Jennifer J. Woolley
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
10/06/2011
Implications of Access to Capital by Young Firms
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In the aftermath of the latest financial crisis, policy-makers at all levels are concerned about the impact of the crisis on access to financial resources by young firms, particularly as major changes occur in bank-lending practices and uncertainties surround the implementation of financial reform legislation. In this paper, we analyze the types and sources of financing used in young firms over the years 2007 through 2009. We find differential outcomes for firms who applied for loans and received them, those who applied and were denied, and those which did not apply for fear of denial. We explore the factors that mitigate the decision to apply for a loan and the subsequent outcomes of firm survival and growth. Our work provides insights into the relative importance of supply and demand for financing both prior to and subsequent to the financial shocks. We leverage various measures and perceptions to disentangle the decision to seek bank loans from the likelihood of receiving a loan based on credit scores and other objective measures. We find that both tangible and intangible assets, particularly intellectual property, play a significant role in receipt of bank loans in the firms’ early years of operation.

Author: 
Sheryl Winston Smith, Alicia M. Robb
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Policy
Publication Date: 
09/30/2011
Women in Green
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On behalf of the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), Hart Research conducted two focus groups on August 31, 2011, among 13 self-described “established” or “aspiring” female entrepreneurs attending the “Women in Green” Forum in Santa Monica, California. It should be noted that the findings presented here reflect the fact that nearly all of the participants are in the early stages of establishing new business ventures. It also is important to remember that our participants made a conscious choice to attend (and pay for) the Forum, a fact that may differentiate them significantly from other entrepreneurs in the green sector (or other sectors).

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
09/27/2011
Overcoming the Gender Gap
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Despite recent gains, women still lag behind men on key measures of start-up activity, and their firms tend not to grow or prosper as much. The Kauffman Foundation reports on how we can better tap into this under-utilized economic resource.

Author: 
Lesa Mitchell, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Categories: 
Economics (General), Women
Publication Date: 
09/01/2011
Women-Owned Businesses 1997-2007
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Description

The most recent in Advocacy’s periodic series of reports on businesses owned by women and men.

Author: 
Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Women
Publication Date: 
09/01/2011
Jobs, Infrastructure & the Workforce
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California, and the nation as a whole, still can seize economic opportunities, but only if both overcome these multiplying sets of challenges – challenges made even tougher by the ongoing economic downturn and lingering effects from the “Great Recession.”

Author: 
Think Long Committee For California
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
09/01/2011
Small Business Finance FAQ
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This document sketches the ecosystem or life-cycle of small business financing. The FAQ format allows users to browse through topics and learn about specific issues. Small businesses, which include startups in such sectors as information technology, service, retail, and manufacturing, have varying financial needs.

Author: 
Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
09/02/2011
Structure of Nonfinancial Industries
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We exploit variation in commercial bank capital ratios across states to identify the impact of higher capital ratios on firm creation and size in the manufacturing industries. We control for omitted financial and nonfinancial variables that may affect firm dynamics by exploiting variation in external finance dependence across industries. Our panel regressions suggest that, for industries dependent on external finance, a percentage point increase in the capital ratio has no statistically significant effect on firm creation but leads to a decline in average firm size, as measured in employees, of 0.7 to 1.4 percent the following year and a decline of 4 to 6 percent in the long term. The number of firms might not necessarily decline in response to more limited access to finance as setting up a business may not be that costly and some of the displaced workers may actually establish new businesses. Our results highlight the potential effects that tightening capital adequacy standards, such as Basel III, may have on firm dynamics in the industries dependent on external finance.

Author: 
Seung Jung Lee, Viktors Stebunovs
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
08/25/2011
Small Businesses in Recent Recoveries
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Small businesses play a vital role in the U.S. economy. These firms produce half of private GDP, employ half the private workforce, and are the source of most job creation in the U.S., accounting for roughly two-thirds of new net private sector jobs over the past two decades.1 The importance of small firms to production and job creation makes their health fundamental to economic growth. Data from the National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) 350,000 member businesses indicate that in the current recovery period, these firms are suffering from unusually low levels of sales and earnings, investing less, and hiring fewer workers than in previous recoveries, exacerbating the nation’s unemployment situation and contributing to a lackluster rebound from the most severe U.S. recession since the Great Depression. Statistics on the small business sector are not readily available, but the NFIB data suggest that this sector is dramatically underperforming. Because half of the economy is not growing, we have not enjoyed the kind of growth experienced in past recoveries.

Author: 
Michael J. Chow, William C. Dunkelberg
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/25/2011
What Do Small Businesses Do?
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Description

Substantial differences exists among U.S. small businesses owners; Erik Hurst and Benjamin Wild Pugsley show few small businesses intend to bring a new idea to market.

Author: 
Erik Hurst and Benjamin Wild Pugsley
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
08/17/2011
Economic Growth Agenda for CA
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How California can retake control and drive forward again, moving California back into the lead on sustainable growth and real job creation—regaining our leadership role as America’s opportunity capital.

Author: 
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
07/29/2011
Unauthorized Immigrants in CA
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Description

Unauthorized immigrants have been a part of many California industries and communities for decades, but recent and comprehensive information about the numbers and location of this population within California—at the county and sub-county level—does not exist.

Author: 
Laura E. Hill, Hans P. Johnson
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Immigrants, Rural
Publication Date: 
07/17/2011
CDFI Growth & Sustainability
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Description

This report will increase our understanding of challenges CDFIs face at different points in their development.

Author: 
Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
06/19/2011
WIA: How is Federal Funding Spent?


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Description

Hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated annually to California through the federal Workforce Investment Act, and most local Workforce Investment Boards report spending far less on job training than on employment services at One-Stop Career Centers.

Author: 
California Senate Office of Research
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Economics (CA), Policy
Publication Date: 
05/19/2011
Evaluating Mentorship Programs
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Mentor-Protégé Programs exist in many federal agencies to help small businesses gain technical and business skills from large prime contractors and to build networks and experience that will help them compete and succeed in the federal contracting landscape. Started by the Department of Defense in 1991, there are now many versions of Mentor-Protégé Programs that share similar objectives but have different programmatic and incentive structures. The National Women’s Business Council conducted a research initiative to learn how well Mentor-Protégé Programs are serving women-owned businesses and how they might be strengthened to help women-owned businesses become an even greater engine driving economic recovery.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
04/27/2011
Are Big Banks Failing Consumers?
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This report examines the six largest banks in California to evaluate the extent to which bank products and services are accessible to California’s under-served communities.

Author: 
California Reinvestment Coalition
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
03/19/2011
How For-Profit Lenders Serve Microentrepreneurs
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Description

It is important to understand what this changing marketplace might hold. What are the implications of this new landscape of providers for microentrepreneurs and the nonprofit microlending industry?

Author: 
Luz Gomez, Elaine L. Edgcomb, FIELD at the Aspen Institute
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Microlending
Publication Date: 
03/18/2011
State of Women-Owned Businesses
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Using data from the three most recent business census surveys, the most recent just published in December 2010, this report provides estimates of the number, employment and revenues of women-owned firms as of 2011.

Author: 
American Express OPEN
Categories: 
Women
Publication Date: 
03/17/2011
Micro-Lending Pilot Program Report
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The Dolores Huerta Foundation set out to launch a micro-lending pilot program, building capacity by researching small business curricula and micro-enterprise development models. Additionally, site visits were made to glean best practices and observe successful micro-lending operations.

Author: 
Dolores Huerta Foundation
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Immigrants, Microbusiness, Microlending, Minorities
Publication Date: 
02/11/2011
Job Creation on a Budget
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Properly designed, industry clusters are a low-cost way to stimulate innovation, new-firm start-ups, and job creation by helping to link and align the many factors that influence firm and regional growth.

Author: 
Mark Muro, Kenan Fikri
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
01/19/2011
Launching Women-Owned Businesses For Growth
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This paper provides a foundation for the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) to develop and launch a major initiative targeted at helping women achieve high levels of business growth. NWBC is the single government organization that focuses exclusively on ensuring that this nation’s economy realizes the full potential of one of its fastest-growing segments – women-owned businesses. Integral to achieving this mission is to be a catalyst for women-owned businesses creating jobs and generating revenue.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/27/2010
Job Creation through Entrepreneurship
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Is microenterprise development an effective job creation strategy during a recession? Key findings on women who entered employment, self-employment, providing jobs for others, job retention and creation, and full-time jobs.

Author: 
Elizabeth de Renzy
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/07/2010
Intuit 2020 Trends Report
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With a new decade upon us, a range of demographic, economic, social, and technological shifts are changing the way we live and operate around the world. The Intuit 2020 report looks at the significant trends and forces that are affecting consumers and small businesses, and those who serve them, over the next decade.

Author: 
Intuit, Inc & Emergent Research
Categories: 
Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/18/2010
Capital Availability in Inner Cities
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In this paper, we examine a key driver of business success—access to financial capital—and discuss current and potential roles of federal policy in ensuring access to capital for inner-city businesses. Access to capital has historically been a problem in low-to-moderate income (LMI) areas, illustrated most extremely in so-called “redlining,” a term coined in the 1960s to describe the practice of refusing to make loans or write insurance policies based on neighborhood characteristics, rather than merits of would-be borrowers. While this practice is illegal, the persistence of the “capital gap” has become a contentious issue among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Some believe that major regulatory efforts focused on improving credit access in LMI areas, such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), have rendered the capital gap a problem of the past. Others believe that despite significant improvements, large barriers continue to exist, creating a shortage of capital for even investment-worthy inner city businesses. Resolving this debate is critical for designing appropriate public and private sector responses to the anemic economic performance in inner cities. 

Author: 
Initiative for a Competitive Inner City
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
10/18/2010
Business Relocation & Homegrown Jobs
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Relocation accounts for a smaller share of job gains and losses in California than in most other states, in part because most California businesses lie far from the border of neighboring states.

Author: 
Jed Kolko
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
09/19/2010
Startups in Job Creation and Destruction
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Without start-ups, there would be no net job growth in the U.S. economy. This fact is true on average, but also is true for all but seven years for which the United States has data going back to 1977.

Author: 
Tim Kane
Categories: 
Economics (General)
Publication Date: 
07/19/2010
Policy Priorities of Women Business Owners
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On June 16, 2010, a summit of women business owners was held in Salem, Massachusetts, at the historic Hawthorne Hotel. Since the earliest Colonial times, Salem has been a major commercial center in a regional economy based on industries as varied as international maritime spice trade and textile manufacturing. Now, as the Greater Boston/North Shore region builds a twenty-first-century economy based on tourism, technology, and creativity, women entrepreneurs have the opportunity to play a key role. At this summit, women business owners on Boston’s North Shore shared their priorities, challenges, and concerns to help the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) to articulate policy recommendations for the consideration of the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
06/27/2010
Microenterprises in the Economy
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A Senate Office of Research report concerning the microenterprise sector in California, the number of microenterprises in California, the number of persons employed and jobs created by them, share of workforce in urban and rural counties, and changes in state/federal tax revenues due to the sector.

Author: 
California Senate Office of Research
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
06/23/2010
Policy Needs for Rural California
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USDA Rural Development hosted forty-three forums across California and connected with almost 900 Californians from all reaches of the state, who  voiced their issues and shared their ideas for stimulating their local economies and creating jobs.

Author: 
USDA Rural Development
Categories: 
Economics (CA), Rural
Publication Date: 
02/09/2010
Women Entrepreneurs Worldwide
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This Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report seeks to understand global differences in the frequency and nature of women’s entrepreneurship, and makes comparisons with men across various societies.

Author: 
Donna J. Kelley, Candida G. Brush, Patricia G. Greene and Yana Litovsky, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
Categories: 
Economics (General), Women
Publication Date: 
01/20/2010
Growing Through Entrepreneurship
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This IMPAQ evaluation of Project GATE addresses the following questions: Could Project GATE be replicated? Was Project GATE effective in increasing business ownership, employment, and self-sufficiency?

Author: 
Jacob Benus, Theodore Shen, Sisi Zhang, Marc Chan, Benjamin Hansen, IMPAQ International
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness
Publication Date: 
12/20/2009
Latina Entrepreneur SBE
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This paper compares earnings of Latina entrepreneurs to both Latina wage/salary workers and to self-employed female non-Hispanic whites. Latina entrepreneurs are observed to have lower mean earnings than both white female entrepreneurs and Latina employees. However, our findings indicate that Latina entrepreneurs often do well, once differences in mean observable characteristics, such as education, are taken into account.

Author: 
Magnus Lofstrom, Timothy Bates
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
12/19/2009
Impact of Women-Owned Businesses
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For the first time, the Center for Women’s Business Research has utilized a methodology to measure the economic impact of the estimated 8 million U.S. businesses currently majority women-owned. Today, women-owned firms have an economic impact of $3 trillion annually that translates into the creation and/or maintenance of more than 23 million jobs – 16 percent of all U.S. jobs! These jobs not only sustain the individual worker but contribute to the economic security of their families, the economic vitality of their communities and the nation.

Author: 
Center for Women's Business Research
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/27/2009
Priorities and Challenges of Women Business Owners
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To further its role of advising the President, Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration on issues related to women’s business ownership, the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) held a series of six town hall meetings with women business owners around the country throughout 2007 and 2008. The objective of the meetings was to hear from women business owners about their views on national-level policy issues in order to inform the Council’s future recommendations to government leaders.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
08/27/2009
Latina Entrepreneurship Trends
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Latinos play an important role in the self-employment growth. Fueled by immigration, they are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the US. With high employment rates and a lack of labor market success, what are alternative policies to improve economic outcomes?

Author: 
Magnus Lofstrom, Public Policy Institute of California and IZA
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness, Minorities, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
08/20/2009
Successful Practices for Women Entrepreneurship Programs
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC)  released a report which analyzes successful practices of entrepreneurship programs serving women students and offers tips to educational institutions looking to expand their programs for current and future women entrepreneurs. The two-part report, Successful Practices for Establishing and Modifying Entrepreneurship Programs for Women, reflects the Council’s commitment to increasing access to educational opportunities for women business owners.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Capacity Building, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
07/27/2009
Policy Priorities of Women Business Owners
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On April 29, 2009, a town hall meeting of women business owners was held in Atlanta at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Student Center. Hosted and facilitated by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), this meeting was the seventh in a series of meetings that began in March 2007. NWBC designed these conversations to generate grassroots‐level recommendations from women business owners for the ultimate consideration of the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/27/2009
Do Enterprise Zones Create Jobs?
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In this Public Policy Institute of California report, the authors assess the degree to which the state’s largest economic development program has met its most important goal: creating employment.

Author: 
Jed Kolko, David Neumark, Public Policy Institute of California
Categories: 
Economics (CA)
Publication Date: 
06/20/2009
Tiny Business Creates Large Change
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The real heart of job growth in the small business community is businesses with fewer than five employees. Addressing the needs of this segment can generate profound positive economic and social consequences.

Author: 
Terry Bibbens, Philip Borden
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy
Publication Date: 
01/20/2009
Mexican-American Self-Employment
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This paper analyzes causes of the low self-employment rate among Mexican-Americans by studying self-employment entry and exits. Importantly, the authors analyze self-employment by recognizing heterogeneity in business ownership across industries and show that a classification of firms by human and financial capital “intensiveness”, or entry barriers, is effective in explaining differences in entrepreneurship across ethnic groups.

Author: 
Magnus Lofstrom, Chunbei Wang
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
01/19/2009
Minority Women Businesses Growing Fast
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The Center for Women’s Business Research found that businesses owned by African American, Asian, and Hispanic women business owners substantially outpace all U.S. firms in the growth of revenues and number of employees.

Author: 
Center for Women's Business Research
Categories: 
Economics (General), Microbusiness, Minorities, Women
Publication Date: 
11/20/2008
Local Economic Development Policy Impacts
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This study analyzes the relationship between local economic development policy and economic growth in a data set of 412 U.S. cities. Local government leaders in the U.S. employ a multitude of programs and policies in the name of economic development. The past few decades have seen a surge in local economic development policies, yet research analyzing their effectiveness is sparse.

Author: 
Stuart Strother
Categories: 
Economics (General), Policy
Publication Date: 
12/20/2007
Contributions of Women-Led Businesses
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The economic impact of women business owners has long gone understated, according to a new two-part study released by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) today. Based on custom datasets from the Census Bureau’s 2002 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO), the reports assess the economic impact of women-owned and women-led firms on the U.S. economy by examining their receipts, compensation, geography, industry, and ethnography. The 2002 SBO is the most current information available on the distribution and contribution of women-led businesses.

Author: 
Small Business Administration, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
11/27/2007
NWBC Town Hall Meetings
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In March and June 2007, the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) held town hall meetings with women business owners in St. Louis, Missouri and in Portland, Oregon. The objective of the meetings was to collect viewpoints and ideas from women business owners that could inform the Council’s policy positions and their future recommendations to government leaders.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
09/27/2007
Hispanic Self-Employment Entry
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This article examines causes of the low self-employment rates among Mexican-Hispanics by studying self-employment entry. The data show that Mexican-Hispanics are less likely to be self-employed or enter self-employment, relative to non-Hispanic whites. Also, the lower self-employment entry rates among Mexican-Hispanics are due to lower entry rates into business ownership of firms in relatively high-barrier industries. In fact, Hispanics are more likely to start up a business in a low-barrier industry than whites.

Author: 
Magnus Lofstrom, Chunbei Wang
Categories: 
Immigrants, Microbusiness, Minorities
Publication Date: 
09/20/2007
State Differences in Women-Owned Business Performance
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) released a new study, Explaining State-Level Differences in Women-Owned Business Performance, which indicates that the success of women-owned businesses is impacted by particular state-level factors, such as the availability of technology infrastructure and an educated workforce. Using the U.S. Census Bureau’s special tabulations of 1997-2001 data on women-owned businesses’ (WOB) performance, the research is one of the first attempts to evaluate systematically the influence of factors that underlie state differences in WOB performance.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
03/13/2006
Impact of the Women’s Business Center Program
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Between 2001 and 2003, the U.S. Small Business Administration provided $37 million in funding to up to 92 women’s business centers across the country. A new analysis of data provided by these centers to the SBA shows that this investment is paying off in increasing numbers of clients counseled, businesses started, and new jobs created.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
07/27/2004
Best Practices in Supporting Women’s Entrepreneurship
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The historic growth of women-owned businesses in the United States has generated increased demand for the creation of innovative programs and policies to foster their growth. For the first time, two new reports from the National Women’s Business Council document this progress by examining current best practices in support of women’s entrepreneurship and by recording the history of policies that have resulted in today’s unprecedented 10.6 million U.S. businesses in which women are equal or majority owners.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Business Development Services, Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
06/27/2004
Supporting Women’s Business Enterprise Growth
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The historic growth of women-owned businesses in the United States has generated increased demand for the creation of innovative programs and policies to foster their growth. For the first time, two new reports from the National Women’s Business Council document this progress by examining current best practices in support of women’s entrepreneurship and by recording the history of policies that have resulted in today’s unprecedented 10.6 million U.S. businesses in which women are equal or majority owners.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
05/27/2004
Enterprising Women’s Legacy and Future
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A series of roundtable discussions with women entrepreneurs and others in the women’s enterprise community provided a revealing perspective on the tremendous accomplishments of women entrepreneurs since this Nation’s founding, as well as the challenges faced by women business owners today and how those challenges can be better met in the future.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
11/27/2003
Women’s Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century
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Access to capital and affordable health insurance and the state of the economy top the list of concerns for America’s women business owners, according to a study released by the National Women’s Business Council. The study compiled polling responses from participants attending five entrepreneurship summits entitled, “Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century,” which were co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Small Business Administration, with support from the National Women’s Business Council.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
09/27/2003
Mentoring in the Business Environment
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Mentoring programs most beneficial to women business owners are well matched to the stage of business development and offer specific elements unique to women’s mentoring practices. So says a study released by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC). The report, “Mentoring in the Business Environment,” examines existing, formal mentoring programs for women and men business owners by comparing program structures, identifying best practices, and exploring the unique characteristics among programs geared specifically to women. The study also reviews existing research on mentoring for women business owners and suggests avenues for additional exploration such as e-mentoring.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Capacity Building, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
05/27/2003
Access to Healthcare for Women-Owned Businesses
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Women business owners are growing increasingly concerned about the difficulty of securing affordable health-care coverage for employees. It is estimated that 60 percent of the 41 million uninsured Americans reside in families with members employed by small businesses. The NWBC estimates that 7.3 million of the uninsured are employees or families of employees of the 9.1 million women-owned firms in the U.S. This report takes an in-depth look at this critical issue and includes an analysis of current research and the alternative solutions that have been proposed.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
04/27/2003
Roundtable on Healthcare For Women-Owned Businesses
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The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) recognizes the need for more information about this critical issue and has conducted an analysis of current research and the alternative solutions that have been proposed. This report, “Access to Affordable Health Coverage for Women-Owned Businesses: A Summary of Key Issues and Policy Options,” is now available at the NWBC’s Web site, www.nwbc.gov (or by clicking http://www.nwbc.gov/ResearchPublications/listReports.html ). In response to the feedback and input received from women business owners across the country, the NWBC also convened a Roundtable discussion in February to hear from those who are directly affected by this problem. The Roundtable brought together women business owners, business association leaders, issue experts, and public policymakers from across the U.S. to discuss not only the concerns involved in providing affordable health care coverage but also the most effective solutions that can be considered in the 108th Congress. A complete transcript of this event is now available at the NWBC’s website, www.nwbc.gov (or by clicking http://www.nwbc.gov/ResearchPublications/listReports.html ). The transcript includes testimony from Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Hector Barreto, and Representative Donald Manzullo, Chair of the House Committee on Small Business.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Policy, Women
Publication Date: 
03/27/2003
Helping Women Business Owners Access Capital
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A study released by the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) features successful programs from around the country which provide women business owners with the knowledge and assistance to secure capital.

Author: 
National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Capacity Building, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
09/27/2002
Women-Led Firms and VC Investing
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This study on venture capital funding for women- and minority-led businesses confirms that despite the growth in equity investment, women and minority entrepreneurs still are receiving only a very small share of equity capital. Three possible reasons why such firms may receive less equity investment are: choice of industry, geographic location, and business size.

Author: 
Small Business Administration, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Access to Capital, Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
10/20/2001
Stats on Women-Owned Businesses
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This publication is a single-source document of statistical information about women’s business ownership in the United States. It includes the most sought-after facts and figures on women’s entrepreneurship in the U.S., and includes a bibliography of both source references and recommended publications. This compendium is intended to help decision-makers navigate through the inconsistencies and patchwork of available information to gain a more complete picture of the trends in women’s entrepreneurship in the U.S. It also brings together in one place all of the relevant information about women-owned businesses and their owners.

Author: 
Center for Women's Business Research, National Women's Business Council
Categories: 
Microbusiness, Women
Publication Date: 
09/27/2001
Self-Employment Assistance Programs
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DTI Associates (June 2001) This report on Self-Employment Assistance Programs catalogs the eight state programs that were established between 1995 and 1999 and presents participant outcomes that were collected through a survey of former participants. In addition to cataloging the details of program operation in each of the states, DTI Associates reports participant outcomes as well as differences in participant outcomes from those of a comparison group that did not participate in SEA, even though they had been eligible.

Author: 
William T. Kosanovich, Heather Fleck, DTI Associates, Inc
Categories: 
Policy
Publication Date: 
06/20/2001

If you know of any reports or papers on these topics that don’t appear in this database, please send a link or PDF to: hpickman@CAMEOnetwork.org.