New Actions from the White House Aim to Help Small Businesses
Small Business Saturday might be over for 2023, but the Biden Administration is hoping to keep the momentum going—outlining new initiatives that aim to increase support for small businesses across the country. The administration has made huge investments in small businesses under what Biden himself refers to as “Bidenomics”; this economic philosophy involves growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up, rather than top-down. The White House website even notes that “under President Biden, Americans have filed a record 14.6 million applications to start businesses – a sign that the historic investment in small businesses is driving confidence and optimism from entrepreneurs, and generating more resilient and competitive markets.” From 2019—2022, the share of family-owned businesses went up by 9 percent. Today, we’ll lay out the new actions that were recently announced.
- $50 million investment in small businesses from American Rescue Plan funds. The U.S. Department of the Treasury “announced the approval of 20 additional state awards under the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Technical Assistance Grant Program, totaling more than $50.8 million. These awards will be used to provide legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to eligible small businesses applying for the SSBCI capital program and other government small business programs,” according to a press release on the Treasury’s website. These funds were designed to help over 10,000 small businesses owned by people in underserved communities.
- Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) partner even more closely to invest in rural small businesses. Via a memorandum of understanding, the USDA and SBA are “committing to increase investments in small and underserved communities to help grow the rural economy and create good-paying jobs for people nationwide.” The agencies can now work together to offer joint trainings, technical assistance, and mentorship opportunities for rural SMBs and entrepreneurs; help agricultural producers determine how to export their products; and more.
In addition, it was announced that the Small Business Administration “delivered $50 billion to small businesses in Fiscal Year 2023, with major increases in support for underserved businesses, including minority-owned businesses.” Minority lending has increased from 23 percent to over 32 percent, while lending to women-owned businesses has increased a staggering 70 percent since 2020. And when it comes to Veteran-owned small businesses? Those loans are up by one-third in the last 3 years.
Check out the White House press release for even more details on how the Biden administration is supporting small businesses.
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