Minority Coalition Calls Out Small Business Administrator Mills

“It is time for SBA Administrator Karen Mills to prove that she is an agent of change for minority businesses and not a “politician of capital” as many SBA Administrators of the past.  But for the first year minority businesses are witnessing that Administrator Mills lacks both the courage and leadership to provide true access to capital for minority businesses that are the cornerstone for job creation in distressed minority communities.  The facts speak tor themselves:  Decline in SBA Loans:  45.3% (Latinos) 30.8 % (Asian) 19.7% (African Americans).  Since the days of Abraham Lincoln, the federal government was the only governmental body that communities of color could rely on to provide some sense of protection from racism or outright bigotry.  We witnessed this with the end of slavery, civil rights legislation and continued civil rights violations by the Federal Attorney General’s office.  The U.S. Small Business Administration is a federal agency that must follow this same path to ensure that minority businesses are engaged in the global economy.  Minority Low and moderate income communities (which is over 70% of them) have unemployment rates of over 20% on the average.  Poverty rates are always in line with these unemployment rates.  Small businesses are the foundation of job creation in our communities and capital is their fuel.  A good paying job will allow the accumulation of assets for people of color but our families are asset poor compared to Whites (16.4 White vs. 37.2% people of color).  Asset building is the cornerstone for stabilizing distressed communities.  But without capital this is merely a mirage.  Capitalism without Capital is just an ISM…the U.S. SBA Administration is contributing to massive ISM’s in communities of color.  It is time for you to step up to the plate for communities of color that will allow our families to become significant contributors to our nation’s Gross Domestic Product.  We at FMCRC call on the U.S. Small Business Administration to do the following:  

—         Participate in regional panels on access to credit for minority-owned small businesses

—         Advocate that ARRA dollars are allocated equitably to minority-run businesses

—         Provide increased SBIC investment 0pportunities for Minority Owned Enterprises

—         Increasing Diversity in your top management at SBA

—         Develop a nationwide diversity advisory panel to engage solutions to the decline of SBA lending to minority businesses