Press Releases

Friday, January 21, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, PA – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) joined David Hinson, National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, to meet with minority business leaders and small business owners from Philadelphia to discuss ways in which Congress and the federal government can stimulate growth of minority businesses in Philadelphia and the Commonwealth. Senator Casey discussed legislation to protect minority and women-owned businesses and help them succeed in creating jobs in Pennsylvania.

“I am pleased to be joined today by Director Hinson as we discuss issues vital to business owners in Philadelphia,” said Senator Casey.  “Especially in the current economic climate, supporting small businesses is vital to our economic recovery.  Today we had a great dialogue on how we can help small and minority-owned businesses by protecting them from fraud and providing support for them to grow and create jobs.”

Council will support continued growth of the minority business community

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the appointment of 25 individuals to serve on the newly established National Advisory Council for Minority Business Enterprises.  The advisory council, led by the Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), is the first council focused on promoting the minority business community since the early 1970s. 

The new council will provide advice and recommendations to Locke and the administration on a broad range of policy issues affecting the minority business community as part of the Obama administration’s focus on creating new jobs and strengthening the U.S. economy.  Recent Census data show that the number of minority-owned firms is growing at a significant rate, yet the gap in revenue between minority-owned and non-minority-owned firms is substantial.  Disparities in access to capital have also been recently documented in a report commissioned by MBDA.   

Hispanic-owned businesses outpace growth of non-minority-owned firms, but are still underrepresented based on population

WASHINGTON (September 21, 2010) – The U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the U.S. Census Bureau today announced that the number of Hispanic-owned firms increased by nearly 44 percent between 2002 and 2007 to 2.3 million, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 Survey of Business Owners. Employment at these firms also grew by 26 percent from 1.5 million to 1.9 million workers, significantly higher than that of non-minority-owned firms.

“It is encouraging that the Hispanic business community is growing, but we need to create the right conditions for Hispanic-owned businesses to grow more quickly,” MBDA’s National Director David A. Hinson said.  “We encourage Hispanic-owned businesses to explore new markets and take advantage of their existing cultural, family or business ties in foreign countries to export as a means to grow and compete in today’s global economy.”

WASHINGTON (August 18, 2010) – Today the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)  announced that Ronald R. Davenport, chairman of Sheridan Communications Corporation and co-chair of the American Urban Radio Networks, has been selected as the winner of the 2010 Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award.  The award will be presented at an awards gala on Friday, August 27, at 7:00 pm at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. during the annual Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Dennis Hightower and MBDA National Director David A. Hinson will participate in the awards presentation.

The Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award recognizes individuals who are willing to take risks and innovate to achieve change and have demonstrated exceptional leadership by significantly enhancing the development of diversity in the domestic and global economies.  The award is named in honor of Ronald H. Brown, the first African American Secretary of Commerce.