From the Director

Greetings!

The Obama Administration and the Department of Commerce are committed to creating a level playing field so that all American businesses have a fair shot at creating the jobs Americans need and exporting the goods and services the rest of the world demands.  At MBDA that commitment translates into giving minority entrepreneurs the tools and resources they need to succeed and opening up opportunities, often in areas where they have had limited success in the past. Winning federal contracts is a great example.

Supporting the growth and global competitiveness of minority-owned businesses is a priority for the Department of Commerce and the Obama Administration.

And we’re making good on that priority. Last year, the Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) registered the best annual performance in its 41-year history. It assisted minority-owned businesses in gaining access to nearly $4 billion in contracts and capital, supporting the creation of nearly 6,000 much-needed jobs. Over the last three years, our network of 39 MBDA Business Centers, has been largely responsible for generating $10 billion in contracts and capital while helping to create and save nearly 20,000 jobs.

Today, the challenge for MBDA– like so many organizations across the federal government – is to figure out how we build on that record while becoming more efficient.  A number of bureaus right here within the Commerce Department are facing a similar challenge, which has led, for example, to consolidating or otherwise cutting several programs in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), restructuring some units within International Trade Administration (ITA) and shifting the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) emphasis to regional innovation strategies. So how do we meet the President’s mandate to improve services to minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in an increasingly difficult budget environment?

In support of the President’s call to increase collaboration among federal agencies and with private and public sector entities, there has been an abundance of interagency initiatives geared to increase job creation and entrepreneurship. Among these, MBDA has partnered with other federal agencies in support of the Job and Innovation Accelerator, Strong Cities, Strong Communities and Start-Up America.

As a federal partner, MBDA is providing technical support to grantees of the Job Accelerator to identify and match minority businesses with potential procurement opportunities resulting from the 20 regional innovation clusters.  Moreover, we are excited that three MBDA Business Center operators won grants to implement the Job Accelerator projects.  MBDA also has boots on the ground in New Orleans and Fresno, California to support economic development, business formation and expansion in those cities as part of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative. In addition, MBDA continues to participate in the Start-Up America initiative to support business formation and innovation.

As many of you may know, last year the President signed into law The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly known as the Dodd-Frank Act, to promote the financial stability of America and to protect consumers from abusive financial service practices, among other purposes.  In particular, the law brought many changes to increase transparency and accountability in the financial industry, strengthen consumer protection against unfair lending practices, and to promote greater inclusion of minorities and women in the employment and procurement of federal financial regulatory agencies.  The law established the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion at the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among other federal financial regulatory agencies.

Greetings,

Recently, President Obama presented an aggressive plan to help small businesses get Americans back to work. The American Jobs Act would provide payroll tax cuts for 98% of businesses, a $4,000 tax credit for hiring workers who have been unemployed for more than six months, and extend the 100% expensing tax credit for large and small businesses.

The plan also includes provisions to expand job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults through a new Pathways Back to Work Fund that supports summer and year round jobs for youth; innovative new job training programs to connect low-income workers to jobs quickly; and successful programs to encourage employers to bring on disadvantaged workers. 

The President is also directing executive branch agencies to accelerate their payments to small business contractors so they can reinvest that money in the economy and drive job growth.  Additionally, the President is tasking his CFO and CTO with creating a one-stop, online portal for small businesses to easily access government services.