WASHINGTON –U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary Landrieu, D-La., today brought together lawmakers, small business leaders, and researchers together to discuss the role small businesses can play in reducing the wealth gap. Senator Ben Cardin joined Senator Landrieu along with their colleagues in the House, U.S. Representatives Chaka Fattah, Yvette Clark and Cedric Richmond for the roundtable discussion.
Senator Landrieu made the following comments:
“America is home to 5.8 million minority owned companies that pump around $1 trillion into the American economy equal to the economic impact of Australia, Turkey, and Greece. Today’s discussion reinforced the capabilities of this business sector, and continued a dialogue about the barriers and obstacles that uniquely challenge minority business owners. I am pleased we were able to continue this discussion and I look forward to executing and molding programs to help expand the growth of minority owned businesses.
“The wealth gap in our nation is staggering. Fifty percent of African American households have a net worth less than $5,677, and in many cases, this low net worth is the reason behind why minority owned businesses are unable to get a loan. And, if they can’t get a loan, how will they ever be able to open a minority owned business? We need to make it a priority to execute training programs for diverse small businesses and we must continue mentorship programs that help minority owned businesses enter the business sector. We need to continue this conversation and our work to grow this business sector. In the end, I believe the growing diverse business sector will lead to more minority employees, and eventually closing the wealth gap in America.”
The US Census Bureau and the Pew Foundation recently released information showing the net wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. According to Pew that the wealth gap between white and African American and Hispanic households is larger now than at any time in the almost 30 years the Census Bureau has been collecting such data by race.
The first panel included the Honorable Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the Honorable Dr. Winslow Sargeant Ph.D., Chief Advocate for the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, Mr. David Hinson, the Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, Mr. Rakesh Kochhar, Senior Researcher at Pew Research Center, Mr. Hilary Shelton, NAACP’s Washington Bureau Director and Senior Vice President for Advocacy, and Dr. Danny Boston, CEO & Director of Research & Innovation, EuQuant.
The second panel included Attorney James M. Williams, Partner with Gauthier, Houghtaling & Williams, Director Denise James Gatling, Director of Global Supplier Diversity & Business Development for GlaxoSmithKline, Ms. Monica Mason, Supply Chain Management Attorney and Supplier Diversity Council Member of Deere & Company, Chairman & CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd of The Act 1 Group, Ms. Leah Brown, JD, CHC, President & CEO, A10 Clinical Solutions, Inc., Mr. Frank J. Anderson, Jr., President & CEO, Strategic Public Sector Solutions, LLC, and Mr. Carlton Oneal, Managing Partner, Light Speed, LLC.
