Encouraging the Small Business Administration to Create and Fund More Small Business Development Centers in an Effort to Support Job Creation Through the Growth of Small Business

WHEREAS, many out-of-work Americans traditionally turn to entrepreneurship as a result of their unemployment; and

WHEREAS, entrepreneurs and small businesses need access to loans and other assistance to grow their businesses; and

WHEREAS, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) are government agenciesthat provide support to entrepreneurs and small businesses in the form of government-backed loans to qualifying businesses and provide counseling, training, and technical assistance through Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and MBDA Business Centers (MDBCs); and

WHEREAS, SBDC/MBDC Programs are designed to deliver up-to-date counseling, training and technical assistance in all aspects of small business management; and

WHEREAS, small businesses are vital to job creation; and

WHEREAS, SBDCs must be more readily available to entrepreneurs and small businesses; and

WHEREAS, women- and minority-owned small businesses greatly benefit from the SBA backed loans and assistance provided by SBSCs and MBDCs; and

WHEREAS, SBSCs and MBDCs are deeply underfunded and therefore can only address the need of a small percentage of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls on Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency to expand programs aimed at small and very small businesses in order to assist these businesses with growth and job creation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP urges the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency to provide adequate funding to SBDCs to assist more small businesses across the country to obtain capital, training, and technical assistance leading to the creation of more jobs across the country; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP urges the Small Business Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency to create and fund more SBDCs that are more accessible to small businesses located in rural and economically disadvantaged areas throughout the country.