Presidential Document2024-24754
Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2024
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 23, 2024
Signed
October 18, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 84451-84452]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24754]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 23, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 84451]]
Proclamation 10841 of October 18, 2024
Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Our Nation's minority-owned businesses are the glue of
our communities and the engines of our economies.
Investing in them is key to growing our economy from
the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. When
minority-owned businesses do well, everyone does well.
More people get jobs, first-time business owners build
generational wealth, our economy grows, and more
Americans feel a sense of pride and hope in all that is
possible in our Nation. This Minority Enterprise
Development Week, may we celebrate the talent and
ingenuity of the innovators and entrepreneurs who run
our Nation's minority-owned businesses. And may we
recommit to ensuring that minority-owned businesses
have access to the resources they need to thrive.
Minority-owned businesses add incredible value to our
economy, generating nearly $2 trillion in revenue each
year. These businesses not only provide the goods and
services we need but are also sources of hope--helping
people realize their American Dream, building
generational wealth, and uplifting their families and
communities. That is why my Administration is ensuring
that minority-owned businesses have access to capital
and can grow. The Small Business Administration (SBA)
is lending tens of billions of dollars to small
businesses that would otherwise struggle to access
capital. For example, since 2020, the rate of SBA-
backed loans increased by about 40 percent for Asian
American-owned businesses, tripled for Black-owned
businesses, and more than doubled for Latino-owned
businesses. Further, my American Rescue Plan helped
minority-owned small businesses keep their doors open
during the COVID-19 pandemic and represents the
largest-ever dedicated Federal investment to connect
minority-owned small businesses to support. That law
invested $10 billion to launch and expand programs that
provide critical access to capital for small
businesses. The American Rescue Plan also invested $500
million to fund over 100 awards for organizations
working to connect entrepreneurs to resources to help
their small businesses recover and thrive through
initiatives like the SBA's Community Navigators
Program, the Department of the Treasury's Small
Business Opportunity Program, and the Minority Business
Development Agency's Capital Readiness Program.
My Administration has also been working to ensure that
minority-owned businesses get a fair shot at success.
That is why I signed an Executive Order that would
increase the share of total Federal contracts going to
disadvantaged businesses from 10 percent to 15 percent
by 2025--and in the last 3 years, we have spent over
$208 billion on small disadvantaged businesses. My
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expanded and made
permanent the Minority Business Development Agency,
ensuring that minority-owned businesses have access to
the resources and support they need to thrive. And with
my Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act,
we are working to make sure that minority-owned
businesses are benefiting from the billions of dollars
we are investing in America's infrastructure,
manufacturing, and clean energy industries here at
home. In addition, Vice President Harris launched the
Economic Opportunity Coalition in 2022 to
[[Page 84452]]
provide tens of billions of dollars in investments to
underserved communities.
Since Vice President Harris and I entered office, our
Administration has created 16 million jobs, and
American entrepreneurs have filed nearly 20 million new
business applications. Wages are growing faster than
prices. Unemployment remains low. Black- and Latino-
owned businesses are being created faster today than
they have been in years and Federal contracts with
Native American-owned companies increased by over $8
billion from 2020 to 2023. I also take pride in my
Administration's investments in Historically Black
Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving
Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and
Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-
Serving Institutions--all of which are helping launch
the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and
business owners. These investments will ensure that
their graduates will have every opportunity to lead the
industries of the future and build generational wealth.
Across America--from small towns to big cities--we are
seeing thousands of stories of revival, renewal,
optimism, and pride. And each new business that is
created is an act of hope, not just for the business
owner but for the entire community. During Minority
Enterprise Development Week, may we celebrate all the
minority-owned businesses making our economy stronger,
our Nation more competitive, and our communities more
hopeful. And may we recommit to supporting their
success and longevity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 20
through October 26, 2024, as Minority Enterprise
Development Week. I call upon the people of the United
States to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements
and contributions of minority business owners and
enterprises and commit to promoting systemic economic
equality.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-24754
Filed 10-22-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 23, 2024.
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