Small Business Administration
There is nothing small about small business - there are 25 million of them. The [SBA's] Office of Advocacy estimates that small business produces 52% of the gross output of the economy, so 52% of all products and services come from small business.Ninety-eight percent of all companies have less than 100 employees, 89% have less than 20, and the average American business has 10 to 12 employees. That is why Congress passed the Small Business Act after the Korean War, to direct government contracts to where Americans work.
Cincinnati Change believes that small business is one of the engines that fuels the economy, another is housing (mostly small businesses). We support programs of the Small Business Adminstration (SBA) and look forward to expanding them in the region.
Cincinnati Change believes that the numbers don't lie, and since the beginning of the Bush Administration the things that the SBA is doing are at historic levels. A third of SBA loans go to minority businesses, and minority businesses represent 15% of all businesses.
The mission of SBA is to maintain and strengthen the Nation’s economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters.
To fulfill this mission, the SBA has three programmatic Strategic Goals that broadly define what the Agency and its programs are trying to accomplish. A fourth Strategic Goal defines the responsibility of the Agency’s executive leadership and support functions to help accomplish the programmatic goals.
SBA Strategic Goals:
1. Improve the economic environment for small businesses.
2. Increase small business success by bridging competitive opportunity gaps facing entrepreneurs.
3. Restore homes and business affected by disaster.
4. Ensure that all SBA programs operate at maximum efficiency and effectiveness by providing them with high quality executive leadership and support services.
President Bush has said, “The role of government is not to create wealth, but to create an environment where entrepreneurs can thrive, flourish, take risks and achieve the American Dream.”
According to SBA Administrator Hector Barreto, "When this Administration started, the SBA was doing $9.5 billion in loan guarantees, and we did 50,000 loans. Last year, the SBA and it's partners did over 100,000 loans and over $20 billion in loan guarantees."
Futhermore Mr. Barreto said, "One-third went to the fastest-growing areas of women and minorities.When we started four and a half years ago, the SBA was training 1.4 million businesses; last year 2.6 million got access to technology and educational assistance. Lastly, four and a half years ago the federal government bought $50 billion worth of goods and services from small businesses; last year they bought $69 billion. That is almost a 40% increase."
[In regard to Katrina loans, the SBA Adminstrator had this to say], we did $1 billion worth of loans to small businesses affected in the Gulf areas and we've done over $3 billion to victims throughout the area. We will surpass $4 billion in loans.
Mr. Baretto has said, "We're still not satisfied. We are producing $70 million in loans a day. We are working seven days a week in two shifts. The bottom line is that this is the biggest response that the U.S. has ever [undertaken]."
"[In terms of the budget], nothing is further from the truth[the story about the Bush adminstration wanting to shut down the SBA]. We have the 2006 budget in place, and I am already working on the 2007 budget and after that the 2008 budget. "
The SBA submitted request for funding for section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, during fiscal year 2006 commitments to guarantee loans under section 503 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, shall not exceed $5,500,000,000: Provided, That during fiscal year 2006 commitments for general business loans authorized under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act, shall not exceed $16,500,000,000: Provided further, That during fiscal year 2006 commitments to guarantee loans for debentures under section 303(b) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, shall not exceed $3,000,000,000: Provided further, That during fiscal year 2006 guarantees of trust certificates authorized by section 5(g) of the Small Business Act shall not exceed a principle amount of $12,000,000,000
Cincinnati Change plans to take advanatage of the the statutory authority for the SBA to enter into cooperative agreements with any coalition of private or public entities to: (1) expand business to business relationships; and (2) provide businesses with online information and a database of companies that are interested in mentor-protégé programs or community-based, statewide, or local business development programs.
Working with this as a base of possiable federal SBA lending Cincinnati Change is working to create 1,000 greater Cincinnati based companies in co-operation with partners.
