Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I am introducing the Closing the Credit Gap Act to make the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Community Advantage program permanent. SBA created Community Advantage in 2011 to provide capital and support to small businesses that have been historically underserved by SBA's highest volume loan program, 7(a). Community Advantage allows nonprofit mission lenders like SBA microlenders, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) and SBA 504 lenders to make 7(a) loans of up to $250,000 to small businesses. The program has shown year after year that it is more capable of getting capital into the hands of minority, women and veteran entrepreneurs than the 7(a)program. During Fiscal Year 2018, the most recent year for which complete data is available, only 4.5 percent of 7(a) approvals went to Black business owners compared to 12 percent of Community Advantage approvals; 9 percent of 7(a) approvals went to Hispanic borrowers compared to 17 percent in the Community Advantage program; women-owned businesses received only 18 percent of 7(a) approvals while receiving 30 percent of all Community Advantage approvals; and veterans, who only received 4 percent of 7(a) approvals, received 10 percent of approvals in the Community Advantage program.…”