[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 182 (Wednesday, September 21, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 57563-57564]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20579]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 87 , No. 182 / Wednesday, September 21, 2022 
/ Presidential Documents  

[[Page 57563]]


                Proclamation 10449 of September 16, 2022

                
Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2022

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every day, America's 9.2 million minority business 
                enterprises deliver essential goods and services to 
                their customers and help power the United States 
                economy. They develop cutting-edge technologies, 
                provide social services to people in need, construct 
                roads and bridges, operate restaurants and retail 
                shops, and make vital contributions to all industries. 
                Minority business enterprises also provide proprietors 
                and employees a sense of purpose, a source of dignity, 
                and for some, a valuable asset to pass down through 
                generations. During Minority Enterprise Development 
                Week, we celebrate the ingenuity and dedication of 
                America's minority entrepreneurs, and we recommit to 
                helping all Americans access the resources they need to 
                build thriving businesses and a fairer, more prosperous 
                Nation.

                Minority business enterprises generate $1.8 trillion in 
                annual GDP and provide income to millions of workers, 
                yet many of these businesses suffer from the vestiges 
                of historical discrimination. Obstacles to accessing 
                capital, barriers to entering new markets, and limited 
                access to Government contracts make it difficult for 
                operators to start and grow their enterprises. Minority 
                business owners are still more likely to be turned down 
                for loans, earn less revenue, and employ fewer workers 
                than their non-minority counterparts. Today, firms 
                owned by Black Americans, Latinos, American Indians, 
                Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and 
                Pacific Islanders make up approximately 18 percent of 
                employer businesses, yet receive just over 10 percent 
                of Federal procurement spending. These disparities 
                contribute to America's racial wealth gap; estimates 
                suggest that differences in business ownership account 
                for 20 percent of the wealth gap between the average 
                white household and the average Black household.

                My Administration is committed to changing that. We 
                have taken historic steps to counter chronic 
                underinvestment in Black and Brown communities, 
                boosting access to capital and markets. Our American 
                Rescue Plan established the $10 billion State Small 
                Business Credit Initiative at the Department of the 
                Treasury, which will provide funding to States, 
                territories, and Tribal Governments to establish 
                lending and investment programs for main-street small 
                businesses and early-stage companies in disadvantaged 
                areas. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made permanent 
                the Minority Business Development Agency, the only 
                Federal agency dedicated to linking minority-owned 
                businesses to private lenders, exporters, and public- 
                and private-sector buyers; and it directs the 
                Department of Transportation to prioritize contracts to 
                small disadvantaged businesses. My Administration is 
                also using the Federal Government's tremendous 
                purchasing power to drive change: We have pledged to 
                boost the share of Federal contracting dollars awarded 
                to small disadvantaged businesses by an unprecedented 
                50 percent by 2025, which is projected to bring 
                minority-owned businesses as much as $100 billion in 
                new revenue over this time period.

                Our work is far from finished. I am calling on the 
                Congress to strengthen funding for the Small Business 
                Administration and the Minority Business Development 
                Agency to support women, people of color, people with 
                disabilities, veterans, and other underserved business 
                owners. I have also called

[[Page 57564]]

                for the expansion of the Treasury Department's 
                Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, 
                which will help local lenders deliver more credit, 
                capital, and financial support to historically 
                overlooked business owners and communities.

                Since this Nation's founding, owning and operating a 
                business has been an important path to achieving the 
                American dream. This week and every week, my 
                Administration will work to ensure that minority 
                entrepreneurs have the resources to start and grow 
                their own businesses, enriching their communities and 
                the Nation. Together, we will grow the economy from the 
                bottom up and the middle out, making sure it works for 
                everyone.

                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 September 18 
                through September 24, 2022, 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 promote systemic economic 
                equality.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and forty-
                seventh.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2022-20579
Filed 9-20-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P