[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 34 (Monday, August 28, 2000)]
[Pages 1936-1937]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7333--Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2000

August 24, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Today, America is enjoying the longest economic expansion in our 
history, with 22

[[Page 1937]]

million new jobs created since my Administration took office in 1993 and 
the lowest unemployment and inflation rates in more than 30 years. The 
American people are looking to the future with renewed hope and 
optimism, eager to embrace the exciting opportunities and meet the new 
challenges of a dynamic and evolving global marketplace.
    If we are to extend this remarkable period of growth and sustain our 
leadership of the world economy, we must use this time of extraordinary 
prosperity to ensure that every citizen of our Nation plays a role in 
our economic growth and benefits from its rewards. One of the surest 
means of achieving that goal is to promote the full inclusion of 
minority enterprises in the mainstream of our economy.
    My Administration has encouraged the growth and success of minority 
businesses by ensuring their participation in Government procurement; 
introducing the New Markets Initiative to bring jobs and capital to 
America's underserved communities; and strengthening the Community 
Reinvestment Act. Over the last 8 years, the Small Business 
Administration has guaranteed $18 billion in loans to more than 80,000 
minority-owned firms. And the Department of Commerce's Minority Business 
Development Agency (MBDA) has assisted more than 430,000 minority-owned 
businesses with start-up and expansion financing. At Minority Business 
Development Centers across the country, the MBDA also assists minority 
clients by providing a variety of business services, including the 
preparation of business plans, market research and development, 
financial counseling, and bid preparation.
    All Americans stand to benefit from the success of our minority 
entrepreneurs. With energy and determination, these hardworking men and 
women create jobs, attract investment, bolster pride, and generate 
revenue in communities across our Nation. People of different races, 
people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities--all have 
skills, new ideas, and fresh perspectives to bring to the marketplace. 
Minority entrepreneurs have unique contributions to make to our economy 
and the talent and imagination to produce goods and services that meet 
the needs of their fellow Americans and of consumers around the world.
    The unprecedented strength of America's free enterprise system 
demonstrates that when people have access to the tools and opportunities 
they need, there is no limit to what they can achieve. During Minority 
Enterprise Development Week, let us reaffirm our national commitment to 
equality in the economic as well as the civic life of our Nation by 
providing minority entrepreneurs around the country with an equal 
opportunity to use their abilities, creativity, and motivation to move 
our Nation forward. By doing so, we will help preserve America's 
leadership in the global economy.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 
24 through September 30, 2000, as Minority Enterprise Development Week. 
I call on all Americans to join together with minority entrepreneurs 
across the country in appropriate observances.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 
day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 28, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
August 29.