Vice President Kamala Harris is making it her mission to even the playing field for Black entrepreneurs, who historically suffer from underfunding and face difficulty accessing capital.
Harris announced the Capital Readiness Program and the 43 winning organizations—a mix of non-profit and community-based organizations, private sector entities, and institutions of higher education located across the country—who will act as incubators for BIPOC-owned small businesses. “President Biden and I firmly believe that for America’s economy to be strong, America’s small businesses must be strong. I am proud to announce that we will invest an additional $125 million in small businesses across our country through a national network of small business incubators and accelerators,” Harris said. “President Biden and I are fighting to ensure that every entrepreneur in America—no matter who they are or where they live—can access the capital to start or grow a business, create jobs, and thrive.”
According to AFRO News, the Capital Readiness Program is the largest-ever direct federal investment into small business incubators of its kind. The organizations are partnering to assist and train underserved entrepreneurs seeking resources, tools, and support to start or scale their businesses in high-growth, high-wage industries such as healthcare, climate-resilient technology, asset management, and infrastructure. The Biden administration’s commitment to small businesses is part of its plan to grow the economy from “the middle out and bottom-up, not the top down,” as the president and vice president have overseen the disbursement of nearly $10 billion through
the Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Among winners for the new program are the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Phoenix, Arizona, Bridgeway Capital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Urban League of Greater Atlanta, Georgia, The Northern Great Lakes Initiative in Marquette, Michigan, and The Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council in Silver Spring, Maryland.