Thank you, Doug [Nohe] for that warm introduction. What an honor it is for me to join you, and all the volunteer leaders and mentors who are the heart and soul of SCORE… as well as a driving force behind our mission of supporting small businesses as they start, grow and build resilience.
SCORE has been a longtime partner of the SBA –supporting so many of our initiatives and collaborating on countless efforts to strengthen the small business ecosystem.
During the past year and a half, as our nation weathered this unprecedented pandemic, SCORE’s more than 10,000 mentors stepped up and went above and beyond for America’s entrepreneurs. In so many ways, you have been a lifeline guiding businesses as they quickly pivoted and adapted to survive.
I’m here today to say thank you … for volunteering your time and energy … for sharing your expertise and business insights … and for helping our small businesses during some of the most desperate moments and you helped connect them to resources to give them hope.
I spent the first year of the pandemic in my home state of California, as the director of the Office of Small Business Advocate, where I helped the 4 million entrepreneurs that power the fifth largest economy make it through the pandemic.
There, and now here, in my position as the voice for our nation’s 30 million small businesses and innovative startups, I’ve seen firsthand how SBA’s incredible resource partner network and SCORE in particular has changed lives.
From the Resilience Hub that continues to provide up-to-date information on government resources and more … to the remote mentoring opportunities that give small business owners the chance to brainstorm with experts and just feel like they’re not alone…as well as the workshops such as the Digital Readiness Series that offers crucial training resources to help businesses adopt technology. … SCORE is keeping the American entrepreneurial spirit alive.
And I also want to celebrate the incredibly relevant and critical work you are doing to help lift up businesses owned by women and people of color and combat the historic inequities and persistent barriers to capital, markets and networks that caused them to suffer disproportionate impacts from the pandemic.
These efforts are aligned with the work we’re doing at the SBA to ensure ALL our nation’s small businesses and innovative startups can access the resources they need to start and grow.
If our economy is to recover, we need all our great ideas from everywhere and anywhere to have the chance to succeed.
We need to overcome the capital gaps and opportunity gaps that exist for so many of our underserved entrepreneurs.
Connecting to resources is critical to eliminate those gaps.
Because while the SBA offers a vast array of programs and services to help gain access to relief, capital, markets and networks – those resources are only effective if they get into the hands of the small businesses that need them the most.
Across every program and every service we offer, I’ve directed my staff to be as entrepreneurial as the entrepreneurs we serve.
We need to connect with our smallest and underserved small businesses – through trusted partners like SCORE – and meet them where they are, instead of waiting for them to come to us.
And we need to be technology-forward - to leverage the technology small businesses have adopted at high rates during COVID, streamline, and automate for speed and efficiency.
We’ve made changes and we’re seeing results.
Over the past year, after scaling from a $40 billion dollar portfolio to more than one trillion in relief, we delivered much-needed assistance swiftly and equitably.
We designed and implemented innovative and effective approaches to our targeted relief grant programs – our 28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund and 16.2 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program -- and revamped our PPP and our COVID EIDL program to better reach underserved entrepreneurs.
I’m proud to say that in 2021, 96 percent of PPP loans went to small businesses with 20 employees or less with strong performance in rural and LMI communities.
Now, we’re working to help these smallest businesses through the forgiveness process – we recently launched a PPP Forgiveness portal to help borrowers who received PPP loans of $150,000 or less the opportunity to apply for forgiveness directly through the SBA, if their lenders are participating.
In addition, we are focused on continuing to get out billions of dollars in relief to our small businesses. We are working to improve efficiencies and more swiftly deliver the high-in-demand COVID EIDL which offers low-cost, long term funds with deferred payments.
This is just the beginning. We need to do much more.
As President Biden has said, we need to provide both the temporary boost and the long-term boom to ensure small businesses are at the forefront of the reimagining of our economy.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will be a game-changer, providing unprecedented investments in infrastructure and enhancing our global competitiveness.
And the Biden-Harris Administration’s Build Back Better agenda promises to invest heavily in small business lending, investments and innovation – empowering the SBA to better reach the underserved with the expansion of core programs with equity.
The future of our nations’ economy depends on our ability to help all our small businesses recover and rebuild.
America’s small businesses are up to the task. If we give them the tools and the support – they will innovate, create and build.
So, thank you for all that you’ve done and continue to do to help our nation’s small businesses get through this pandemic. Continue with your unwavering commitment to deliver the American dream of business ownership to all - you are my critical partner in this endeavor and I know together we can bring businesses back, create jobs and build an equitable economy.
Thank you.