Thank you, Victoria for that warm introduction.
And thank you for your hard work on behalf of small businesses in south Florida as SBA’s District Director, and here in headquarters, with the Office of Communications and Public Liaison.
It’s a testament to your commitment and dedication that we are gathered here today for this important event. Together with OCPL Associate Administrator Cynthia Jasso-Rotunno, you have prioritized our outreach to Hispanic media and made today happen.
And thank you to the members of the National Association of Hispanic Publications for joining us here today, and for all that you do to support our nation’s Hispanic community.
As the first Latina in President Biden’s Cabinet, I’ve made outreach to my Hispanic familia one of my key priorities.
Your partnership is vital in that effort – the Hispanic media has a long history of telling the story of our nation’s Hispanic community – the whole story in its complexity and nuance -- because Hispanic media is produced by, for, and about Hispanics and our communities.
For generations, small businesses have been a focal point of the Hispanic American Dream. This was true for my own family. My father built his chain of veterinary hospitals to give me and my siblings opportunity. My father went to college on the GI Bill and I went to college as a result of entrepreneurship, which I believe wholeheartedly is a critical pathway to wealth-building for so many.
For the past decade, Hispanics have driven small business growth, with the number of Hispanic-owned businesses growing at twice the national average. However, Hispanic businesses tend to remain small -- 92 percent don’t have employees.
This trend, combined with historic barriers to capital, markets and networks, meant that the COVID pandemic was especially hard on Hispanic-owned businesses.
The data is stark -- 32 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses closed in just three months in 2020. And that was almost double the number of white-owned businesses that closed in the same period.
We’ve done that by increasing accessibility to our programs – incorporating technology and simplifying processes – and putting ourselves in the shoes of our customers. Just as our nation’s entrepreneurs have pivoted and adapted to the new COVID marketplace, we’re pivoting and adapting to meet them where they are.
And I’m proud to say that it’s working.
We recently launched the $28.6 billion dollar Restaurant Revitalization Fund that was authorized by the American Rescue Plan. Within one week, we received more than 265,000 applications representing over $65 billion in requested funds. So far, we’ve been able to get relief into the hands of more than 21,000 food and beverage businesses owned by women, veterans, and people of color.
These businesses were given priority access to the program for the first 21 days – as directed by Congress.
And, we made sure that the smallest of the small food and beverage businesses – the food carts, food trucks, caterers and others – wouldn’t be left out, as they have been in earlier rounds of relief, by setting aside $9.5 billion of the total specifically for them. In fact, I created a special set-aside of $500 million for businesses with revenue of $50,000 dollars or less – approximately $180 million of that total remains, as of Tuesday.
We’ve been told by applicants that the process was streamlined and simple and took less than 20 minutes.
And we made the application available online in English and Spanish, as well as through several point-of-sale vendors, including Square, Toast, Aloha and Clover.
The success we’ve seen with this program in reaching our underserved businesses is just the beginning. I plan to implement this approach across all SBA programs and services.
In short, I’m just getting started.
We know that historically the bridge between the SBA and Hispanic-owned small businesses has been tenuous. We’re trying to strengthen that bridge and reach out with authenticity into every corner of the multi-faceted Hispanic community. We want to rebuild trust and credibility – and become an active partner in the growth of the Hispanic small business community.
Our families, our communities, and ultimately our nation’s economy, all rely on the success and growth of Hispanic-owned small businesses.
We need your help. The Hispanic media is known for its deep connection to the community it covers – and ultimately serves. Because Hispanics are the Hispanic media, there is a strong emphasis on that service element of the journalism you produce.
We want you to help us reach the small businesses that need our help – to recover and rebuild from this pandemic – and beyond.
The SBA has services and programs to help businesses access capital, markets and networks at every stage of growth. I look forward to our conversation about how we can work together to get the word out about our programs … and how we can develop long-standing relationships that will help us better serve the Hispanic community.
Thank you for being here today, and for your continued partnership. I will now turn it back to Victoria.