Community support is crucial for any local business, and women and minority-owned small businesses are working to ensure that government officials aid in the effort to make their dreams a reality.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has proposed an amendment to the Small Business Act that will help small business owners who are women or minorities receive government loans. The addition, referred to as the Microloan Modernization Act, would increase the limit on outstanding loans to intermediary lending organizations, ensuring opportunities for these business owners to receive government loans. Although a final decision on the act has not yet been made, it has already been received and read by the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said a spokesperson for Gillibrand’s Syracuse office.

Allow me to paint a picture for you. Thirty-nine percent of business owners in the United States are women, according to the 2017 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, yet less than 5 percent of women receive government loans. A 2010 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that loan denial rates for minority firms were about three times higher than non-minority owned firms. This picture, unfortunately, is one of inequality for women and minority small business owners.

But while these statistics show a disparity in resources for these businesses, many of these business owners have found success through their own means. There are networks of support for small business owners here in Syracuse that are ready to assist local entrepreneurs.

Rosemary Mondo, a local business owner, started her travel and wellness company, Via Mondo, in 2014. Like many others, she didn’t have a government loan to get started, and faced many challenges in starting her business. She found support in business organizations in Syracuse, including the Women’s Business Opportunities Connections of Advancing Women in Business.

“I’m finding that if you get connected with different organizations, or different networks,” Mondo said, “that Syracuse responds.”

Mondo said she hopes the proposed amendment will lead to something “almost like a rebirth of Syracuse.” Supporting local businesses is essential to the economy, because that’s what’s at the core of the smaller New York towns we know and love.

“I imagine that this is where this (legislation) is coming in, is that they’re realizing that we have to start down again, right from the beginning,” Mondo said.

And Gillibrand seems to have similar ideas. In a press release, Gillibrand said fixing the economy starts with “rewarding work and entrepreneurship again,” calling the bipartisan bill “a good place to start.”

This amendment has potential to be a great starting point for minority and women-owned businesses, and it should be communicated to local business owners. But this is only the beginning. Dialogue about supporting local entrepreneurs needs to continue until equality can visibly be seen in the distribution of government loans.

Women and minority small business owners have been fighting for themselves and for each other for years through local organizations in Syracuse. It’s time the federal government starts fighting for them, too.

Lauren Silverstein is an undeclared freshman in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at lsilve03@syr.edu.

Published on February 26, 2018 at 7:04 pm