WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzmanthe head of US Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in the President’s Cabinet for America’s more than 34 million small businesses, released a new report highlighting the historic achievements of the Biden-Harris administration for small business owners across America. The report summarizes the major reforms, modernization and program transformations made at the SBA between 2021 and 2024, demonstrating how these improvements and priorities have fueled our nation’s record small business boom – with more than 21 million new business applications in around the country since President Biden took office.
“During the Biden-Harris administration, the SBA expanded its critical support to small businesses and disaster-affected communities – helping to drive the world’s strongest post-pandemic economic recovery and fueling a historic small business boom of more than 21 million new business applications. the last four years”, said SBA Administrator Guzman. “With its landmark reforms and transformative technology investments, SBA is better positioned than ever to meet small businesses and startups where they are with the resources they need to start, grow and thrive. The extraordinary legacy of the Biden-Harris SBA will pave the way for more Americans from all backgrounds and geographies to build sustainable businesses, create jobs, innovate and empower communities across the country for years to come. .”
The 21 million new business applications filed since President Biden took office are the most new business applications of any presidential administration. The Biden-Harris administration has overseen the fastest rate of new business applications on record, with entrepreneurs filing an average of over 440,000 applications each month — a rate over 90% faster than the pre-pandemic average.
The report documents how the SBA, under Administrator Guzman’s leadership, helped fuel this small business boom by supporting policies and programs that:
- Helped small businesses survive and recover from the pandemic. The SBA provided more than $1.2 trillion in loans and grants to more than 13 million small businesses, including more than $450 billion during the Biden-Harris administration.
- Fight fraud, waste and abuse – protecting taxpayer-funded federal resources. SBA restored anti-fraud controls and created new, innovative protections for federal resources, blocking 21.3 million fraudulent applicants from accessing pandemic assistance and recovering $30 billion.
- Expanded access to capital and investment for small businesses to start and grow. The SBA streamlined rules, leveraged technology, and enacted policy changes and improvements to lending programs, leading to significant increases in lending to underserved communities—lending to black-owned businesses tripled, while lending to Latino and American-owned businesses tripled. women doubled.
- Developed an ecosystem to strengthen US national security, global competitiveness, and innovation leadership. SBA increased support for innovative startups and critical technologies to increase America’s global competitiveness with $30.3 billion in funding to more than 3,000 small businesses and startups, supporting 125,000 jobs.
- Strengthen communities’ abilities to recover from natural disasters and build resilience. The SBA created the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience and transformed the agency’s disaster assistance program by simplifying rules and expanding financial assistance, lending a total of nearly $9.7 billion to businesses, homeowners and renters affected by disaster between FY21 and FY25 YTD.
- Promoting equitable and inclusive federal contracting – increasing revenue for small businesses in underserved communities. The Biden-Harris Administration achieved the highest ever level of federal contracting with small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), awarding a record high of 28.78% of federal contracting dollars to small businesses and 12, 24% for SDBs.
- Environments and networks cultivated to help small businesses reach greater potential and opportunity. SBA distributed $100 million through the Community Navigator Pilot Program, expanded Women’s Business Centers from 136 to 168 and Veterans Business Development Centers from 18 to 31, and opened Small Business Development Centers that helped launch nearly 80,000 new businesses and the provision of over $28 billion in capital. to customers.
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About the US Small Business Administration
The US Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the single resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared a disaster. It provides services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
