New York (October 15, 2004)— National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial announced today a new groundbreaking national partnership to encourage minority entrepreneurship and business development nationwide.
The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership aims to increase access to capital and create jobs in historically neglected and economically underserved urban areas by combining private, public and non-profit sector resources to develop one-stop economic empowerment centers. The centers will provide business training, counseling, financing, and procurement opportunities to minority and urban business owners.
“Small businesses are the largest creators of new jobs in America and the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership will help more minority owned businesses find the technical assistance, financial investment and corporate relationships they need to grow, develop, and create more jobs in the urban areas that need it most,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League and Chairman of the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership. “Growing small and medium-sized minority owned businesses is one of the best ways to close the wealth gap in America and provide real economic empowerment to our communities.”
President Bush announced the initiative at the National Urban League convention on July 23, 2004 following nearly a year of development between the White House, Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders, the NUL, the Kauffman Foundation, Business Roundtable, and a broad nonpartisan group of business owners, experts, community leaders, and other supporters of minority entrepreneurship across the country. Since July, the Partnership was established with support of many groups, firms, Federal agencies, and individuals and they unanimously agreed that Mr. Morial should serve as Chair. These partners, of various ethnic and political backgrounds, bring their expertise, energy and resources to make this joint Partnership a public-private collaboration of the highest caliber.
The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership mobilizes resources of corporate America, major service organizations, the non-profit sector, and federal, state and city governments. The National Urban League’s professionally-staffed local affiliates will house and administer the economic empowerment centers to address the spectrum of needs from basic financial literacy to management counseling—by offering business training, enterprise mentoring and coaching, and access to private sector contacts, procurement, and debt and equity financing nationwide.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a national leader in advancing entrepreneurship and Business Roundtable, an association of 150 CEOs of major firms will provide expert guidance, impress private sector standards and create partnership between large firms and urban entrepreneurs, including mentoring and identification of corporate contacts and private sector contracting opportunities at the centers.
The Federal government will facilitate the establishment of centers and assist their operations in all aspects through the expertise and programs of the Minority Business Development Agency, the Small Business Administration, and others.
The collaboration will initially focus on five communities -- Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Kansas City -- with a goal of having the business centers operational by early 2005. The partners have set an ambitious goal of establishing up to fifteen one-stop centers in communities nationwide by the end of 2006.
How Does It Work?
National Urban League: The National Urban League will administer the partnership utilizing professionally-staff in its local affiliates to house the economic empowerment centers. The centers will provide technical assistance from basic financial literacy through management counseling—by offering business training, enterprise mentoring and coaching, access to debt and equity financing and access private and government contract opportunities.
Debt/equity financing for companies will come through the Stonehenge Capital/National Urban League $127.5 million Empowerment Fund through the new market tax credits program (see below). The centers will instill a private-sector approach that is results-based, performance-measured, and rigorous and will be funded by corporate and philanthropic partners.
Business Roundtable: The Partnership builds on the Roundtable’s BusinessLINC® program which facilitates business-to-business partnerships between large corporations and small, often minority-owned, businesses encouraging large firms to work with locally-owned, smaller firms by providing technical assistance, business advice, networking, investment, and/or joint venturing and contracting opportunities. Business Roundtable leaders and CEOs will impress private sector standards of business performance and provide business mentoring to urban entrepreneurs, including identifying contacts and private sector contracting opportunities.
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will draw on its extensive experience in entrepreneurship to guide and monitor the work of the initiative. The foundation provides full funding for the Kansas City Urban League economic empowerment center and on-site resources and technical assistance to all five centers.
National Economic Council: The NEC will assist in fast tracking the available government agencies and resources for the empowerment centers including U.S. Small Business Administrations, and the Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency who will provide technical and operational expertise to the empowerment centers, legal assessment tools, appropriate training levels and identify appropriate contracting opportunities. In addition, other federal entities will combine their resources to help the centers provide sustainable outreach and incubation of minority enterprises.
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