how to prove the effectiveness of programs and business development programs and level the playing field for minority owned small businesses and one of the things that stood out during those hearings with the federal government was  its promise to make sure that a certain percentage of contracts are going to minority owned businesses and at that time i push and i will continue to push to make sure the government is providing the tools and resources to help small businesses flourish and making sure that government contracts are going to a diverse group of businesses one of the other things i learned during those hearings was a growing businesses have a difficult transition period once they exceed standards and are no longer eligible for programs offered by the s b a that's why the minority business development agency is so important for the past forty years it's been providing technical assistance education and training to help these minority owned businesses as a move into this next stage of development and it's especially important as a resource as this nation continues its economic recovery well i'm certainly appreciative of all the great work that the doing i also believe that one of the greatest challenges agency faces is that it's grossly underfunded in fact it's the smallest funded government agency having received just twenty nine million dollars last year we need to make business development a greater priority to make sure agencies like him have the resources they need to create more  for minority business owners and jobs for minority workers this is an investment that pays for itself in job creation and increased i also think greater efforts should be made to coordinate with the so there's a smoother transition for these  graduates and these entrepreneurs to continue to have access to tools and expertise they need so their businesses can grow and compete globally minority owned businesses make up nearly twenty percent of all u s businesses that continue to be overlooked by many prime contractors and landing contracts with the federal government great strides have been made in the private sector to expand opportunities for minorities it's time for the federal government to do it thanks again mr chairman and thank you to all the witnesses clients of the center clients of the centers businesses owned and operated by native american jewish american native hawaiian alaskan native asian american tax base the creation of wealth and community investment congress has conducted numerous hearings numerous reports that demonstrate the persistence of discriminatory barriers that continue to limit contracting opportunities for minority business as part of my written testimony i'm submitting a pending a list of hearings and materials that have already been presented to congress and appendix  we have been engaged in leadership the secretary locke and administrative here in mills to make sure that small and minority businesses gain their fair share of economic stimulus and we've been gauging quite a number of activities in that regard if i might take a moment to share some of them with you there have been under their leadership they have been near about two hundred different information outreach sessions nationwide on economic  government to make them aware that companies are ready to participate in these contracts in conjunction again with the leadership we have developed a tracking system to help begin to track the results of of contracts and we have now begun to see some of the results of those efforts in terms of contracts to come from the federal agency we've been engaging all of the federal agencies to make them aware of the importance of who have demonstrated a commitment to minority business development agency i think is a solid asset is the support we get from the white house   and we're taking the steps to coordinate ourselves with the federal agencies and that  t to that business you still have that issue because i don't think that minority owned businesses even after they graduate in the small business category are free of some of the same  of accuracy and therefore a high level of competence but we think these numbers are extremely encouraging and so all the things that have been outlined that the department of commerce we are doing as it pertains to