II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 609 

To establish a pilot program awarding competitive grants to organizations 

administering entrepreneurial development programming to formerly incarcerated individuals, and other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2023 

Mr. CARDIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To establish a pilot program awarding competitive grants 

to organizations administering entrepreneurial development programming to formerly incarcerated individuals, 

and other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Necessary Entrepre5 neurship Workshops via the SBA to Transform and Assist 

6 Re-entry Training Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘NEW START 

7 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds that— 

3 (1) according to the Department of Justice, 

4 every year, over 600,000 individuals are released 

5 from prison and return home to their communities, 

6 and almost 77 percent of those individuals will re7 offend within 5 years; 

8 (2) according to the Brookings Institution, an 

9 estimated 48.5 percent of formerly incarcerated indi10 viduals will remain unemployed or earn a negligible 

11 income for a period of 1 year post-incarceration, in12 creasing the risk for recidivism; 

13 (3) according to the Florida State University 

14 Institute for Justice Research and Development, for15 merly incarcerated individuals see a reduction in 

16 earnings of 25 percent since criminal records make 

17 it difficult to find stable employment; 

18 (4) self-employment can provide economic sta19 bility for those who are otherwise locked out of the 

20 labor market; and 

21 (5) according to a paper entitled ‘‘Entrepre22 neurship as a Response to Labor Market Discrimi23 nation for Formerly Incarcerated People’’— 

24 (A) the average individual without a crimi25 nal record has a 7.09 percent likelihood of be26 coming an entrepreneur, but justice-impacted 


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1 individuals were found to be more than 50 per2 cent likely to choose entrepreneurship with a 

3 12.69 percent likelihood of becoming an entre4 preneur; 

5 (B) entrepreneurship reduces the likelihood 

6 of recidivism by 5.3 percent, which was a 32.5 

7 percent decrease from average recidivism rates 

8 for regular employees who have been previously 

9 incarcerated; and 

10 (C) formerly incarcerated individuals who 

11 choose entrepreneurship make $2,700 more an12 nually than formerly incarcerated employees 

13 and that the income gap between formerly in14 carcerated entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs 

15 with no criminal record was 38 percent lower 

16 than the income gap between formerly incarcer17 ated employees and employees with no criminal 

18 record. 

19 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM. 

20 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 

21 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis22 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

23 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

24 (2) the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con25 gress’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Small Business and 

2 Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and 

3 (B) the Committee on Small Business of 

4 the House of Representatives; 

5 (3) the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an in6 dividual who— 

7 (A) completed a term of imprisonment in 

8 Federal, State, or local jail or prison; and 

9 (B) meets the offense eligibility require10 ments set forth in any applicable policy notice 

11 or other guidance issued by the Small Business 

12 Administration for the program established 

13 under section 7(m) of the Small Business Act 

14 (15 U.S.C. 636(m)); 

15 (4) the terms ‘‘intermediary’’ and ‘‘microloan’’ 

16 have the meanings given those terms in section 

17 7(m)(11) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

18 636(m)(11)); 

19 (5) the term ‘‘microloan intermediary’’ means 

20 an intermediary that is eligible to participate in the 

21 program established under section 7(m) of the Small 

22 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)); 

23 (6) the term ‘‘pilot program’’ means the pilot 

24 program established under subsection (b); and 


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1 (7) the term ‘‘small business development cen2 ter’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 of 

3 the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 

4 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 

5 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 

6 establish a pilot program to award grants to organizations 

7 over a 5-year period to create or support existing entrepre8 neurship development programs to provide assistance to 

9 covered individuals. 

10 (c) GRANT REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator 

11 shall— 

12 (1) award grants under the pilot program to or13 ganizations, or partnerships of organizations, which 

14 shall each receive a grant in an amount greater than 

15 $100,000 and less than $500,000 annually over the 

16 5-year period in which the pilot program is in exist17 ence; and 

18 (2) allocate grants under the pilot program to 

19 ensure that the recipients are geographically varied 

20 throughout the United States. 

21 (d) PARTNERSHIPS.—An applicant for a grant under 

22 the pilot program may form partnerships with other orga23 nizations for the purposes of the application submitted 

24 under subsection (e) and for conducting entrepreneurial 

25 development programming. 


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1 (e) APPLICATION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—An organization or partner3 ship of organizations desiring a grant under the 

4 pilot program shall submit an application to the Ad5 ministrator in such form, in such manner, and con6 taining such information as the Administrator may 

7 reasonably require. 

8 (2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

9 under paragraph (1) shall— 

10 (A) demonstrate that the applicant is a 

11 microloan intemediary or an organization that 

12 administers the Community Advantage Pilot 

13 Program of the Administration, or has a part14 nership with such an intermediary or organiza15 tion, that may provide microloans to qualified 

16 covered individuals, or, to the extent that the 

17 applicant is a national organization in multiple 

18 different markets, that a separate microloan 

19 intermediary may be used in each such market; 

20 (B) demonstrate strong community ties, 

21 including those with the covered individual com22 munity, local businesses, and political leaders; 

23 (C) demonstrate an ability to provide a full 

24 range of entrepreneurial development program25 ming on an ongoing basis; 


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1 (D) include a plan for reaching covered in2 dividuals, including by identifying particular 

3 target populations within the community; 

4 (E) clearly define entrepreneurial develop5 ment capabilities, including coordination with 

6 existing local resource partners of the Adminis7 tration for additional training as necessary; 

8 (F) present an entrepreneurship develop9 ment curriculum, which may be a nationally 

10 recognized model or based upon such a model; 

11 (G) include a list of each partner organiza12 tion; and 

13 (H) include a comprehensive plan for the 

14 use of grant funds, including estimates for ad15 ministrative and outreach costs of running and 

16 evaluating the entrepreneurship development 

17 program. 

18 (f) PRIORITY.—In determining whether to award a 

19 grant under the pilot program, the Administrator may 

20 give priority to applicants based on— 

21 (1) whether the application includes a commit22 ment from an existing or new non-Federal funding 

23 source to meet the matching requirement under sub24 section (g); 


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1 (2) whether the application takes into account 

2 local economies and markets as a part of the edu3 cational component of the entrepreneurship develop4 ment program; 

5 (3) the ability or plan of the applicant to pro6 vide entrepreneurial development services concurrent 

7 with employment or job training services; and 

8 (4) whether the applicant has a history of effec9 tively providing entrepreneurial training or access to 

10 capital to covered individuals. 

11 (g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of a grant 

13 provided under the pilot program, the Administrator 

14 shall require the recipient of the grant to contribute 

15 an amount equal to 25 percent of the amount of the 

16 grant, obtained solely from existing or new non-Fed17 eral sources. 

18 (2) FORM.—In addition to cash or other direct 

19 funding, the contribution required under paragraph 

20 (1) may include indirect costs or in-kind contribu21 tions paid for under non-Federal programs. 

22 (h) RESPONSIBILITIES.—A recipient of a grant under 

23 the pilot program shall, to the maximum extent possible, 

24 connect covered individuals to a range of Federal re25 sources, including— 


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1 (1) the program established under section 7(m) 

2 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(m)); 

3 (2) the Community Advantage Pilot Program of 

4 the Administration; 

5 (3) small business development centers; 

6 (4) women’s business centers described in sec7 tion 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656); 

8 (5) chapters of the Service Corps of Retired Ex9 ecutives established under section 8(b)(1)(B) of the 

10 Small Business Act ((15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)); 

11 (6) Veteran Business Outreach Centers de12 scribed in section 32 of the Small Business Act (15 

13 U.S.C. 657b); and 

14 (7) business centers established by the Minority 

15 Business Development Agency. 

16 (i) REPORTS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date on which the Administrator establishes the 

19 pilot program, and every year thereafter until the 

20 pilot program terminates, the Administrator shall 

21 submit to Congress a report on the activities of the 

22 pilot program, including— 

23 (A) a list of each grantee organization and 

24 each partner organization; 


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1 (B) the characteristics of covered individ2 uals assisted under the entrepreneurship devel3 opment programs, including race and ethnicity, 

4 gender, age, marital status, parental status, 

5 employment status, income, banking and credit 

6 history, and prior business experience; 

7 (C) the participation and attendance rates 

8 for all components of the entrepreneurship de9 velopment programs; 

10 (D) the program retention rate; 

11 (E) to the greatest extent practicable, the 

12 most common reasons why participants do not 

13 complete the program; 

14 (F) the percentage of participants who re15 main non-justice involved during the calendar 

16 year of the program; 

17 (G) the level of the covered individuals’ un18 derstanding of business concepts and principles; 

19 (H) the level of the covered individuals’ 

20 greater confidence in leadership strengths, in21 cluding the results of an industry-recognized be22 havioral assessment; 

23 (I) the covered individuals’ progress made 

24 toward establishing a business; 


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1 (J) the experiences and perceptions of the 

2 covered individuals; 

3 (K) the number and dollar amount of loans 

4 made to covered individuals; 

5 (L) the number and dollar amount of loans 

6 made or guaranteed by the Administration to 

7 covered individuals; and 

8 (M) such additional information as the Ad9 ministrator may require. 

10 (2) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after 

11 the date on which the pilot program terminates, the 

12 Comptroller General of the United States shall sub13 mit to the appropriate committees of Congress a re14 port that evaluates— 

15 (A) the services that grant recipients pro16 vided to covered individuals assisted under en17 trepreneurship development programs; 

18 (B) oversight of the pilot program by the 

19 Administrator, including policies and proce20 dures for monitoring the compliance by grant 

21 recipients with pilot program requirements and 

22 an assessment of the effectiveness of the pilot 

23 program; and 


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1 (C) the overall performance of the pilot 

2 program and the impacts of the pilot program 

3 on grant recipients. 

4 (j) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

5 may be construed to affect the program established under 

6 section 7(m) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

7 636(m)), including— 

8 (1) the requirements of that program; 

9 (2) the manner in which that program is car10 ried out; or 

11 (3) the use or availability of any amounts that 

12 have been made available to carry out that program. 

13 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 

15 such sums as are necessary to carry out the pilot program. 

16 (l) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi17 nate on the date that is 5 years after the date on which 

18 the Administrator establishes the pilot program. 

Æ 


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