Presidential Documents

73213 

Federal Register 

Vol. 88, No. 205 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 10656 of October 20, 2023 

Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2023 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

During Minority Enterprise Development Week, we honor the innovators 

and job creators who run our minority-owned businesses and recommit 

to providing them with the resources they need to thrive and continue 

being engines of our economy. 

Minority enterprises provide critical goods and services; generate nearly 

$2 trillion in revenue each year; and serve as reminders of realized American 

dreams and fulfilled hopes of economic mobility, community uplift, and 

generational wealth. But even as minority entrepreneurs make critical contributions to our country, they still face barriers that prevent them from 

reaching their full potential. Capital is frequently inaccessible to minorityowned businesses. Firms owned by minorities are more likely to experience 

financial stress than those owned by non-minorities. For too long, minorityowned companies had less access to Government contracts, keeping them 

from accessing some of the more than $650 billion spent by the Federal 

Government on purchasing goods and services. These conditions have made 

it so people who have the skills, the drive, and the determination to succeed 

are often unable to win in our economy. 

My Administration is working to open the doors of opportunity to include 

those who have been left behind for too long. On my first day as President, 

I issued an Executive Order directing the Federal Government to use all 

the tools at its disposal to advance racial equity and support underserved 

communities, and we have taken steps to promote opportunities specifically 

for small disadvantaged businesses ever since. For example, in my Executive 

Order on Further Advancing Racial Justice and Support for Underserved 

Communities, I directed agencies to make efforts to increase the share of 

Federal contracts going to these companies to 15 percent by 2025. Within 

a year, we increased the amount these companies earned from Federal 

contracts by $7.5 billion—totaling nearly $70 billion in Fiscal Year 2022 

alone. In addition, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has supported 

billions of dollars in lending to small businesses that would otherwise 

struggle to access vital capital. As part of those efforts, SBA has supported 

over $4 billion in loans to Black- and Latino-owned small businesses. Since 

2020, the rate of SBA-backed loans going to Asian American-owned businesses has increased by about 40 percent; more than doubled for Blackowned businesses; and doubled for Latino-owned businesses, reaching a 

record $3 billion in lending. Indeed, Asian American-, Black-, and Latinoowned businesses are seeing faster creation rates today than they have 

in years. We have provided billions of dollars in investments to support 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 

and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions as they help build the next generation of minority entrepreneurs. 

Through the American Rescue Plan, which I signed soon after coming into 

office to vaccinate the Nation and rebuild our economy, we invested $10 

billion to re-establish and improve the State Small Business Credit Initiative— 

a program that leverages investments from the public and private sectors 

to increase access to capital for small businesses across the country. Our 


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73214 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 25, 2023 / Presidential Documents 

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also expanded and made permanent the Minority Business Development Agency to ensure that support is always available 

to minority-owned businesses. We have also implemented other historic 

bills like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, 

we are ensuring minority business enterprises benefit from billions of dollars 

of investments to rebuild our roads and bridges, bring manufacturing back 

to America, and unleash a clean energy boom here at home. 

America is the only Nation in the world founded on the idea that we 

are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our 

lives. We have never fully lived up to that promise, but we have never 

walked away from it either. This Minority Enterprise Development Week, 

my Administration remains dedicated to living up to our founding idea 

by leveling the playing field for minority-owned businesses, ensuring every 

American has the chance to build a business they can be proud of and 

realize their American Dream. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States 

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution 

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 22 through 

October 28, 2023, as Minority Enterprise Development Week. I call upon 

the people of the United States to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and contributions of minority business owners and enterprises and 

commit to promoting systemic economic equality. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day 

of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of 

the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 

forty-eighth. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23670 

Filed 10–24–23; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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