Presidential Documents

84451 

Federal Register 

Vol. 89, No. 205 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 10841 of October 18, 2024 

Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2024 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Our Nation’s minority-owned businesses are the glue of our communities 

and the engines of our economies. Investing in them is key to growing 

our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. When 

minority-owned businesses do well, everyone does well. More people get 

jobs, first-time business owners build generational wealth, our economy 

grows, and more Americans feel a sense of pride and hope in all that 

is possible in our Nation. This Minority Enterprise Development Week, 

may we celebrate the talent and ingenuity of the innovators and entrepreneurs 

who run our Nation’s minority-owned businesses. And may we recommit 

to ensuring that minority-owned businesses have access to the resources 

they need to thrive. 

Minority-owned businesses add incredible value to our economy, generating 

nearly $2 trillion in revenue each year. These businesses not only provide 

the goods and services we need but are also sources of hope—helping 

people realize their American Dream, building generational wealth, and 

uplifting their families and communities. That is why my Administration 

is ensuring that minority-owned businesses have access to capital and can 

grow. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is lending tens of billions 

of dollars to small businesses that would otherwise struggle to access capital. 

For example, since 2020, the rate of SBA-backed loans increased by about 

40 percent for Asian American-owned businesses, tripled for Black-owned 

businesses, and more than doubled for Latino-owned businesses. Further, 

my American Rescue Plan helped minority-owned small businesses keep 

their doors open during the COVID–19 pandemic and represents the largestever dedicated Federal investment to connect minority-owned small businesses to support. That law invested $10 billion to launch and expand 

programs that provide critical access to capital for small businesses. The 

American Rescue Plan also invested $500 million to fund over 100 awards 

for organizations working to connect entrepreneurs to resources to help 

their small businesses recover and thrive through initiatives like the SBA’s 

Community Navigators Program, the Department of the Treasury’s Small 

Business Opportunity Program, and the Minority Business Development 

Agency’s Capital Readiness Program. 

My Administration has also been working to ensure that minority-owned 

businesses get a fair shot at success. That is why I signed an Executive 

Order that would increase the share of total Federal contracts going to 

disadvantaged businesses from 10 percent to 15 percent by 2025—and in 

the last 3 years, we have spent over $208 billion on small disadvantaged 

businesses. My Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expanded and made permanent 

the Minority Business Development Agency, ensuring that minority-owned 

businesses have access to the resources and support they need to thrive. 

And with my Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act, we 

are working to make sure that minority-owned businesses are benefiting 

from the billions of dollars we are investing in America’s infrastructure, 

manufacturing, and clean energy industries here at home. In addition, Vice 

President Harris launched the Economic Opportunity Coalition in 2022 to 


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84452 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 23, 2024 / Presidential Documents 

provide tens of billions of dollars in investments to underserved communities. 

Since Vice President Harris and I entered office, our Administration has 

created 16 million jobs, and American entrepreneurs have filed nearly 20 

million new business applications. Wages are growing faster than prices. 

Unemployment remains low. Black- and Latino-owned businesses are being 

created faster today than they have been in years and Federal contracts 

with Native American-owned companies increased by over $8 billion from 

2020 to 2023. I also take pride in my Administration’s investments in 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 

Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Asian American and Native American 

Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions—all of which are helping launch the 

next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, and business owners. These 

investments will ensure that their graduates will have every opportunity 

to lead the industries of the future and build generational wealth. 

Across America—from small towns to big cities—we are seeing thousands 

of stories of revival, renewal, optimism, and pride. And each new business 

that is created is an act of hope, not just for the business owner but 

for the entire community. During Minority Enterprise Development Week, 

may we celebrate all the minority-owned businesses making our economy 

stronger, our Nation more competitive, and our communities more hopeful. 

And may we recommit to supporting their success and longevity. 

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 20 through 

October 26, 2024, 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 eighteenth day 

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

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

[FR Doc. 2024–24754 

Filed 10–22–24; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3395–F4–P 


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