I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4422 

To establish the Minority Entrepreneurship and Business Development 

Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 12, 2010 

Mr. SESTAK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor and Small Business, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To establish the Minority Entrepreneurship and Business 

Development Program, and for 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 ‘‘Minority Entrepre5 neurship and Business Development Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MINORITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS 

2 ENTREPRISE CENTER GRANT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director may make grants to 

4 an eligible educational institution or an eligible association 

5 or organization— 

6 (1) to assist in establishing an entrepreneurship 

7 curriculum for studies; and 

8 (2) for placement of a Minority Business 

9 Entreprise Center within the educational institution, 

10 association, or organization. 

11 (b) USE OF FUNDS.— 

12 (1) CURRICULUM AND CAPACITY TRAINING RE13 QUIREMENT.—An eligible educational institution, as14 sociation, or organization receiving a grant under 

15 this section shall develop a curriculum and capacity 

16 training requirement that includes training in var17 ious skill sets needed by successful entrepreneurs, 

18 including— 

19 (A) business management and marketing, 

20 financial management and accounting, mar21 keting analysis and competitive analysis, and 

22 innovation and strategic planning; and 

23 (B) additional entrepreneurial skill sets 

24 specific to the needs of the student population 

25 and the surrounding community, as determined 

26 by the institution. 


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1 (2) MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE CENTER

2 REQUIREMENT.—Each eligible educational institu3 tion, association or organization receiving a grant 

4 under this section shall open a Minority Business 

5 Enterprise Center that follows the duties as 

6 prescibed by the Director of the Minority Business 

7 Development Agency. 

8 (c) GRANT AWARDS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director may not award 

10 a grant under this section to a single eligible edu11 cational institution, association or organization— 

12 (A) in excess of $1,500,000 in any fiscal 

13 year; or 

14 (B) for a term of more than 3 years. 

15 (2) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—Funds 

16 made available under this section may not be used 

17 for— 

18 (A) any purpose other than those associ19 ated with the direct costs incurred by the eligi20 ble educational institution, association or orga21 nization to— 

22 (i) develop and implement the cur23 riculum described in subsection (b)(1); or 


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1 (ii) organize and operate a minority 

2 business enterprise center, as described 

3 subsection (b)(2); or 

4 (B) building expenses, administrative trav5 el budgets, or other expenses not directly re6 lated to the costs described in subparagraph 

7 (A). 

8 (d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Grants made under 

9 this Act shall require a private matching grant of 15 per10 cent. 

11 (e) REPORT.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days fol13 lowing the end of the fiscal year of each year in 

14 which funds are made available for grants under this 

15 section, the Director shall submit to the Committee 

16 on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Sen17 ate and the Committee on Small Business of the 

18 House of Representatives, a report evaluating the 

19 success of the program under this section during the 

20 preceding fiscal year. 

21 (2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Each report under 

22 paragraph (1) shall include— 

23 (A) a description of each entrepreneurship 

24 program developed with grant funds, the date 


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1 of the award, and the number of participants in 

2 each such program; 

3 (B) the number of small business assisted 

4 through the minority business enterprise center 

5 with grant funds; and 

6 (C) data regarding the economic impact of 

7 minority business enterprise center with grant 

8 funds. 

9 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

11 $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2012, 

12 to remain available until expended. 

13 (g) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The Director 

14 shall carry out this section only with amounts appro15 priated in advance specifically to carry out this section. 

16 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF MINORITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND 

17 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. 

18 (a) OFFICE OF MINORITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND

19 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.—There is established in the 

20 Minority Business Development Agency an Office of Mi21 nority Entrepreneurship and Business Development, 

22 which shall be administered by an Associate Director for 

23 Minority Entrepreneurship and Business Development ap24 pointed under section 3(b)(1) (in this section referred to 

25 as the ‘‘Associate Director’’). 


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1 (b) ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR MINORITY ENTRE2 PRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT.—The As3 sociate Director shall— 

4 (1) be— 

5 (A) an appointee in the Senior Executive 

6 Service who is a career appointee; or 

7 (B) an employee in the competitive service; 

8 (2) increase the proportion of counseling and 

9 training that goes to minority start-ups and the 

10 Agency’s entrepreneurial development programs; 

11 (3) increase the proportion of the Agency’s con12 tracts to minority entrepreneur and new businesses; 

13 (4) work with the partners of the Agency, trade 

14 associations, and business groups to identify and 

15 carry out policies and procedures to more effectively 

16 market the resources of the Agency to new and 

17 small minority-owned businesses; 

18 (5) ensure that the Agency’s district offices and 

19 regional offices have adequate staff, funding, and 

20 other resources to market the grant program to 

21 newly formed and emerging minority-owned busi22 nesses and eligible institutions of higher education; 

23 (6) report to and be responsible directly to the 

24 Director. 


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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec3 tion— 

4 (1) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

5 (2) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 

6 (3) $7,000,000 for fiscal year 2012. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act— 

9 (1) the terms ‘‘Agency’’ and ‘‘Director’’ mean 

10 the Minority Small Business Development Agency 

11 and the Director thereof, respectively; 

12 (2) the term ‘‘eligible association or organiza13 tion’’ means an association or organization that— 

14 (A) is— 

15 (i) a minority business association de16 scribed under paragraph (3) or (6) of sec17 tion 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code 

18 of 1986 and exempt from taxation under 

19 section 501(a) of such Code; or 

20 (ii) a foundation of minority business 

21 associations described under section 

22 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

23 1986 and exempt from taxation under sec24 tion 501(a) of such Code; and 


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1 (B) has been in existence for at least the 

2 5-year period before the date of awarding a 

3 grant under section 2; 

4 (3) the term ‘‘eligible educational institution’’ 

5 means an institution that is— 

6 (A) a public or private institution of higher 

7 education (including any land-grant college or 

8 university, any college or school of business, en9 gineering, commerce, or agriculture, or commu10 nity college or junior college) or any entity 

11 formed by 2 or more institutions of higher edu12 cation; and 

13 (B) a— 

14 (i) historically Black college; 

15 (ii) Hispanic-serving institution; 

16 (iii) Asian-serving institution; 

17 (iv) Native Hawaiian-serving institu18 tion; or 

19 (v) tribal college; 

20 (4) the term ‘‘historically Black college’’ means 

21 a part B institution, as that term is defined in sec22 tion 322 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

23 U.S.C. 1061); 


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1 (5) the term ‘‘Hispanic-serving institution’’ has 

2 the meaning given that term in section 502 of the 

3 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a); 

4 (6) the term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

5 has the meaning given that term in section 101 of 

6 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

7 1001); 

8 (7) the term ‘‘small business concern’’ has the 

9 meaning given that term in section 3 of the Small 

10 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and 

11 (8) the term ‘‘tribal college’’ has the same 

12 meaning as the term ‘‘tribally controlled college or 

13 university’’ under section 2(a)(4) of the Tribally 

14 Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 

15 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801(a)(4)). 

Æ 


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