II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1222 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to encourage entrepreneurship training in after school programs, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 20, 2023 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mrs. BLACKBURN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small 

Business and Entrepreneurship 

A BILL 

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to encourage entrepreneurship training in after 

school programs, 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 ‘‘21st Century Entre5 preneurship Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) entrepreneurship creates new jobs, grows 

9 the economy, increases productivity, and signifiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:21 Apr 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1222.IS S1222

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1 cantly improves the quality of life of the people of 

2 the United States; 

3 (2) entrepreneurship rates in the United States 

4 have declined substantially over the last several dec5 ades; 

6 (3) children from disadvantaged communities 

7 are less likely to become entrepreneurs and inven8 tors, hampering economic growth and harming com9 munities most in need; 

10 (4) studies show that children with mentors in 

11 entrepreneurship and inventorship are more likely to 

12 pursue these fields in adulthood; and 

13 (5) in order to promote growth in disadvan14 taged communities, increase entrepreneurship rates, 

15 and improve the economy, volunteer mentors with 

16 the SCORE program should be encouraged to en17 gage with children in community learning centers. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act— 

20 (1) the terms ‘‘Administration’’ and ‘‘Adminis21 trator’’ mean the Small Business Administration 

22 and the Administrator thereof, respectively; 

23 (2) the term ‘‘community learning center’’ has 

24 the meaning given the term in section 4201(b) of 


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1 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

2 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7171(b)); 

3 (3) the term ‘‘inventorship’’ means the activity 

4 of creating, designing, or otherwise originating a 

5 new product or service; 

6 (4) the term ‘‘SCORE program’’ means the 

7 Service Corps of Retired Executives described in sec8 tion 8(b)(1)(B) of the Small Business Act (15 

9 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)); and 

10 (5) the term ‘‘small business development cen11 ter’’ has the meaning given the term in section 3 of 

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

13 SEC. 4. ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION FOR DISADVAN14 TAGED YOUTH. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall— 

16 (1) develop a curriculum for volunteers with the 

17 SCORE program to teach female students, minority 

18 students, English learners, children with disabilities, 

19 and low-income students who are often underrep20 resented in critical and enriching subjects about en21 trepreneurship and inventorship through community 

22 learning centers; 

23 (2) develop and implement a strategy to encour24 age partnerships between the SCORE program and 

25 community learning centers to teach the curriculum 


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1 developed under paragraph (1) to the students de2 scribed in that paragraph through community learn3 ing centers; and 

4 (3) in developing the curriculum required under 

5 paragraph (1), collaborate with education specialists, 

6 entrepreneurship groups, business groups, and 

7 groups with experience serving underrepresented 

8 children. 

9 (b) COLLABORATION WITH OTHER PROGRAMS.—In 

10 carrying out the partnerships under subsection (a)(2), vol11 unteers with the SCORE program are encouraged to col12 laborate with other entrepreneurial development programs 

13 of the Administration and other agencies, including— 

14 (1) small business development centers; 

15 (2) women’s business centers operating under 

16 section 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

17 656); 

18 (3) centers overseen by the Minority Business 

19 Development Agency of the Department of Com20 merce; and 

21 (4) the Growth Accelerator Fund Competition 

22 of the Administration carried out under section 24 

23 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act 

24 of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719). 


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1 (c) SCORE PROGRAM.—Section 8(b)(1)(B) of the 

2 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)(B)) is amended, 

3 in the first sentence, by inserting before the period at the 

4 end the following: ‘‘and to carry out entrepreneurship and 

5 inventorship programs under section 4(a) of the 21st Cen6 tury Entrepreneurship Act’’. 

7 (d) COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS.—Part B of 

8 title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

9 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7171 et seq.) is amended— 

10 (1) in section 4201(a)(2) (20 U.S.C. 

11 7171(a)(2)), by inserting ‘‘entrepreneurship and 

12 inventorship (as defined in section 3 of the 21st 

13 Century Entrepreneurship Act) programs,’’ after 

14 ‘‘apprenticeship programs,’’; and 

15 (2) in section 4205(a) (20 U.S.C. 7175(a))— 

16 (A) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

17 at the end; 

18 (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the pe19 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(15) entrepreneurship and inventorship pro22 grams described in section 4(a) of the 21st Century 

23 Entrepreneurship Act.’’. 

24 (e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

25 of enactment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, 


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1 the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Small 

2 Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate and the 

3 Committee on Small Business of the House of Representa4 tives a report that— 

5 (1) identifies each partnership between the 

6 SCORE program and a community learning center 

7 during the preceding 2-year period; 

8 (2) documents the use of funds by the SCORE 

9 program, and adherence by the SCORE program to 

10 contract award and procurement procedures, relat11 ing to the implementation of this Act; 

12 (3) documents any training or guidance pro13 vided to SCORE program chapter leadership on 

14 properly using funds provided to carry out this Act; 

15 (4) estimates the number of students who were 

16 reached through the entrepreneurship curriculum de17 veloped under subsection (a); 

18 (5) identifies any barriers to reaching additional 

19 students; and 

20 (6) identifies any plans for improving the cur21 riculum or implementing the strategy developed 

22 under subsection (a). 

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

25 appropriated to the Administrator $2,500,000 for 


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1 each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027 to carry out 

2 this Act and the amendments made by this Act. 

3 (2) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.—Of amounts made 

4 available to the Administrator to carry out this Act 

5 and the amendments made by this Act, the Adminis6 trator may transfer any portion of those amounts to 

7 the SCORE program to carry out such provisions. 

Æ 


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