KANSAS CITY, Mo. and WASHINGTON, July 18, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The first pilot program in a nationwide effort to develop one-stop economic empowerment centers to support minority entrepreneurship and business development has been opened in Kansas City, Mo., it was announced today.
This is the first center to launch through the new coalition called the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership (UEP). The UEP is an initiative of the White House, National Urban League (NUL), Business Roundtable, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The UEP combines for the first time, resources of private, public and non-profit sectors to expand entrepreneurship and jobs in historically neglected or economically underperforming urban areas.
The Kansas City Urban Entrepreneur Center, which is being funded and launched by the Kauffman Foundation, will serve as a model for subsequent UEP pilot centers to be opened as part of a nationwide program announced last year. Additional cities designated are Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Jacksonville, with Milwaukee and Baltimore being explored. Each center will be administered by local NUL affiliates. The UEP centers are designed to provide business training, intrusive coaching and mentoring, and financing and procurement opportunities to minority and urban business owners. The Kansas City center has started with a select group of minority entrepreneurs who are serving as test cases for future entrepreneurs that will go through the program in Kansas City and the other five cities.
Since President Bush first announced the UEP initiative at the National Urban League (NUL) convention last July, the NUL, the Kauffman Foundation, Business Roundtable, the Small Business Administration, Minority Business Development Agency, and a broad nonpartisan group of business owners, experts, community leaders, and other supporters of minority entrepreneurship across the country have joined together to provide expertise in launching the centers. The UEP has convened national meetings for implementation, outreach, and networking, including two at the White House, one with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and the Minority Business Development Agency, and one in Kansas City organized by the Small Business Administration.
"Our research indicates that minorities, and blacks in particular, are about 50 percent more likely to engage in start-up activities than whites, said Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. "Yet statistics for business formation reveal that minorities are not as successful in getting their businesses off the ground or in growing them to scale. The Kauffman Foundation is thrilled to join our partners in working to close this gap and empower more minorities to reach their full entrepreneurial potential."
Although the number of minority-owned businesses has grown significantly over the past twenty years, minority businesses continue to lag behind in economic indicators. Minority-owned firms represent only 2.7 percent of total U.S. gross receipts from all firms; only 4.3 percent of all national employment; only nine percent of U.S. firms with revenues of more than $500 thousand; and, only five percent of U.S. firms with more than 100 employees.
President Bush stated: "This Center represents an important step in the Partnership and will serve as a model for creating an environment where entrepreneurs can succeed. I appreciate all the groups participating. Together, we're working to achieve a great national goal: making our country a place where opportunity and prosperity are within reach for all Americans."
Daryl Williams, Director of Minority Entrepreneurship Programs at the Kauffman Foundation, added that after a period of aligning resources in the Kansas City area, "We now have established partnerships with the Kansas City Urban League and other community service delivery organizations, financial services institutions and a database of available training classes."
Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League and Chairman of the national Urban Entrepreneur Partnership initiative: "Growing small and medium-sized minority owned businesses is one of the best ways to close the wealth gap in America and provide real economic empowerment to our communities."
The announcement of the launch of the Kansas City UEP, follows release of a new study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Kauffman Foundation that finds that Impressive gains made by minority-owned businesses over the past few years stand to be squandered unless new growth strategies are adapted to compete in a rapidly changing business market.
The report, The New Agenda for Minority Business Development, argues that minority businesses are not maintaining pace with the larger U.S. business community and that a change of "mindset" is required to ensure sustained growth. The study further states that it is necessary for minority businesses to work with corporations as well as government agencies to better adjust and take advantage of the changing global marketplace. This collaborative, private-sector approach characterizes the UEP model.
About the Partners
Established in 1910, The National Urban League is the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. Today, the National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the non-partisan efforts of its local affiliates. There are over 100 local affiliates of the National Urban League located in 35 states and the District of Columbia providing direct services to more than 2 million people nationwide through programs, advocacy and research.
Federal Government. Lead agencies are the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), and the US Small Business Administration (SBA). MBDA is an entrepreneurially focused and innovative organization committed to wealth creation in minority communities. The Agency promotes the growth and competitiveness of large, medium and small minority business enterprises (MBEs). MBDA coordinates and leverages public and private-sector resources that facilitate strategic alliances in support for MBEs, and also supports a network of Minority Business Development Centers (MBDCs), Native American Business Development Centers (NABDCs), and Business Resource Centers (BRCs) throughout the Nation. The Centers assist minority entrepreneurs in writing business plans, marketing, management and technical assistance and financial planning to assure adequate financing for business ventures.
SBA works to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by aiding, counseling, assisting and protecting the interests of small businesses and by helping families and businesses recover from national disasters. Since 1953, nearly 20 million small businesses have received help from SBA programs. SBA's current business loan portfolio of roughly 219,000 loans worth more than $45 billion makes it the largest single financial backer of U.S. businesses in the nation.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.