September 18, 2009

 

 

Taylor Champions Minority Business Growth & Development Act

Seeks to restore affective Minority Business Development Grant Program

(MADISON) Today, Senator Lena C. Taylor (D-Milwaukee) announced the introduction of the Minority Business Growth & Development Act which restores the highly effective Minority Business Development (MBD) Grant Program. The MBD program, created in 1989, has successfully created over 2700 new jobs in Wisconsin. The grant program was folded into the new Forward Innovation Fund in the 2009-11 state budget (Act 28).

“The Minority Business Growth & Development Act is exactly what Wisconsin needs to do to grow jobs and economic investment in the minority community,” Taylor commented. “Unfortunately, minority businesses are no longer the prime candidates for this investment under the new Forward Innovation Fund. By restoring this program we can return to the highly successful job creation we have seen.”

Since the program’s inception, the MDB Grant program awarded over 12 million dollars to 695 different minority-owned enterprises. According to the Department of Commerce, the program leveraged over 67 million dollars of private investment to create 2,748 jobs and retain another 1,054 that would not have continued without investment.

“These numbers show the outstanding success that a concentrated effort from the State can produce in our minority business community. This program was a bi-partisan effort to stimulate growth. This session, we should, and can, restore a program that has worked effectively.” Taylor concluded.

The Minority Business Growth & Development Act will not abolish the newly created Forward Innovation Fund; rather it will restore the independent MBD Grant program. Representative Leon Young (D-Milwaukee) joins Taylor in introducing the Act.