SBA: Push for Native American Small Business Help

Johnson, Kerry Push for Expanded Native American Small Business Development Thu May 25, 1:59 PM ET

To: National Desk and Business Desks

Contact: Julianne Fisher, 202-224-1638, for Sen. Johnson; or Kathryn Seck, 202-224-9431, for Sen. Kerry

WASHINGTON, May 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Senators Tim Johnson (D- S.D.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) are seeking to expand small business opportunities for Native Americans as the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship enters the reauthorization process for Small Business Administration (SBA) programs this year.

Johnson sponsored the bipartisan Native American Small Business Development Act (S. 1907), along with Kerry and Sen. Gordon Smith (news, bio, voting record) (R-Ore.), which would create an Office of Native American Affairs within the SBA and establish three assistance programs, including two pilot programs.

"Fostering small business growth is an important step toward increasing employment prospects and improving local economies in Indian Country," said Johnson, the author of the legislation and a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "The unfortunate reality is that jobs and business opportunities are unacceptably scarce in native communities. This legislation would help provide the proper resources so that more people in Indian Country will have the assistance they need to launch new, self-sustaining businesses."

According to the SBA's Office of Advocacy, the American Indian and Alaska Native community is one of the fastest growing business groups in the country. Yet, nearly 25 percent of the country's American Indian and Alaska Native populations live in poverty.

More at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060525/pl_usnw/johnson__kerry_push_for_expanded_native_american_small_business_development303_xml