Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christian-Christensen, a member of the House Small Business Committee, voted to pass two pieces of legislation that will help small business. The first will strengthen Women’s Business Centers – a Small Business Administration (SBA) initiative designed to help women entrepreneurs. The other will help small businesses prepare for and recover from natural disasters.
The Women’s Business Center legislation increases the program’s funding by $3 million – to $11 million – for Fiscal Year 2000, and reduces the amount of private funding that centers are required to secure in their fifth and final year of operation under the federal law.
“As a former small business owner, I know the value of the right help at the right time when one is growing one’s business,” Christensen said. “Programs targeted at the specific needs of women can only enhance one of the most integral aspects of our national economy, small businesses,” she noted.
Women’s Business Centers have provided women owned businesses with the technical training and counseling that they need to succeed since 1988. There are currently approximate seventy Women’s Business Centers in thirty-six states and Delegate Christensen supports SBA administrator Aida Alvarez’ commitment to establishing at least one center in every state and territory.
The second bill, which authorizes, through SBA, a disaster mitigation loan program of $15 million per year for the next five fiscal years, will allow small businesses to prepare for the potential impact of natural disasters such as hurricanes.
Christensen said she is “pleased that upon passage of this legislation, SBA will be joining FEMA’s Project Impact in providing a means for businesses to mitigate the effects of hurricanes, thereby reducing the overall damage to the community that these storms can cause.”
Project Impact was implemented as a pilot program by FEMA to provide low interest loans for homeowners to make hurricane-proof repairs to their homes to prevent further damage during storms. St. Croix has been designated as a Project Impact site because of its successful mitigation efforts that have decreased damages, injuries and recovery costs to FEMA.
The legislation will ensure that SBA conducts its disaster mitigation and prevention efforts in close coordination with FEMA. Both bills must now go before the full House of Representatives for consideration. Identical bills are being considered in the Senate.
