Horsford Welcomes Vice President Kamala Harris to North Las Vegas to Announce Breaking Down Barriers For More Nevadans in Small Business Lending

NORTH LAS VEGAS – This past Saturday, Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04) welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabel Guzman to North Las Vegas. They visited the Chef Jeff Project in the Congressman's district, where they learned about the job training programs designed for young people in the community and formerly incarcerated individuals. Together, they announced an upcoming rule change to SBA lending regulations that will "Ban the Box" and remove barriers for people who have completed sentences for previous crimes, or are on parole or probation. This will impact the nearly 6,600 people released from Nevada prisons every year and nearly a hundred million Americans nationwide.

"We are seeing an entrepreneurial renaissance in Nevada. Record numbers of new business start ups, led by women and entrepreneurs of color, thanks in large part to the efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration. The new rule change, announced by Vice President Harris and SBA Administrator Guzman, is a monumental shift that will empower entrepreneurs and expand business here in Nevada and across the nation. Regardless of a person’s former incarceration or other criminal history, they will not have to worry about that past holding them back from their entrepreneurial aspirations and success. The SBA action to 'ban the box' will be a boon to our communities, boost our economy in Nevada and across the country, create more jobs, opportunities, and wealth. And we won’t stop until we close the wealth gap for all Americans once and for all," said Congressman Horsford.

SBA is removing most restrictions on loan programs that currently prevent Americans who have completed criminal sentences from being eligible for loans, including individuals currently on parole and probation. SBA is also removing questions on criminal history from their applications. This will end the chilling effect those questions have had on current entrepreneurs. Some individuals with a criminal record are eligible for certain SBA programs, but even then, SBA has found that simply asking individuals to list their criminal history in their loan applications deters individuals from applying.

Black business ownership has been growing the fastest in 30 years, and the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled, from 5% to 11% between 2019 and 2022. Latino business ownership is growing fastest in at least a decade, rising from 7% to 10% between 2019 and 2022. 
The number of women-owned businesses has grown dramatically. From 2019 to 2023, the growth rate of women-owned businesses was 94% greater than that of men-owned businesses.

Small businesses in Nevada employ over 428,000 Nevadans, and make up 95.6% of all businesses registered in the state. Over 72,000 of those small businesses are minority-owned, with 13,000 Black-owned enterprises, 33,000 Latino-owned firms, and 21,000 Asian-owned businesses. And women own 36.6% of small businesses in the Silver State.