Action Alert: Urge Your Representative to Support AEO Funding Priorities – March 2, 2017

Action Alert: Urge Your Representative to Support AEO Funding Priorities
March 2, 2017

Entrepreneurship funding requires support from Republicans and Democrats alike. AEO is asking all its members and supporters to call their Member of Congress and urge them to support Fiscal Year 2018 small business lending. In particular, there are three cornerstone programs that provide critical support to entrepreneurs, especially in economically distressed areas. The programs which are under threat of being cut, are the Treasury’s CDFI program, the SBA Microloan Program and the SBA PRIME program.
Below is a recommended script that can be used to call your Representative’s office. You can reach Congressional offices by going through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 or your Representative’s webpage.

Sample Call Script
(NOTE: you can ask for the Representative, but most likely you will speak to staff which is perfectly fine – they really do report all the calls they receive):

Hello. My name is _________ and I am a constituent with an organization located in _________. I am calling to urge Representative ____________ to support entrepreneurship lending programs for Fiscal Year 2018. In particular, I would like to mention three programs the Representative should support which are included in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill.
• Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) — $250 million
• SBA PRIME Program — $10 million
• SBA Microloan Program– $44 million for lending, $31 million for technical assistance
Providing lending and technical assistance to small businesses is exactly the support we need from Congress. Again, I urge Representative _____________ to support critical lending and business training in FY 2018. Thank you for taking my views into consideration.

Email Message
(NOTE: If you want to send an email instead, you can cut and paste the body of this note and submit through the Representative’s webpage. Under a “contact me” tab, you will find a link to email your message.)
• SBA PRIME Program — $10 million
o Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME) provides assistance to organizations that help low-income entrepreneurs who lack sufficient training and education to gain access to capital to establish and expand their small businesses.
• SBA Microloan Program
o Lending $44 million
o Technical Assistance $31 million
o The Microloan program provides loans up to $50,000 to help small businesses start up and expand. and the average microloan is about $13,000. To receive a microloan, certain applicants receive training and planning technical assistance.
• Treasury Department (CDFI) — $250 million
o Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are private financial institutions that are 100% dedicated to delivering responsible, affordable lending to help low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged communities.