Action Alert – June 1, 2018

Action Alert
June 1, 2018

Action Alert:
Urge Your Representative to Support AEO Funding Priorities
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 2019 small business lending. In particular, there are three cornerstone programs that provide critical support to entrepreneurs, especially those in economically distressed areas. They are the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) program, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Microloan Program and the SBA’s PRIME program.
Below is a recommended script that can be used to call your Representative’s office. You can reach Congressional offices by calling 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 on all of the calls they receive):
Hello. My name is [X] and I am a constituent with an organization located in [X]. I am calling to urge Representative [X] to support entrepreneurship lending programs for Fiscal Year 2019. In particular, I would like to mention three critical programs included in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill:
• Community Development Financial Institutions: $300 million for the CDFI Fund and $1 billion for the Bond Guarantee Program
• SBA Microloan Program: $44 million for lending, $31 million for technical assistance
• SBA PRIME Program: $10 million
Providing lending and technical assistance to small businesses is exactly the support we need from Congress. Again, I urge Representative [X] to support critical lending and business training in FY 2019. Thank you for taking my views into consideration.
Email Message
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 send your email.
Hello,
My name is [X] and I am a constituent with an organization located in [X]. I would like to urge Representative [X] to support entrepreneurship lending programs for Fiscal Year
2019. In particular, I would like to mention three critical programs included in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill:
• Treasury Department Community Development Financial Institutions: CDFI Fund $300 million, Bond Guarantee Program $1 billion
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.
• SBA Microloan Program: Lending $44 million, Technical Assistance $31 million
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.
• SBA PRIME Program: $10 million
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.
Providing lending and technical assistance to small businesses is exactly the support we need from Congress. Again, I urge Representative [X] to support critical lending and business training in FY 2019.
Thank you for taking my views into consideration.
Sincerely,
[X]