Minority Entrepreneurship Grant Program Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1109 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, in con- sultation with the National Director of the Minority Business Develop- ment Agency, to establish a grant program to create or expand programs at minority-serving institutions and historically Black colleges and univer- sities that promote minority business ownership and entrepreneurship, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 14, 2021 Ms. ROSEN (for herself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and En- trepreneurship A BILL To require the Administrator of the Small Business Adminis- tration, in consultation with the National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, to establish a grant program to create or expand programs at minor- ity-serving institutions and historically Black colleges and universities that promote minority business ownership and entrepreneurship, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1109 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minority Entrepre- 2 neurship Grant Program Act of 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 6 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi- 7 ness Administration. 8 (2) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the Mi- 9 nority Entrepreneurship Advisory Board established 10 under section 4(a). 11 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 12 the National Director of the Minority Business De- 13 velopment Agency. 14 (4) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI- 15 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 16 university’’ means a part B institution, as that term 17 is defined in section 322 of the Higher Education 18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 19 (5) MINORITY.—The term ‘‘minority’’ includes 20 an individual who is— 21 (A) Black or African American; 22 (B) Hispanic or Latino; 23 (C) Native or Indigenous American; 24 (D) Asian; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1109 IS (E) Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Is- 1 lander; 2 (F) Native Alaskan; or 3 (G) a member of a group that the Minority 4 Business Development Agency of the Depart- 5 ment of Commerce determines under part 1400 6 of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, as in 7 effect on November 23, 1984, is a socially dis- 8 advantaged group eligible to receive assistance. 9 (6) MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION.—The 10 term ‘‘minority-serving institution’’ means any of 11 the following: 12 (A) A Hispanic-serving institution, as that 13 term is defined in section 502(a) of the Higher 14 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)). 15 (B) A Tribal College or University, as that 16 term is defined in section 316(b) of the Higher 17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)). 18 (C) An Alaska Native-serving institution, 19 as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 20 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 1059d(b)). 22 (D) A Native Hawaiian-serving institution, 23 as that term is defined in section 317(b) of the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1109 IS Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1 1059d(b)). 2 (E) A Predominantly Black Institution, as 3 that term is defined in section 318(b) of the 4 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5 1059e(b)). 6 (F) A Native American-serving, nontribal 7 institution, as that term is defined in section 8 319(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 9 (20 U.S.C. 1059f(b)). 10 (G) An Asian-American and Native Amer- 11 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution, as that 12 term is defined in section 320(b) of the Higher 13 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059g(b)). 14 (7) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘Program’’ means 15 the grant program established under section 3(a). 16 (8) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 17 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given the 18 term in section 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 19 U.S.C. 632(a)). 20 (9) STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR.—The term 21 ‘‘student entrepreneur’’ means a student who is— 22 (A) a minority; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1109 IS (B) enrolled at a minority-serving institu- 1 tion or a historically Black college or university; 2 and 3 (C) seeking to establish or develop a busi- 4 ness. 5 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM. 6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in 8 consultation with the Director, shall establish a grant pro- 9 gram within the Small Business Administration, the pur- 10 pose of which shall be to create or expand programs at 11 minority-serving institutions and historically Black col- 12 leges and universities that foster, promote, and increase 13 opportunities for minority business ownership. 14 (b) APPLICATION PROCESS.—A minority-serving in- 15 stitution or a historically Black college or university seek- 16 ing a grant under the Program shall submit to the Admin- 17 istrator an application that contains a description of— 18 (1) the need for the grant funds to promote mi- 19 nority entrepreneurship and business ownership 20 among student entrepreneurs enrolled at the minor- 21 ity-serving institution or the historically Black col- 22 lege or university; 23 (2) how the grant funds will be used to carry 24 out the activities described in paragraph (1); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1109 IS (3) how the programs created or expanded with 1 the grant funds will provide support to student en- 2 trepreneurs enrolled at the minority-serving institu- 3 tion or historically Black college or university who— 4 (A) seek support for an established busi- 5 ness; or 6 (B) need assistance in establishing a busi- 7 ness; and 8 (4) how the minority-serving institution or his- 9 torically Black college or university will create or ex- 10 pand programs or initiatives that— 11 (A) increase minority business ownership; 12 and 13 (B) expand business resources to student 14 entrepreneurs enrolled at the minority-serving 15 institution or historically Black college or uni- 16 versity. 17 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.—A grant made to a minor- 18 ity-serving institution or a historically Black college or 19 university under the Program shall be not less than 20 $250,000. 21 (d) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.—With a grant received 22 under the Program, a minority-serving institution or a his- 23 torically Black college or university shall support the cre- 24 ation or expansion of programs or initiatives that offer 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1109 IS business development resources that support student en- 1 trepreneurs enrolled at the minority-serving institution or 2 historically Black college or university, such as— 3 (1) free legal, accounting, human resources, in- 4 formation technology, marketing, training, coun- 5 seling, networking, and technical assistance; and 6 (2) access to capital resources, such as the 7 costs associated with forming a new business enter- 8 prise. 9 (e) MSI SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT.—A minority- 10 serving institution or historically Black college or univer- 11 sity to which a grant is made under the Program shall, 12 each year, submit to the Administrator a mid-year and 13 year-end report, each of which shall contain, for the period 14 covered by the report, the number of— 15 (1) student entrepreneurs trained, assisted, and 16 counseled with the grant funds; 17 (2) businesses created through the expenditure 18 of the grant funds, including, with respect to each 19 such business— 20 (A) the name of the business; 21 (B) a description of the business; and 22 (C) the amount of grant funds expended in 23 creating the business; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1109 IS (3) student entrepreneurs referred to other re- 1 sources of the Small Business Administration; and 2 (4) student entrepreneurs participating in pro- 3 grams created or expanded through the expenditure 4 of the grant funds, which, to the extent possible, 5 shall be disaggregated by sex, race, and ethnicity. 6 (f) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 7 months after the date on which the first grant is made 8 under the Program, and annually thereafter, the Adminis- 9 trator shall submit to Congress a report that contains in- 10 formation regarding the minority-serving institutions and 11 historically Black colleges or universities to which grants 12 were made under the Program for the period covered by 13 the report, which shall include— 14 (1) the name of each such minority-serving in- 15 stitution and historically Black college or university 16 and the amount of each such grant; 17 (2) the number of student entrepreneurs 18 trained, assisted, and counseled with Program grant 19 funds— 20 (A) at each minority-serving institution 21 and historically Black college or university to 22 which a grant was made under the Program; 23 and 24 (B) in total under the Program; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1109 IS (3) the number of businesses created through 1 the expenditure of Program grant funds— 2 (A) with respect to each minority-serving 3 institution and historically Black college or uni- 4 versity to which a grant was made under the 5 Program; and 6 (B) in total under the Program; 7 (4) the number of student entrepreneurs re- 8 ferred to resources of the Small Business Adminis- 9 tration— 10 (A) at each minority-serving institution 11 and historically Black college or university to 12 which a grant was made under the Program; 13 and 14 (B) in total under the Program; 15 (5) the number of student entrepreneurs par- 16 ticipating in programs created or expanded through 17 the expenditure of Program grant funds at each mi- 18 nority-serving institution and historically Black col- 19 lege or university to which a grant was made under 20 the Program, and in total under the Program, 21 which, to the extent possible, shall be disaggregated 22 by sex, race, and ethnicity; and 23 (6) a statement regarding whether any amounts 24 made available to carry out this section remain un- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1109 IS expended, as of the date on which the report is sub- 1 mitted. 2 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3 are authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator 4 $50,000,000 to carry out this section. 5 SEC. 4. ADVISORY BOARD. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 7 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall es- 8 tablish a Minority Entrepreneurship Advisory Board to 9 develop recommendations regarding how minority-serving 10 institutions and historically Black colleges and universities 11 can better serve minority businesses and entrepreneurs. 12 (b) MEMBERSHIP OF BOARD.—The members of the 13 Board shall be— 14 (1) appointed by the Administrator; and 15 (2) individuals with— 16 (A) outstanding qualifications; 17 (B) knowledge regarding the needs of 18 small business concerns that are owned by mi- 19 norities; and 20 (C) experience— 21 (i) working with startups; or 22 (ii) in providing consultation to small 23 business concerns. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1109 IS (c) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18 1 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Ad- 2 ministrator shall submit to Congress the recommendations 3 developed by the Board under subsection (a). 4 (d) INAPPLICABILITY OF FACA.—The Federal Advi- 5 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply with 6 respect to the Board or the activities of the Board. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:33 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1109.IS S1109 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS