Good morning. Good afternoon. Welcome to Sycamore and oak where community flourishes and grains store. I am Monica Gray. I could president of the Congress Heights Community trend Development Corporation and the operator of the retail buildings here at Sycamore. And I am so very honored to have the vice president here with us today. The Vice President is fighting every day to ensure that every small business owner and entrepreneur in America has the resources it needs to thrive. Our mission here is not just to build rijo village, but to foster a thriving community and make significant impact on the local economy, small business engagement and sustainability and civil war. Along with our partners red Ridge, LMD, and Emerson Collective, we firmly believe this small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are the driving force behind innovation, job creation, community development, wellness and pride. As we open our doors to this one behind retail village, we're not just offering cousin services, we're creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs to build their passions and dreams and build generational wealth. Public private individuals isocaloric will play a pivotal role in strengthening communities that suffer from years of disinvestment. We understand that vibrant, cohesive neighborhoods are built on the foundation of strong local businesses. But small businesses thrive, every community wins.
Increase of email opportunities increase the entire community benefits from unique goods and services. And overall quality of life improves. Our commitment to community goes beyond bricks and mortar or in this case, mass timber. We envision Sycamore and oak as a hub of innovation and collaboration, where it is a fall form. And partnerships are forged. But we cannot achieve this vision alone. We are deeply appreciative of the support, enthusiasm and investment in small business by our partners and this administration, together will make a civil mortal, a testament to the power of possibilities. The product is not just a place to shop. It is a symbol of what can be achieved with communities and investment alive. That's why we're grateful to have the main president here with us today. Investing in small businesses and entrepreneurship has been quite challenging for her since she started in the city. As a US senator, she fought to secure it $12 billion of community values, but predominantly a boy rule minority on as women homeless. As Vice President, she launched the economic opportunity Coalition, a public private partnership that will invest 10s of billions of dollars to create opportunity in historically underserved communities. Building legislation should come to pass as a senator, the Vice President has announced the investment of more than $11 billion for community lenders to help people build businesses.
My honor, and pleasure to introduce to you Vice President Kamala Harris.
I was just saying to Monica as long as she said the power possibility you isn't that and really the power behind our community, as a society, see it and then invest it. I have a great joy and honor and privilege of meeting with some of the small business owners who will occupy
your space and I never can tell you their innovation, their
enthusiasm, their love
of this community and by extension, the country is really so
inspiring. I love our small business owners. I feel that
many of you may know this, but you
know my sister in law And I raised by our mother and she worked long day.
And we had a second mother who lived two doors down itself. And we lived in the apartment above the nursery school that
Michelle's to rent and she was a small business owner. And she was a matriarch of the community. She was not only a business leader, she was a civic
leader. She was part of the cultural fabric of the community, as well as someone who hired LOLing, mentor, and to role model what it means to be invested and be successful. And so this is very personal for me to be here with all of you. And we'll talk more and it's being done here. And I want to thank once again, for her introduction to senior leadership.
It's good to be here today with so many incredible leaders, I see so many I can spend all afternoon mentioning
who you are, but I will not do that, in
case I will for looking at the time in particular.
But I will say that,
in particular, I do want to thank the leaders of our Commerce Department, and Deputy Secretary John graves and Undersecretary not great and we've been working a lot together these last couple of years. And they really are extraordinary they were traveling the country, and really inspiring so much of the work we have done as an administration. So I think to Don's
all business owners in North America, including those here today, you are the backbone
of our communities and our economy.
And you are part of the pride of our nation. President by the night came into office for the plant to grow and strengthen America's economy. We knew that far too long. Our economy has not been working for working people. Entire communities have been left out and left behind trickle down economics. Well, it benefited big corporations and the wealthiest of Americans, but not by regular folks. So when President Biden and I took office, we decided to invest in the working people of America to create millions of jobs,
to rebuild
American manufacturing, to repair our roads and bridges, to replace every lead pipe in our nation to connect every home with high speed internet to expand same energy production. And to make sure that every person in America not just the wealthy or well connected has the opportunity to thrive. All that ladies and gentlemen and everyone else that is called on comics
and we are very proud about
about and as today's jobs numbers made clear, my parents is working. Last month we created 187,000 new jobs.
That means today, you're gonna
love that means today 187,000 More Americans are able to go to work to provide for their family and invest in their future. Today, numbers reflect the point that President Biden has made many times America's economy is strong and experiencing stable and steady growth. In fact, since we took office we have created more than 13 million new jobs. In two and a half years. We have created more times for new jobs than any other administration has created them for.
Employment right at the Americans lowest level in over half a century, wages are up inflation has fallen 12 months in a row. And recently, some of the nation's largest financial institutions have begun to recognize the significant impact of our economic approach. Morgan Stanley to increase their expectations for economic growth, as did Bank of America and online economic recoveries in the past you This approach is not only being felt on Wall Street, but more importantly, it is being felt on Main Street, especially by people who start and own small businesses.
So just consider it just our first
two years in office entrepreneurs have applied to start more new small businesses that did to any other two year period in history. In addition, President Barack and I have invested billions in American manufacturing. Now, put this in context. Since most manufacturing companies are small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Our investment in American manufacturing is also an investment in America's small businesses. All this to say, America's economic future looks bright practice and the president vibe when I will keep firing forward. And that includes expanding support, and access to capital for small business owners. So many of you may know as Vice President honored throughout our nation, from the world with an ad to small towns in New Hampshire to Indian country, to meet with small business owners and entrepreneurs. And when I sit down and talk with folks, I often will ask them, of all the challenges you as a small business owner as an entrepreneur, because of all the challenges you face, what is your biggest concern, and almost 201, the answer they will give me is access to capital. They either want to start a business or they want to grow a business, but don't have the relationships with the big banks. And so for years, we have worked to expand investment in community banks. Because you see community many specialize in providing loans and financial assistance to small business owners, in particular, those in overlooked and underserved communities, including rural communities. And as the name suggests, community bikes are in from the community. They understand the needs of the people they serve. They understand the capacity and the opportunity, such as the capacity and an opportunity of this community, that big banks often. And so building on the work that has occurred at legacy, and I would say the senator, and since taking office, President Biden and I have invested nearly $12 billion in our community banks. And last year, I was so proud to convene consumer banks, investment firms, technology companies and philanthropies to launch a first of its kind, Public Private Partnership in support of our small businesses. And what we did is we combined the expertise and the experience of the private sector, with the reach and the capacity that only government can provide. And as a result, we have secured billions of dollars in private sector investment for small businesses. In order to expand access to capital, we have to think outside the box. And in particular, we feel a sense of responsibility to find innovative ways to support our
entrepreneurs, and are small business owners,
including to fund community banks, to build public private partnerships, and to do what we are doing today, which is to invest in small business accelerators. So small business accelerators are organizations that in addition to capital, provide advice and support to entrepreneurs, because not, you know, most of us, in fact, didn't grow up, necessarily having parents or others in our direct community that that understood all of these business principles and
understood high finance, but it's not that
folks don't have a good idea, or the ambition and the aspiration to do things, but just don't have access to the information. So basically, a small business accelerator is a one stop shop for small businesses to succeed.
And they provide
everything from mentorship to management courses, to assistance, filling out business taxes. And so today I'm proud to announce that we will invest $125,000,000.43 small businesses suffering.
chose them because they are the ones that are and have a track record of supporting entrepreneurs in underserved communities, and helping them to innovate, and to hire and to grow. And nearly all of these accelerators that we have funded are represented here today. And because of these additional resources, these accelerators will be able to extend capital and support to 1000s more entrepreneurs and startups to take full advantage of the investments we have made in our nation over the past 20 years. And so consider since taking office, President Biden I have invested about a trillion dollars a trillion jobs to build a clean energy, energy economy, a trillion dollars to build and grow a new economy, a clean energy economy, I think what this means is folks who have great ideas have access to the information to participate in and to be in the pipeline. Of the innovators are doing this work every day to build up our country. Today's investments, our business accelerators, will help connect entrepreneurs and small business owners with the support and guidance they need to break into the clean energy economy. For example, this investment could allow, let's say, a college student from Thomasville Georgia, to connect with a mentor to help launch her clean and startup and applied for clean energy tax credits. It could allow, let's say a mother of two in Tempe, Arizona, who has a business plan to install solar panels. But she needs the technical support, to learn how to turn that plant into a reality and meet the increasing demand for solar energy. That's where these accelerators come into play, to help connect that desire, that ambition, that great idea, with the resources that are available, to actually do that important, innovative work.
This investment, for example, could allow a veteran
who owns the auto repair shop in Milwaukee, to access the capital, he needs to buy equipment to repair electric vehicles I've visited with some of these innovative small businesses. And you know, it was interesting. I met with one young innovator who was talking about how he was setting up this company to actually work on electric vehicles and electric batteries. And I said, well tell me about working with him. And he said, well, there, we refer to them as technicians as if you mean mechanics.
That's all we're talking about. We're talking about skills that exist. But what we're doing is upgrading those skills to meet the
demands of newer companies. And so through this investment and our whole invest in American strategy, President Biden and I are working to make sure that small business owners and entrepreneurs have every type of support they need to grow. Because as biodynamics continues to demonstrate what we invest in the dreams and ambitions of small business owners and entrepreneurs,
and creates opportunity and prosperity for us all.
