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White House Policy Briefing on Jobs

On Friday, February 25th, we attended the White House Policy Briefing on Jobs and the Economic Future in Communities of Color sponsored by Michael Blake in the Office of Public Engagement. The meeting was held at the Eisenhower Building. Speaking were:

1. Don Graves, Jr., Community Development and Housing Policy, Treasury. Mr. Graves discussed the Small Business Lending Fund and noted that 300 banks have applied for funding. Mr Graves is also Executive Director, Presidents's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which held it's first meeting on Thursday.


2. Michael Strautmanis, Senior Advisor to Valerie Jarrett.


3. Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator, SBA. Ms. Johns described plans for the Impact Fund: "SBA will commit $1 billion to those funds that invest growth capital in companies located in underserved communities. This includes investing in economically distressed areas, as well as those companies in emerging sectors such as clean energy. SBA will provide up to a 2:1 match to private capital raised by these funds, partnering with private investors to target these 'impact' investments."


4. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis (See photo).


5. Alejandra Castillo, Deputy Director, Minority Business Development Agency.


6. Dan Gordon, Federal Procurement Policy, OMB.

The briefing was informative and well timed. The Office of Engagement announced that they are having a series of meetings around the country (including one on Monday in Philadelphia) to reach out to small businesses, especially small minority businesses. Overall, we like the Administration's forward thinking, forward leaning efforts in this area. Very well done.
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