This month, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) visited Stan’s Hands Massage and Wellness and Camellia Alise, Black-owned businesses in Texas’ Seventh Congressional District. The visits come during National Black Business Month, an annual celebration during the month of August to highlight the work of Black-owned businesses and explore the challenges they may face. They discussed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) can help small businesses after Hurricane Beryl, as well as federal efforts to support Black-owned small businesses across our community.
“I was glad to meet with Lyndsey Brantley, CEO of Camellia Alise, and Stan McDonald, owner of Stan’s Hands Massage and Wellness, to hear about their successes and challenges,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher. “Small businesses are the essential pillars of our community and drivers of our economy, and I was glad to vote for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which enabled the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to create new programs to expand minority small business ownership throughout Texas’ Seventh Congressional District and across the country. I look forward to continuing to support policies that uplift Black-owned small businesses and strengthen our community.”
During the Biden-Harris administration, the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled and the creation rate of Black-owned small businesses is at its highest level in 30 years. In October 2023, SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman announced SBA had more than doubled the amount of loans to Black-owned small businesses, reaching nearly $1.5 billion in lending.
In 2021, Congresswoman Fletcher voted for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which made the MBDA permanent and expanded the agency’s ability to support minority entrepreneurs across the country. Congresswoman Fletcher is also a cosponsor of the Increasing Developing Entrepreneurship Access (IDEA) Act of 2023, H.R. 4499, which, if enacted, would establish a MBDA grant program to provide minority businesses access to entrepreneurship opportunities.
