New data from Creative Investment Research shows that minority businesses may lose between $400 and $450 million due to the government shutdown. Businesses are expected to lose this much money due to the loss of government contracts and funding from federal grants.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has halted guaranteeing small business loans, which minority businesses rely on, as the agency estimates that 320 small businesses are ceasing to obtain $170 million in SBA-guaranteed funding daily.
“The numbers tell a painful truth,” says Don Cravins, interim president and CEO of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). “Within our network of 15,000 minority-owned businesses, more than a third are being directly hit by this shutdown.”
The shutdown comes at a time when there has been a recent surge in Black women-owned businesses, with some launched by former Black federal workers who were recently furloughed and ventured into entrepreneurship.
The government shutdown is in its fourth week, with no end in sight. The longest shutdown in history was 34 days in 2018. However, appropriation bills were passed within that timeframe to help keep the government funded, as opposed to the current ongoing standstill.