House Proceeding 11-16-09 on Nov 16th, 2009 :: 0:47:55 to 0:56:50
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0:47:51 to 0:48:12( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: by my good friend and colleague from the great state of new york, the gentlelady from new york, yvette clarke. . ms. clarke: i would like to thank represe giving me a

0:47:55 to 0:56:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Yvette Clarke

0:48:13 to 0:48:33( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: women in small business. as the cochair of the task force, representative fudge has demonstrated her leadership on these crucial issues and you are to be commended. i'm especially pleased to be speaking on these issues with you here this evening because of the timeliness of this

0:48:34 to 0:48:54( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: conversation. women entrepreneurs have come a long way in recent decades, but more must be done to support them, especially in this dire economic environment. as the sole member of the congressional black caucus on the small business committee in

0:48:55 to 0:49:18( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: the house or the senate for that matter, i'm constantly monitoring developments that affect women-owned small businesses, especially those in underserved areas. the impact of small businesses we know the statistics, but it's worth going over it again. small businesses are the key to

0:49:19 to 0:49:42( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: the health of the u.s. economy. they represent 9.7% of all employer firms. they employ about half of all private sector employees and pay nearly 45% of the u.s. private payroll and are responsible for

0:49:43 to 0:50:03( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: more than half of the nonprivate g.d.p. women-owned businesses are an important factor in this economic story. recent studies show there are close to eight million small women-owned firms and close to $14 trillion economy,

0:50:04 to 0:50:25( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: close to 23 milion people. these are great numbers. but i, for more must be done. not only do i believe it, but the facts bear it out. a recent study released by the federal reserve bank

0:50:26 to 0:50:46( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: "gender and the availability to credit to privately-held firms," this relied on data of privately held businesses surveys of small businesses' finances covering the period of 1987 through 2003. authors of the reportconcluded

0:50:47 to 0:51:07( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: that when compared to male-owned firms, w significantly smaller as measured by sales, assets and employment. younger is measured by age of the firm. more likely to be in retail or business services and less likely to be in construction, secondary manufacturing and

0:51:08 to 0:51:29( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: wholesale trade industries. and are more in fewer banking relationships. women ners are signifiantly younger and less experienced and tend to have less formal education than their male counterparts. the report further found that

0:51:30 to 0:51:51( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: women firms are significantly more likely to be credit constrained because they are more likely to be discouraged for applying for credit. this report reflects the fact that women-owned businesses have made great strides in recent

0:51:52 to 0:52:12( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: years, but that chalenge to growth, business model diversification, technical abilities and ability and aces to capital remain. the bottom line is that women entrepreneurs need more support. i have long been eaven advocate for women-owned businesses and it is vital we improve existing

0:52:13 to 0:52:34( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: programs and explore the need for new ones to narow this achievement gap. most recently, i have been hard at work exploring posible solutions for women entrepreneurs. last month, i introduced h.r. 3771, the veterans minority and women-owned business

0:52:35 to 0:52:55( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: construction business mentorship and grant 2009. this legislation would establish grant programs for women-owned small business construction internal business systems that are essential for success. funds would also be made available to local groups and

0:52:56 to 0:53:18( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: schools to bolster technical assistance to these firms. this bil opportunities in the highly competitive construction sector where there has been a decline due to the housing dowturn. this legislation is realy about capacity buil

0:53:19 to 0:53:39( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: firms so they canbeter compete with the many stimulus opportunities that are still tk developed and deployed. most of the total $787 bilion in stimulus funds have yet to go out. further, most of the remaining funds are targeted to shovel-ready construction projects, projects that our

0:53:40 to 0:54:01( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: women-owned businesses should and must parcipate in. i would like to take this opportunity to aplaud the women builders in this country. so often, the image of the construction industry is a burialy man in a hard hat. well, i've got news for you gentlemen. women builders face great obstacles and challenges.

0:54:02 to 0:54:24( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: in my experience, met and exceed them consistently in a highly competive our nation's extraordinary women builders wil benefit from this legislation. and i would like to thank my colleagues, including congresswoman fudge for supporting this bil. we have, as of

0:54:25 to 0:54:46( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: co-sponsors for the legisla the growing support for this legislation is proof that washington is waking up to the prominent wall that small businesses, including women-oed businesses must play in our recovery. finally, i've been working to

0:54:47 to 0:55:08( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: find ways to improve access to capital for women-owned businesses. it is no secret that our lrgest deposit tower institutions are not lending as much as they could but using the excess capital to provide capital buffers for their own balance sheet health, retarding any reebds that could be fueled by

0:55:09 to 0:55:30( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: small business lending. i applaud president obama for announcing that his administration wil be seeking low-cost loans to smaller anks and community development financial institutions as a means to address the small business lending gap.

0:55:31 to 0:55:51( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: i'm especially supportive of the cdfi's as a means of geting credit to our women-owned firms in economically distressed areas. for every dollar i areas. for every dollar invested, 15 of nonfederal dollars will provide lending to deserving borowers.

0:55:52 to 0:56:13( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: i will be studying how to improve government investment to help people help themselves. let us make no mistake. the great frontier for women entrepreneurs will be consistent

0:56:14 to 0:56:34( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: -- wil be consistently - be consistent u to access credit. i will fight tirelessly to make as i said earlier, these are just a few of the challenges faced by women-owned businesses. i'm always paying attention to

0:56:35 to 0:56:51( Edit History Discussion )

Yvette Clarke: the issues facing our women entrepreneurs and i will as long as i'm a member of congress. much work is left to be done but with the great leadership of congresswoman fudge, congresswoman lee and our