WHAT VIRGINIANS ARE SAYING: Joe Biden’s Plan to Build Back Better and Achieve Racial Economic Equity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2020

WHAT VIRGINIANS ARE SAYING:
Joe Biden’s Plan to Build Back Better and Achieve Racial Economic Equity

Yesterday, Joe Biden released the fourth plank of his plan to “Build Back Better” and work to finally achieve racial economic equity. He believes we cannot build back better without a major mobilization of effort and resources to address these challenges and to advance racial equity across America.

This is what Biden’s plan means for Virginia:

• It will provide each of Virginia’s 23 community colleges a grant to establish a free business development program that will teach students with a business idea how to get started. Over 238,000 Virginians attend a community college, almost 100,000 of which are minority students. Upon completion of the free program, participants will be eligible for ongoing technical assistance for up to two years.
• Virginians whose families make less than $125,000 a year will be able to attend any of five Virginia HBCUs tuition-free.
• HBCUs play a vital role in Virginia, generating around $913 million in total economic impact in our Commonwealth. This plan will support, uplift, and invest in Virginia’s HBCUs.
• There are more than 126 Black-owned restaurants across Virginia, small businesses who are critical to our Commonwealth. In addition to providing small businesses with an ambitious “restart package” to survive the current economic crisis, Biden is launching a special, ongoing initiative to empower these entrepreneurs to succeed and grow.

Below are what Virginians across the Commonwealth are saying about this plan:

“Homeownership is a measure of wealth, yet because of systemic racism and redlining, communities of color have been shut off from that opportunity,” said Carmen Romero, affordable housing advocate in Northern Virginia. “It’s time we have a president who uplifts communities of color by making sure they have access to affordable housing. That is exactly what Joe Biden will do. His plan to build back better and achieve racial equity calls for bold investments in homeownership and access to affordable housing for black, Latino, Native, and APIA families.”

“Small business ownership is one of our country’s cornerstones for wealth building. But racial inequities in small business ownership and success persist thanks to racial disparities in access to capital, combined with discrimination in the financial sector,” said Mike Hamlar, small business owner in Roanoke, Virginia. “When we rebuild this post-COVID economy, we have to make sure small businesses owned by people of color get a fair shot. As president, Biden will leverage more than $150 billion in new capital and opportunities for small businesses that have been structurally excluded for generations.”

Full plan can be found HERE.