Op-Ed: Investing in Entrepreneurship After the Government Shutdown

Joint Center Senior Fellow Eric Morrissette and former Acting Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce for Minority Business Development penned an op-ed titled “Investing in entrepreneurship after the government shut down,” in light of the plan to reopen the federal government following the longest shutdown in U.S. history. In this piece, Morrissette argues that restoring key institutions, including the CFDI and MDBA, is essential to rebuilding public trust and ensuring that entrepreneurs, federal contractors, and small businesses can continue driving local economic growth.

From the op-ed: “This pain is also deeply concentrated and represents a crisis that was bubbling before the shutdown. A Bank of America Institute analysis released this week found that while roughly one-quarter of U.S. households live paycheck to paycheck, that rate soars to nearly one-third for lower-income families — a direct reflection of sustained economic pressure. For the millions of Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI) business owners, the contracts and supports provided by government agencies are the difference between growth and collapse.”

This piece was published in AFRO, Washington Informer, and URL Media.