May 23, 2024
USDA kicked off National Small Business Month on April 24 with a Midwest “Road to Prosperity” event at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri.Number And 25thThis is 19th Beginning in 2022, the event aims to bring together experts from the financial industry, federal government, community partners and stakeholders to provide regional business and economic development workshops.
Through this partnership, USDA, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Small Business Administration will continue to empower federal, state, local and private partners to provide opportunities for the self-employed, small businesses and communities. The information, tools and resources shared will build assets, generate wealth and economic progress and nurture promising small businesses across the nation.
One of the primary objectives of Pathways to Prosperity is to improve small business contractual relationships with the federal government and private industry partners. This objective has been achieved and will continue to be achieved. Last year, the Biden-Harris administration allocated a record 28.4% of federal contracting dollars to small businesses, exceeding his fiscal year 2023 small business contracting goal of 23%. As a result of the work of the Office of Small Business and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), USDA received her A+ rating on her FY 2023 Federal Procurement “Scorecard.” This scorecard measures how well federal agencies meet their small business contracting goals each year. And Pathways to Prosperity is USDA and OSDBU's flagship outreach effort, providing tools and resources for small businesses to access federal programs and procurement opportunities across the country.
The Midwestern Pathways to Prosperity event engaged self-employed individuals, small businesses, and communities in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, resulting in participants receiving more banking referrals and business development assistance. The event highlighted how the Federal Government, along with local, state, and private partners, is leveraging resources to address the needs of our economy by strengthening America's small businesses, which are the engine of our economy and the glue that holds our communities together,” said Assistant Secretary of Administrative Procedure Malcolm Shorter.
The Midwest event featured dynamic discussions with experts in the consistent areas of capital access and government contracting. The event also placed special emphasis on value-added production in the agricultural industry and connections with vendors/companies, as requested by local partners. The goals of these two focuses were, respectively, to increase awareness and accelerate adoption of value-added business practices and increase market access through corporate purchasing programs.
Expert participants included agricultural business owners and operators such as Tabletop Farm, R/Farms, Green Grass Cattle Company, and Midwest and Southern supermarket chain Hy-Vee.
