Exclusive: New partnership to seek federal action on entrepreneurial equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic inequities that women and minority workers and business owners already faced, reinforcing gender roles and widening racial disparities.

Driving the news: Against this backdrop, a new partnership between the National Urban League and the moderate Democratic think tank Third Way wants to level the playing field for entrepreneurs — and plans to push for federal action, Axios has learned.

• The initiative, Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity, aims to create an agenda of policies that will eventually be supported by Congress and President Biden.
• Expected to be on that agenda: equalizing access to capital, networks and markets for minority and women entrepreneurs. 

Why it matters: While many grassroots efforts exist to improve entrepreneurial equity, very few are focused on effecting long-term changes at the federal level.

Context: One study from Yelp from earlier this year found that women-owned businesses, Latino-owned businesses and Black-owned businesses were more likely to close and reopen two or more times, compared to other businesses.

• More than half (51%) of Black-owned small businesses have less than three months’ cash, compared to 44% of all small business owners, according to a recent Goldman Sachs survey. 

What they’re saying: Throughout the pandemic, "we've seen the power of Congress and the federal government in [bringing a] historic amount of change to small businesses," Imani Augustus, Director of AEE, tells Axios.

• The big picture: From government funding to reconciliation, the talk on Capitol Hill this year has been about rebuilding the economy — and specifically, how to create a post-COVID economy that is “more inclusive and equitable,” adds Gabe Horwitz, senior vice president of the economic program at Third Way.

The bottom line: “We need far more small businesses, period,” Horwitz says.