SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES & ENTREPRENEURS
QUESTION: With the implementation of federal tariffs, limited resources and new guidelines surrounding funding opportunities, many small business owners are barely staying afloat. What have you done to support entrepreneurs and small business owners and how has that support made a difference?
Te Mayonna Brown: “I am a 23-year mogul of entrepreneurship. I’ve been on the front lines of building businesses and building communities. As a businesswoman and real estate developer, I understand the challenges entrepreneurs and small business owners face because I’ve lived them. I’ve had to navigate rising costs, regulations, financing challenges, and the responsibility of creating opportunities for others. I also founded the Women in Construction Corporation, an organization created to help women gain access to opportunities, training, and resources in the construction industry. I believe entrepreneurship is one of the strongest pathways to financial independence, and I worked to make sure more people had a seat at the table in industries where they have historically been underrepresented. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. We don’t need Washington creating more obstacles, we need policies that allow us to grow. In Congress, I will fight to reduce unnecessary regulations, expand access to capital, make federal resources easier to navigate, and support policies that allow entrepreneurs to keep more of what we earn and reinvest in our businesses. I know what it takes to create opportunity, and I will bring that real-world experience to Washington to fight for small business owners and entrepreneurs.”
Marshall Davis Sr.: “In addition to successfully building human infrastructure, I have decades of receipts supporting entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and business owners through the Residency program at the Marshall L. Davis Sr African Heritage Cultural Arts Center. By having access to state of the art space at low-to-no-cost, residents are not burdened with expensive overhead expenses for meetings, rehearsals or productions and can focus more on their creativity and artistic expressions. Depending on the residency level, in addition to the space to cultivate their craft and produce enriching programming, they also receive mentorship and professional development services. Partnership and revenue sharing opportunities for productions also help relieve the pressure of covering all of the operating costs. Depending on the residency level, residents are required to conduct workshops and provide community service, creating a symbiotic culture of engagement required for sustainability. Under his leadership for over four decades, Davis operated MLDAHCAC as a vital micro-economic engine that directly fueled local entrepreneurs, small business owners, and independent contractors across Liberty City. Davis systematically prioritized local vendor procurement, contracting directly with neighborhood-based Black-owned catering companies, seamstresses, tailors, set builders, sound technicians, janitorial services, and security firms. By choosing to direct public funds and grant dollars to neighborhood suppliers rather than outside corporate conglomerates, I’ve ensured that taxpayer dollars continuously recirculate within the local Black economy. This generated foot traffic in the neighborhood that directly benefited surrounding barbershops, retail storefronts, local restaurants and food trucks.”
Oliver Gilbert: “Walk any commercial corridor in this district and ask an owner what the tariffs are. They’ll tell you. A tax. When Trump slaps chaotic, across-the-board tariffs on everything, the corner restaurant, the beauty supply store, and the small contractor pay it in their inventory costs, and their customers pay it at the register. I support targeted, strategic tariffs as part of a real industrial policy that protects American jobs. What we have now isn’t strategy. It’s a squeeze on the people least able to absorb it. My record is on the other side of that squeeze. As Mayor of Miami Gardens, we drove real economic growth in a city that had been written off, and we built events and institutions — like Jazz in the Gardens — that put real dollars into the hands of local vendors and small businesses. As Commissioner, I’ve kept small business at the center of the county’s growth agenda by continuing to fight for small business pool participation in county vending, funding for mom-and-pop grants, and rewriting the procurement rules to make county business more accessible to small local businesses. In Congress, I’m bringing the BUILD Business Act, my plan to modernize the Small Business Administration (SBA). I’ll advocate for startup grants of $5,000 to $25,000 for equipment, inventory, licensing, and lease deposits, so entrepreneurs can get started before debt becomes necessary; an SBA Growth Line of low-interest loans, generally 0% to 2%, with deferred repayment; stronger 7(a) and 504 programs with faster approvals and expanded lending in underserved communities. I envision one digital portal for all of it and incentives for employee ownership, so workers build wealth alongside the businesses they help build. America shouldn’t just be the best place in the world to work. It should be the best place in the world to start a business.”
Shevrin Jones: “Small businesses are the backbone of District 24’s economy and right now they are being squeezed from every direction, including by tariffs that raise the cost of everything they buy and sell. During the pandemic, when small businesses were fighting to survive, I filed legislation to create a state cash-flow loan program to get relief to owners quickly. I have fought for protections for small-business owners and as more storefronts went card-only, I built a bipartisan bill requiring in-person businesses to accept cash, which would protect the seniors, low-income families, and unbanked customers many neighborhood businesses depend on. I was successful at moving it through a Senate committee unanimously. In Congress, I will push back on tariff policies that function as a tax on our small importers, restaurants, and retailers. I will fight to expand and simplify access to Small Business Administration capital, especially for Black and immigrant-owned businesses historically shut out of lending and I will protect the funding streams small businesses rely on.”
Kendrick Meek Jr.: “Small businesses are the absolute backbone of District 24’s economy, but a combination of volatile federal tariffs, rising supply costs, and rigid federal guidelines are threatening their survival. Our local mom-and-pop shops, Creole restaurants, and minority-owned enterprises do not have the massive legal and accounting teams required to navigate complex federal bureaucracies. My experience working with federal committee structures and corporate social responsibility initiatives has given me a deep understanding of how federal funding pipelines operate. I have seen firsthand how smaller enterprises are frequently shut out of federal economic opportunities because guidelines favor large, established corporations. To support our local entrepreneurs, my federal platform focuses on: Reforming SBA Funding Guidelines: I will fight to change the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan requirements to lower barriers for minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses. This includes expanding character-based lending and micro-loan programs that do not rely strictly on flawless credit scores or massive collateral. Establishing Local Federal Navigation Hubs: I will use my Congressional office budget to build a dedicated small business federal navigation team right here in the district. We will meet business owners where they are, providing hands-on assistance to help them apply for federal grants, procurement contracts, and disaster relief. Tariff Relief and Supply Chain Protection: I will advocate for targeted tariff exemptions and federal supply chain subsidies for critical small business sectors in South Florida, ensuring that trade disputes do not penalize local entrepreneurs trying to import raw materials or inventory.”
Jean Monestime: Monestime did not provide a response to this question.
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