Governor Hochul Participates in White House Virtual Small Business Funding Press Conference Call

 

Governor Hochul: "I am so grateful on behalf of the thousands and thousands of businesses here in the State of New York that will benefit from this ...This targeted approach, a half a billion dollars from the federal government, coupled with the half a billion dollars that I just enacted in our budget to do the same thing, pots of money for venture capital, lending opportunities, as well as investments in businesses that were hardest-hit by the pandemic."

Hochul: "I'm so thankful to have President Biden, who understands how important this is to get this money out in the communities, help them stabilize, let them start hiring again, let them continue to live their dreams that were dashed during this pandemic, make them whole again. And that's how our state and our country will again, once again, be prosperous."

 Good day everyone, I want to thank you for convening us here today and everyone in the White House team, as well as my partners in government at the congressional level, fellow Governor Kate Brown, as well as the Senator from Colorado. I come to this with a heart full of gratitude. We are so grateful to the Biden Administration and our own Majority Leader, Senator ChuckSchumer and Senator Gillibrand, and our entire delegation [and] Leader - Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I said leader because when I was in Congress a decade ago, she was not the Speaker yet, but great things have happened. And because of this teamwork, and how responsive the Administration has been to the needs during the pandemic, but even post-pandemic, I am so grateful on behalf of the thousands and thousands of businesses here in the State of New York that will benefit from this. 96 percent of small business in the State of New York are eligible for this funding.

And this targeted approach, half a billion dollars from the federal government, coupled with the half a billion dollars that I just enacted in our budget to do the same thing, pots of money for venture capital, lending opportunities, as well as investments in businesses that were hardest-hit by the pandemic. Everyone knows, no state was harder hit during the pandemic than the State of New York, particularly the City of New York, but we are a very diverse state. Many people do think of New York as just the skyscrapers of Manhattan, when in fact we have a very rural area as well. The Senator talked about communities of 10,000 or less. I have communities of 300 or less. Tiny communities that will also benefit from this.

And this is personal to me as well, as someone who helped my mother start a small business right out of law school. I know the challenges, the frustration, the bureaucracy that's just maddening. And for woman-owned businesses to get access to capital, it's almost impossible. It was then, back two decades ago and even now so today, so we're not making enough progress. And here in New York, we take this seriously for our MWBEs. We have 30 percent goals, and we're going to achieve those goals for all of our State contracts. But this really gives us the lift we need, the investment we need to be able to go to our small business community and say, "We are here to help you."

And again, I'm so thankful to have President Biden, who understands how important this is to get this money out in the communities, help them stabilize, let them start hiring again, let them continue to live their dreams that were dashed during this pandemic, make them whole again. And that's how our state and our country will again, once again, be prosperous. So, I'm just here to say thank you.