Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2000

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7333 of August 24, 2000

Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Today, America is enjoying the longest economic
expansion in our history, with 22 million new jobs
created since my Administration took office in 1993 and
the lowest unemployment and inflation rates in more
than 30 years. The American people are looking to the
future with renewed hope and optimism, eager to embrace
the exciting opportunities and meet the new challenges
of a dynamic and evolving global marketplace.

If we are to extend this remarkable period of growth
and sustain our leadership of the world economy, we
must use this time of extraordinary prosperity to
ensure that every citizen of our Nation plays a role in
our economic growth and benefits from its rewards. One
of the surest means of achieving that goal is to
promote the full inclusion of minority enterprises in
the mainstream of our economy.

My Administration has encouraged the growth and success
of minority businesses by ensuring their participation
in Government procurement; introducing the New Markets
Initiative to bring jobs and capital to America's
underserved communities; and strengthening the
Community Reinvestment Act. Over the last 8 years, the
Small Business Administration has guaranteed $18
billion in loans to more than 80,000 minority-owned
firms. And the Department of Commerce's Minority
Business Development Agency (MBDA) has assisted more
than 430,000 minority-owned businesses with start-up
and expansion financing. At Minority Business
Development Centers across the country, the MBDA also
assists minority clients by providing a variety of
business services, including the preparation of
business plans, market research and development,
financial counseling, and bid preparation.

All Americans stand to benefit from the success of our
minority entrepreneurs. With energy and determination,
these hardworking men and women create jobs, attract
investment, bolster pride, and generate revenue in
communities across our Nation. People of different
races, people of diverse ethnic backgrounds, people
with disabilities--all have skills, new ideas, and
fresh perspectives to bring to the marketplace.
Minority entrepreneurs have unique contributions to
make to our economy and the talent and imagination to
produce goods and services that meet the needs of their
fellow Americans and of consumers around the world.

The unprecedented strength of America's free enterprise
system demonstrates that when people have access to the
tools and opportunities they need, there is no limit to
what they can achieve. During Minority Enterprise
Development Week, let us reaffirm our national
commitment to equality in the economic as well as the
civic life of our Nation by providing minority
entrepreneurs around the country with an equal
opportunity to use their abilities, creativity, and
motivation to move our Nation forward. By doing so, we
will help preserve America's leadership in the global
economy.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim September 24 through
September 30, 2000, as Minority Enterprise Development
Week. I call on

all Americans to join together with minority
entrepreneurs across the country in appropriate
observances.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
two thousand, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.