Davids Reintroduces Bipartisan Bill to Inspire Youth Entrepreneurship
Today, Representatives Sharice Davids (D-KS-03) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01) reintroduced the bipartisan 21st Century Entrepreneurship Act to increase workforce and entrepreneurship opportunities, especially for students from underserved communities.
“Whether it’s opening a shop on Main Street or starting something new from the ground up, entrepreneurship creates jobs and keeps our communities strong,” said Davids. “But too many young people — especially in underserved areas — don’t have a clear path to get started. This bill helps bridge that gap by giving students the tools, mentorship, and real-world experience they need to launch businesses and support their local economies.”
“Across Bucks and Montgomery counties, some of the strongest pillars of our community are the entrepreneurs and small business owners who saw an opportunity, took a risk, and built something that now creates jobs and serves others,” said Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01). “I have seen how that kind of initiative can change the trajectory of a Main Street, a neighborhood, or a young person’s future. The 21st Century Entrepreneurship Act is about helping more students — especially those too often left outside these opportunities — gain the mentorship, skills, and real-world experience to turn ambition into enterprise and promise into progress. That is how we widen the pathway to entrepreneurship and expand economic opportunity for the long term,”
Entrepreneurship is an engine of economic growth, job creation, and innovation, but American entrepreneurship has steadily declined over the past several decades. New businesses accounted for 38 percent of all businesses in the U.S. in 1982, compared to just 29 percent in 2018.
The bipartisan bill aims to cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurs by requiring the Small Business Administration (SBA) to develop an entrepreneurship curriculum for students in the 21st century and encouraging mentorship from proven business leaders across the country.
While most existing federal entrepreneurial development and mentorship programs focus on those with already established careers, this bill would help create a pipeline to entrepreneurship by targeting entrepreneurial education toward students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds.
“The Center for American Entrepreneurship proudly endorses the bipartisan 21st Century Entrepreneurship Act from Representatives Sharice Davids and Brian Fitzpatrick,” said John Dearie, President, Center for American Entrepreneurship. “Startups drive innovation, economic growth, and most of the new job creation in America. Strengthening entrepreneurship is essential to our economic future. By connecting students in underserved communities with SCORE mentors through Community Learning Centers, this bill will help equip the next generation of great American entrepreneurs with the skills to succeed. We thank Reps. Davids and Fitzpatrick for their leadership and look forward to swift passage.”
During her time in Congress, Davids has worked across the aisle to support small businesses. As a former member of the House Small Business Committee, she called for strong oversight of pandemic relief programs to prevent fraud and focused on strengthening domestic supply chains to support small- and medium-sized manufacturers. She has also prioritized efforts to reduce excessive paperwork for small businesses and support individual workers, including veterans, women, and people in recovery.