US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks during the second stop of her nationwide Economic ... [+]
Vice President Kamala Harris is leading a nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour to highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to create economic opportunity and support communities. The tour also highlights the distinctiveness of each of these cities and the importance of small business in making growth and wealth creation a reality.
“One of the compelling reasons for me to start this tour now is to ask all the leaders here for help in getting the word out about what’s available to entrepreneurs and small businesses,” said Vice President Harris “Because we are in the process of putting a lot of money in the streets of America for this growth. And we want to make sure everyone has access to the opportunity to take advantage of the contracts and the work that has been generated by this policy push.”
On Monday, Vice President Harris joined Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves in Detroit to discuss all that the Biden-Harris Administration is doing to create economic opportunity and to announce new funding opportunities for small- and medium-sized automotive suppliers.
The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is giving the U.S. auto industry an opportunity to bring manufacturing back to the states and create more jobs domestically. To capitalize on this, companies over the last three years have announced more than $170 billion in investments in EV production and more than 20 new auto and battery plants. In addition, the U.S. auto industry has added over 250,000 jobs with contracts secured by the United Auto Workers that will include comparable wages and retirement security.
Monday’s announcement also includes $50 million from the Department of Energy’s Automotive Conversion Grants Program for partnerships with states to help small- and medium-sized suppliers convert from manufacturing internal combustion engine parts to manufacturing parts for the EVs. Additional funding from the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Small Business Investment Company will also spur millions of dollars in private capital to help these small and medium-sized manufacturers grow their businesses. The SBA will also create a Working Capital Pilot Program under its signature 7(a) lending program to provide lines of credit to auto parts manufacturers and distributors, as well business counseling from the SBA.
To help prepare for a future workforce, the Department of Energy is also providing $24 million in grants for EV and other clean energy and advanced manufacturing workforce training at community colleges, trade schools, union training programs, and registered apprenticeships. The Department of Labor will organize EV workforce convenings in Ohio and Indiana and recently awarded $7 million across Indiana and Ohio to develop partnerships to foster collaborations with workers, educators, community-based organizations, employers, and labor unions.
These Economic Opportunity Tour stops are not just focused on the auto industry. For example, an event in Atlanta last week highlighted how the city is receiving $158 million through the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program for “The Stitch” project to reconnect midtown to downtown Atlanta. When constructed in 1952, the concurrent section of Interstate 75 and Interstate 85 known as the Downtown Connector split communities like Sweet Auburn, displacing hundreds of families and businesses in primarily Black working-class neighborhoods. The Stitch project will create approximately 14 acres of urban greenspace and transportation enhancements atop a three-quarters of a mile platform over the Downtown Connector between Ted Turner Drive and Piedmont Avenue to increase access to jobs, housing, education, and healthcare.
In the era of hyper partisan politics, the state of Main Streets and the economy depends on who is discussing it and what channel one is watching. However, the announcements on the Economic Opportunity Tour demonstrate that the efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Agenda to help small businesses and communities grow and thrive appears to be working.
