SBA Equity Initiative

SBA offers support for each stage of the entrepreneurship journey through products and services.  Entrepreneurs of underserved communities can experience barriers to accessing those resources.  The 2022 and 2023 Equity Action Plans, in conjunction with Executive Order (EO) 13985 (“Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”), and EO 14031 (“Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government”), outline how SBA will reduce barriers and improve access to the following resources:

• Capital Access
• Federal Government Procurement and Contracting Opportunities
• Disaster Assistance
• Business Counseling, Training, and Services
• Investment Capital Access

The plans align with SBA’s mission to work with a wide diversity of businesses across America and the broad way those companies need to access a diverse set of services to get where they need to be. SBA’s equity plan ensures we’re reaching those businesses that need help accessing the resources available to them.

Under the direction of Administrator Guzman, the SBA Equity Team tasked senior leaders throughout the agency with developing an office-level Equity Action Plan for each of SBA’s program areas.

SBA's agency-level Equity Action Plan compiles these strategies and pulls together common threads to reduce barriers and improve service delivery across the agency. Each program office will continue to implement these strategies and monitor outcomes.

In addition to the senior leadership of SBA program offices, SBA’s Equity Team leadership includes:

• Isabella Casillas Guzman, SBA Administrator
• Zina Sutch (Co-chair), Assistant Administrator, Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Civil Rights
• James (Jaime) Cantlon, Associate General Counsel, Office of General Counsel
• Aditi Dussault, Senior Advisor, Office of the Administrator

Learn more about the Administration's Equity Agenda.

Learn more about government-wide equity efforts.