During Black History Month, Scott Pushes Investment in Underserved Communities
Chairman Scott announced his goal to unleash $1 trillion into communities like the one he grew up in.
Washington, D.C. – As part of Black History Month, Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is building on his commitment to increase economic opportunity across the United States. In his role as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and as a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, Scott is pushing solutions with a goal of unleashing up to $1 trillion of investment into underserved communities.
Scott joined Walter Davis, founding member of Peachtree Providence Partners, as part of his Opportunity Summit series in celebration of Black History Month to discuss his efforts and their shared goal of helping all Americans achieve their version of the American Dream.
Click here or on the image above to watch the panel.
“I think it's incredibly important for us to figure out how to unlock capital for disadvantaged communities. My goal is to set the kind of parameters that allows for $1 trillion of capital to be set free in disadvantaged communities in the next 10 years… My goal is to make sure that everyone who is struggling…has an opportunity to access more resources. That's called the American way, or at least it's supposed to be the American way. And I aim to make sure that, from a banking perspective, we have the flexibility with our regulators, so that small business owners with a good plan – with decent credit – have access to the capital to start hiring people from their own communities. Because when I started my business, it's exactly what I did. I took an Allstate Insurance Agency and I crafted three other Allstate agencies out of my one Allstate agency, with two of them being African Americans. How do you do that? You just do the right thing. But it starts at home in your community, and if you want to see higher employment numbers in your community, you probably have to start a business and make it happen,” said Chairman Scott.
BACKGROUND:
By focusing on affordable housing, quality education, small business growth, financial inclusion, keeping tax rates low for families and expanding Opportunity Zones, as well as leveraging digital assets, Chairman Scott is working to pave the way for transformative economic development across the country.
Boosting Affordable Housing
Chairman Scott’s ROAD to Housing Act will facilitate investment in quality and affordable housing, providing the opportunity to create generational wealth for so many historically ignored communities. The ROAD to Housing Act will change outdated caps on private investment in public housing, open the door to small-dollar mortgages, and help boost the supply of manufactured housing.
Small Business Growth
Small business owners – particularly Black and other minority-owned businesses – face significant challenges accessing capital, including through our capital markets system. Chairman Scott’s Empowering Main Street in America Act will fuel economic growth by giving local entrepreneurs – not elites in New York or Silicon Valley – the power to direct capital to historically overlooked communities.
Increasing Financial Inclusion
Chairman Scott has consistently prioritized increasing financial inclusion and incentivizing growth in local communities and historically overlooked neighborhoods. Chairman Scott will continue to push efforts to streamline and modernize the rules governing financial institutions, prioritizing changes that support access to capital and investment in underserved communities across the country.
Protecting Taxpayer Dollars
Chairman Scott’s Opportunity Zones initiative has driven $85 billion to underserved communities, unlocking economic opportunities that had never before been available. With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set to expire this year, Chairman Scott will work to ensure middle class families and small businesses are not hit with a massive, $4.1 trillion tax hike, and to broaden and extend Opportunity Zones to continue driving economic development in the communities that need it most.
Leveraging Digital Assets
Chairman Scott will prioritize establishing a clear, tailored regulatory framework for digital assets through legislation on stablecoins and crypto market structure, aiming to empower families, small businesses, and underserved communities to build wealth and participate more fully in the digital economy.
Expanding Quality Education
Education is a catalyst to driving long-term economic growth and labor market participation. Americans with a bachelor's degree face less than half the unemployment rate and earn more than double the income of those who dropout of high school. Unlocking the power of education starts with K-12 education, which is why Chairman Scott is helping lead the Education Choice for Children Act (ECCA) to provide up to $10 billion in federal tax credits for charitable contributions to K-12 scholarships for middle- and low-income students, benefitting nearly 2 million students.
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