Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 62

Elected officials wax eloquent about small business owners. And if they rise from rags to riches, then the stories are all the more inspiring. Star athletes and glamorous entertainers are talented in ways the average person is not. But small business owners could be any of us; they are the quintessential every man (and woman). Whether they achieve fame and fortune in the global marketplace, or remain true to their roots and never get off Main Street, successful small business owners are beating the odds. That’s because most Figure 1.9 Self-Employment Rate, Total Civilian Employment, 2007 small businesses in America fail.72 35.9 Greece People who were not born in the 26.4 Italy United States are more likely than Portugal 24.2 U.S.-born residents to start and 17.7 Spain 17.3 NZ own businesses. Immigrants are 13 16.8 Ireland percent of the national population, 14.4 Austria 13.8 Belgium but 18 percent of small business 13.8 UK owners.73 Baltimore has one of 12.9 Australia the highest ratios of foreign-born 12.6 Finland 12.4 Netherlands to U.S.-born entrepreneurs of any 12.0 Germany major U.S. city. Foreign-born resi11.5 Switzerland 10.6 Sweden dents are 9 percent of Baltimore’s 9.3 Canada population and make up 21 per9.0 France cent of its entrepreneurs.74 The 8.9 Denmark 8.0 Norway businesses tend to be small and 7.2 US are often started out of necessity. 6.1 Luxembourg “This is how immigrants survive,” 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% says Betty Symington, executive Source: John Schmitt and Nathan Lane, “An International Comparison of Small Business director of Baltimore’s Episcopal Employment,” Center for Economic and Policy Analysis. Authors’ analysis of Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Coalition. Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data. “You can’t survive on $9 an hour as a cafeteria worker so a lot of them start businesses on the side.” As executive director of the Mission Asset Fund, which serves the Latino immigrant community in the Mission District of San Francisco, José Quiñonez works with Latino immigrants who start small businesses with very little money. You couldn’t find better examples of the kinds of heroes elected officials love to talk about. But Quiñonez doesn’t advise his clients who want to start a business to look to the Small Business Administration, a U.S. government agency, for support, mainly because he knows the agency has no programs to help them. “This isn’t about being an immigrant,” he says. “It’s about the threshold where a small business qualifies for recognition, and where support structures begin to become available to you.” The government’s perspective on what constitutes a small business owner doesn’t include someone who is a sole proprietor or employs maybe one or two family members and generates revenue of less than $100,000. In the MissionDistrict, however, this description fits most of the small enterprises. “The reality is,” says Quiñonez, “people in this situation can’t look to the government for help.” The biggest problem facing any new small business is obtaining start-up capital. “Large banks control 60 percent of U.S. bank assets, but provide only 27 percent of small business 52? Chapter 1 n Bread for the World Institute