Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) and Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-3) sent a letter urging the US Small Business Administration (SBA) and US Department of the Treasury to make critical small business relief funds authorized under the landmark American Rescue Plan Act more accessible to minority small business owners.
The letter calls for translations for all small business relief-related documents, materials, and resources to be made available in Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog and other languages spoken by the AAPI community, so that struggling AAPI business owners do not miss out on this critical assistance.
“As the Small Business Administration and the Treasury Department interface with businesses across the country and engage in outreach efforts to ensure that these relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act are made available, we urge you to make this process accessible to all the Minority business owners who don’t speak English as their first language – including for those who speak Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tagalog and other AAPI languages,” Strickland and Kim (NJ) wrote. “Breaking down these barriers will not only increase accessibility of the relief, but it will also be an important component to the equitable distribution of the funds.”