ATLANTA—Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off a nationwide tour dubbed the Economic Opportunity Tour, starting in Atlanta with an arsenal of plans aimed at bolstering the nation's economy while championing small businesses and underserved communities, The White House announced today. The Vice President's itinerary showcases a sweeping journey through states on a mission to amplify the Biden-Harris administration's economic initiatives, spotlighting investments like the "The Stitch" project designed to knit together Atlanta’s downtown and midtown, severed long ago by stark urban planning decisions, said The White House.
With Atlanta as her backdrop, Harris hailed the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program, which funnels $3.3 billion across the U.S. to subvert urban disconnections brought about by ill-conceived infrastructure that displaced over a million lives—The Stitch—a remedy in Atlanta's urban fabric to cure decades-old transportation wounds, the White House detailed. Harris's pitch in Atlanta not only puts the looming shadow of historic economic exclusions in the spotlight but also makes a strong case that this investment seeks to be the opposite, stitching back together dissected communities.
The White House released stats in concert with National Small Business Week, indicating a stimulating small business boom under the Biden-Harris Administration, marked by record business applications over the last three years and a notable surge in Black and Latino entrepreneurship. The administration boasts over "$178 billion in federal contracts awarded to small businesses with over $76 billion channeled into Small Disadvantaged Businesses" in the last fiscal year, spelling out commitment in a series of initiatives like the American Rescue Plan and State Small Business Credit Initiative, which render a cascade of capital support for fledgling endeavors.
Meanwhile, Georgia is harvesting its own fruits of federal labor: a $65 million windfall for an Artificial Intelligence coalition tackling manufacturing and over $125 million thrown into the pockets of Community Development Financial Institutions to spur on state businesses; this, a mere slice of the forecasted billions in aid slated to catalyze even more billions in private investment nationwide, all with eyes on securing a more equitable slice of the American pie for historically marginalized entrepreneurs, per White House figures.
Harris's tour stands as a beckoning spotlight on the administration's efforts to mend old wounds and future-proof the economy by retooling the national canvas of economic opportunity—starting from the grassroots of innovation and entrepreneurial growth right up and simmering with the promise of an all-inclusive economic revival.
