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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
SUPPORTING A REVIEW OF THE SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENUER ECOSYSTEM IN COOK COUNTY BY AN INDEPENDENT EXPERT
WHEREAS, the Cook County Policy Roadmap, presented by President Preckwinkle in 2018, emphasizes creating Vital Communities through a goal of pursuing inclusive economic and community growth by supporting residents, growing businesses, attracting investment, and nurturing talent; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners supports that goal and seeks to see greater opportunity for small businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive in their districts; and
WHEREAS, there has been a decades-long decline in entrepreneurial activity. Americans are starting new businesses that employ people at about half the rate they were a generation ago; and
WHEREAS, recent research from the Kaufmann Foundation, Brookings Institution and other academics and researchers, Cook County needs to begin to develop additional strategies and programs to support small business and entrepreneurship development; and
WHEREAS, there has been a paradigm shift in understanding the source of job creation; and
WHEREAS, businesses that are less than 5 years old create nearly all the net new jobs in the American economy, including fueling net new job creation during economic downturns; and
WHEREAS, heretofore the Bureau of Economic Development programs have focused on established businesses, mostly small, but has not explicitly focused on the needs of the entrepreneurship and small business ecosystem; and
WHEREAS, the playing field is not level, and certain groups face more significant and more persistent barriers to starting companies - leaving untapped human potential on the sidelines; and
WHEREAS, there are ongoing gaps in economic opportunity and access to resources, particularly for women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ entrepreneurs, older entrepreneurs, and people with disabilities that contend with significant economic opportunity gaps; and
WHEREAS, Cook Count...
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