Regional President Speech

Last Updated: 08�01�23 In recorded remarks, Austan D� Goolsbee, president and chief executive o�cer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, welcomes participants to Chicago’s Business Smart Week, a Chicago Fed event designed to provide diverse and small businesses with tools and opportunities to grow� Hello, I'm Austan Goolsbee, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to the Chicago Fed’s tenth annual Business Smart Week� As our signature supplier diversity event, Business Smart Week serves as a valuable resource to small business and diverse business owners across the region� Each year we o�er a range of expert-led sessions to help you develop the tools and networks you need to better manage and expand your operations� At the Chicago Fed, we are deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels of our organization� In addition to our recruiting, career development, economic research, and community volunteering e�orts, supplier diversity is an essential part of our vision of fostering a healthy, stable, and inclusive economy and a �nancial system where everyone has an opportunity to thrive� We strive to integrate supplier diversity into our processes, grow our spending with these �rms, and embrace industry best practices to drive a culture of continuous improvement� Over the last �ve years, we've successfully achieved a bank-wide diverse spend that has exceeded 20%� Appropriately, the theme of Business Smart Week 2023 is Business Equity: Inclusion—The Pathway Forward� The pandemic hit minority-owned businesses and communities hard� But in the recovery from Covid there have been some hopeful signs that a strong economic recovery could help to support a thriving minority-owned business community and to narrow inequities� Despite some improvements in revenues and employment, though, we know there are still many challenges to overcome� Minority-owned businesses continue to report greater di�culty accessing credit, for example� And while the pandemic spurred the creation of new businesses, the rates of minority entrepreneurship, especially Black- 1 owned businesses, are still low� According to a 2022 Brookings Institution report co-authored by our own Kristen Broady, now director of the Chicago Fed's Economic Mobility Project, African Americans make up 14% of the U�S� population but only account for about 2�3% of owners of �rms with employees� Privacy - Terms This year's Business Smart Week programming will feature discussions with prominent diverse business owners and corporate CEOs on ways to eliminate barriers to minority business growth� Among the many topics are access to sustainable capital resources and ways certi�cation can boost your business, and you'll hear about signi�cant contracting opportunities with entities like the CTA and its Red Line expansion or the Big Ten Conference—which as of 2024 will have 16 schools in it� But that's a whole di�erent thing� On behalf of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, I would like to thank all of our speakers, our panelists, and our attendees for bringing your time and your expertise to these critical issues� And I want to give special thanks to Mark Hands, the Chicago Fed’s director of supplier diversity, for his many years of deep engagement and leadership� Thank you all for attending today and for all that you do to support our communities� 1 Perry et al� �2022�� Perry, Andre M�, Regina Seo, Anthony Barr, Carl Romer, and Kristen Broady, 2022, "Black-owned businesses in U�S� cities: The challenges, solutions, and opportunities for prosperity," Brookings Institution, Brookings Metro report, February 14, available online� Quick Links Contact Us • Austan Goolsbee's Biography Your Email Address • The Federal Reserve's Dual Mandate • Upcoming Events Comments • Press Kit • Newsroom Submit

Austan D. Goolsbee (2023, July 31). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20230801_austan_d_goolsbee

@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_20230801_austan_d_goolsbee,
  author = {Austan D. Goolsbee},
  title = {Regional President Speech},
  year = {2023},
  month = {Jul},
  howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
  url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20230801_austan_d_goolsbee},
  note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}