USBC Urges Congressional Support for SCORE: A Vital Partner in Empowering Small Businesses

[Washington, DC] June 3, 2025— As the nation’s leading advocate for Black and minority-owned businesses, the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC) is committed to fostering growth and resilience in these communities. We have seen firsthand the broad and deep impact of SCORE in helping Black and minority-owned small businesses start, grow, and succeed. That’s why we strongly urge you to support a funding allocation of $17 million for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) to ensure SCORE’s continued mission: to foster all business communities through mentoring and education.

For 61 years, American business owners in every U.S. state and territory have relied on SCORE — whether just starting out, looking to scale their business, or operationalizing their systems. With 99.9% of U.S. businesses being small, it’s not hard to see why SCORE has supported more than 17 million entrepreneurs in achieving their dreams.

SCORE is the nation’s largest network of volunteer business experts, with 10,000 volunteers mentoring and educating over 300,000 current and aspiring small business owners each year. For every $1 appropriated to SCORE in FY24, its successful mentees returned $45.42 in new federal tax revenue — an unparalleled return on federal investment. In FY24 alone, SCORE:

• Helped launch 59,447 new small businesses.
• Created 143,623 total new jobs.
• Delivered 4 million hours of critical mentoring and training.

SCORE has been a pivotal partner to USBC, enabling us to leverage their counseling services to provide technical assistance to over 1,000 business owners. These services include marketing and positioning, reviewing financial health, operations and sustainability planning, and general entrepreneurial guidance. The funding allocation allows business owners to access free and accessible mentoring and education, including:

• One-on-one mentoring from professional business experts.
• Monthly workshops and seminars.
• Webinars, articles, templates, and tools.
• Localized resources and support from over 200 local chapters.

American small business owners count on SCORE volunteers to help them succeed. Please consider signing SCORE’s Dear Colleague Letter of Support and advocating for SCORE’s funding to the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

We invite business owners, members, supporters, partners, and allies to join us in urging Congress to protect SCORE’s funding. Sign the petition at: https://mstr.app/c7dd7a21-5bae-4f83-aa1f-b077009db78a.

For questions or state/district-level data, please contact GR@scorefoundation.org. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this urgent request.