Gutting CDFI Fund, MBDA is Latest Example of Administration Hostility Toward Small Business Programs

“President Trump’s executive order seeking to gut the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is the latest example of his administration’s outright hostility toward critical institutions that support small businesses.

Both the CDFI Fund and MBDA were designed, with bipartisan support, to help support historically under-resourced communities and small businesses. Small Business Majority’s research found that these institutions play a significant role in benefiting women- and BIPOC-owned small businesses that are key to our economic success. In fact, 24% of respondents to a poll taken last year said that a government program designed to help a specific demographic group prevented their business from shutting down, while 14% said a demographically targeted program helped their business obtain contracts. Almost half said a targeted government program helped them obtain capital to fund their enterprise. Among the small businesses that received publicly funded support, roughly 1 in 4 had help from MBDA.

It is clear that the hollowing out of the CDFI Fund and MBDA is not being ordered because those programs have failed in their mission. Instead, it is yet another case of President Trump using DEI as a club to eviscerate programs that seek to level our economic playing field. This latest executive order, along with President Trump’s efforts to raise tariffs, deport immigrant entrepreneurs and workers, and freeze payments to small businesses and farmers, undermines the stability of Main Street. Just as the president’s tariffs have sent stock markets tumbling, ending vital support for small businesses threatens to reverse our recent record-breaking entrepreneurial growth. Between 2021 and 2024, there were 21 million new business applications. But these fledgling small businesses cannot succeed or even survive without support. President Trump may well succeed in undermining our smallest and most under-resourced businesses, but in doing so, our economy and our communities will be devastated. Instead of searching for ways to cut small business programs no matter their size or purpose, President Trump should be looking for ways to boost entrepreneurship.”