A month
ago, Patricia Brown-Dixon became the first African-American
regional administrator for the Small Business Administration in
this region, which includes Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and
Iowa.
She didn’t
apply for or inquire about the job. Brown-Dixon said she loved her
job as the director of the Office of Small Business Utilization for
Kansas City’s General Services Agency (GSA) office. One day she
received a call that U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, whom
Brown-Dixon had never met, wanted to appoint her to the SBA
position.
Before
Brown-Dixon left GSA, she had three people working under her. Now
she has responsibility for about 80 employees.
“I am a
career federal employee that has turned political appointee,” she
said. “Isn’t that crazy? It doesn’t happen very often.”
In an
interview with The St.
Louis American, Brown-Dixon talked about her work with small
businesses and new federal programs designed to support
them.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis American: “mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>Why do you think that you were chosen for the position? “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Patricia Brown-Dixon:
I’m told that it was because of
my work with small businesses. In my career, I’ve started
small-business networking meetings around the region. The first one
was in Kansas City 19 years ago. I also started one in St. Louis,
Des Moines and Omaha as well. In St. Louis, it’s called the St.
Louis Small Business Networking Breakfast. I’ve done a lot of
outreach in the small business community, not only in this region
but nationally.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis American: “mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>How did you come up with the idea for the networking breakfast? “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Patricia Brown-Dixon:
One of my counterparts in Texas
started one and it sounded like a wonderful idea. In 1990, there
was another recession, and minority businesses were going out of
businesses. This gentleman thought that if minority businesses did
business with each other, they would have a better chance of
staying in business.
I went to
Texas to one of his breakfasts. I saw what a great idea it was.
When I started the one in Kansas City, it was originally called the
Minority Business Breakfast. But I found that more non-minority
businesses were attending. Over the years, it evolved to just the
Small Business Breakfast.
About 150
to 175 people attend every month, the first Tuesday of every month.
A lot of federal people show up to give them a chance to meet a
federal contract person. People from all over the country come to
our breakfast. They have asked me to continue facilitating the
breakfast, and I plan on doing so.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis American: “mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>What are your goals for the region? “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Patricia Brown-Dixon:
I would like to see the
programs get more exposure so that small businesses find out more
about the programs that are available to them – whether it is
access to capital or contracting or just business counseling and
business development. If they can expand and grow and stay in
business, that would help the economy ultimately. Small businesses
are the biggest employers. A small business can employ someone more
quickly than a large business. Our customer is the small business
itself. Everything we do is for the small business community. I
want to be a drum major for the Small Business Administration to
the small business community.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis American: “mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>Is there any new legislation that will affect small businesses? “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Patricia Brown-Dixon:
The Small Business Jobs Act
(signed into law in November 2010) will help small businesses grow.
The Small Business Administration is trying to get to businesses of
less than two years, which we call emerging small businesses, to
help to mentor them by connecting them with larger
businesses.
We are
also trying to get to rural and underserved communities with some
of our capital loans and make it easier for those small businesses
to get loans by guaranteeing them through the Small Business
Administration. We are trying to bring credit unions and community
development organizations that do loans into the federal loan
program. They haven’t done it before, but they are the ones that
know who is in the community. We want to show them that we will
back up a loan for someone in that community because those
communities seem to be some of the hardest hit.
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“font-family: Verdana;”>The St. Louis American: “mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>
“font-family: Verdana;”>What are the loans called? “font-family: Verdana;”>
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“font-family: Verdana;”>Patricia Brown-Dixon:
Advantage loans. For more
information, businesses would call the SBA district office
314-539-6600 and they would ask for a lenders relations specialist.
They would help direct them to lenders in the area.
