The Small Business Administration has established a Center for Faith as well as eliminated the Biden regulation that banned faith organizations from receiving disaster relief.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a cabinet-level federal agency intended to provide “counseling, capital, and contracting expertise” for small businesses, according to its website.
The SBA’s new Center for Faith is meant to extend this goal to faith organizations while it “empower[s] faith-based businesses, community organizations, and houses of worship with access to capital, counseling, and government contracting opportunities,” according to an SBA press release.
The release also said that “effective immediately, faith-related organizations are now eligible for agency disaster relief in the aftermath of tragedy.”
“During the last Administration, the Biden SBA maintained a regulation that made any entity ‘principally engaged in teaching, instructing, counseling, or indoctrinating religion’ ineligible to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) – even after the Supreme Court ruled that such discrimination was unconstitutional,” the release said.
“Under the leadership of Administrator [Kelly] Loeffler, the SBA has reversed this rule,” the release said.
This reversal is a part of the SBA’s “commitment to ending federal discrimination against religious entities.”
SBA spokeswoman Maggie Clemmons told The Center Square that “SBA is ending the era of weaponized government that, under the last Administration, banned religious organizations from receiving SBA disaster loans.”
“The agency is committed to ensuring that all eligible Americans, regardless of their religious affiliation, can access our programs – especially in times of disaster,” Clemmons said.
Clemmons additionally told The Center Square that “the Center for Faith was launched to help more faith-based organizations access SBA services – including capital, counseling, and contracting – to ensure they have the tools and support they need to serve their communities and thrive.”
As explained in the SBA release, the Center for Faith “will be housed within SBA’s Office of Economic Development and will focus on building partnerships with faith-driven organizations to increase awareness and access” to SBA services including disaster recovery.
According to its webpage, the Center is in response to Executive Order 14205, which established the White House Faith Office.
The Center is intended to “build partnerships with faith organizations” and provides “tools and opportunities to more effectively strengthen these organizations, their local economies, and the communities they serve,” its website said.
Loeffler said in the release that the SBA is “uphold[ing] the principles of religious freedom that our nation was founded on – and look forward to forging lasting relationships that bring new small businesses into the SBA ecosystem.
