Tennessee Small Business Owners Back American Families Plan, Encourage Senators to Support

The Tennessee Small Business Alliance this week announced support for Joe Biden’s American Families Plan and noted the effort will boost the ability of small business owners to hire and retain workers. The group highlighted remarks made by business owners at a recent forum.

Lenda Sherrell, state director of the Tennessee Small Business Alliance noted the remarks of Signal Centers CEO Donna McConnico.

“President Biden’s American Families Plan will offer a significant step forward in supporting the workforce on which small and local businesses depend at this critical time,” said Sherrell, “as these businesses continue to recover from the brunt of this pandemic. Donna McConnico hit the nail on the head when she noted the child care crisis that has existed in Tennessee for a long time. The pandemic amplified the crisis when the child care industry lost 1 in 8 jobs, 94.8% of whom were women.”

Sherrell continued, “Access to quality, affordable child care impacts the small business ecosystem in a multitude of ways. For one, the lack of access to affordable childcare has become increasingly more difficult and a significant burden to working parents. As such, it has impeded the ability to retain a skilled workforce for many small business owners. What’s more, most child care providers are in fact small business owners, largely women and minorities, and they are often underpaid and overworked.”