Sponsors (2)
The bill expands and funds entrepreneurship training for underrepresented K–12 students and clarifies program definitions to support implementation, but it relies heavily on volunteer delivery and directs resources toward specific partners (notably SCORE), creating risks of uneven reach, limited flexibility, and modest recurring federal costs.
Underrepresented K–12 students (girls, minorities, English learners, students with disabilities, rural and low-income youth) gain access to entrepreneurship and inventorship training through community learning centers, increasing skills, exposure, and potential future opportunities.
Students and local communities gain a stronger entrepreneurship pipeline that may raise future small-business formation and job creation, supporting local economic growth over time.
The bill provides dedicated federal funding ($2.5 million per year, FY2026–2030) to support program delivery, curriculum development, and volunteer/partner training, enabling implementation beyond mere findings.
Low-income, rural, and other underserved students may still be left behind because reliance on SCORE volunteers and local capacity can produce uneven program quality and geographic coverage.
Taxpayers fund the program at $2.5 million per year, a modest recurring federal expense that could divert funds from other priorities.
Some provisions are nonbinding (findings) and other sections only clarify definitions without new authority or funding, so parts of the bill may not produce measurable results without sustained implementation and oversight.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 18, 2026 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress March 18, 2026
Creates a Small Business Administration-led effort using SCORE volunteers and community learning centers to teach entrepreneurship and inventorship to underrepresented students (including female, minority, English learners, students with disabilities, rural students, and low-income students). It authorizes $2.5 million per year for FY2026–2030, requires an implementation plan and recurring reports to Congress, and adds entrepreneurship/inventorship as an allowable activity for community learning centers. The law sets definitions for key terms, encourages coordination with existing small-business support programs (small business development centers, Women’s Business Centers, Minority Business Development Agency centers, and accelerator programs), and permits the SBA to transfer funds to the SCORE program to support recruitment, training, and outreach.