Sponsors (2)
The bill channels mentoring, training, and financing help to formerly incarcerated people to support entrepreneurship and economic reintegration, but its benefits may be limited by structural barriers and privacy risks and could impose additional costs or divert resources from other small-business clients.
Formerly incarcerated individuals receive year-long individualized mentoring plus tailored workshops and tools to develop business plans and transition to entrepreneurship, increasing their chances of employment and income generation.
Covered individuals get help identifying capital and preparing loan/funding applications, improving their access to startup financing and potential business launch.
Participants are connected with local small-business ecosystem resources (SBDCs, lenders, mentors), improving ongoing community-based support for new or growing enterprises.
Program counseling may not overcome structural barriers—like poor credit histories and occupational licensing restrictions—limiting real-world effectiveness for many participants.
Taxpayers could face additional costs if the SBA expands SCORE services nationwide without dedicated funding, increasing fiscal burden on federal or local budgets.
SCORE and SBA may need to reallocate staff or volunteer resources to meet mandated services for this population, reducing assistance available to other small-business clients.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs SCORE (through SBA, coordinated with BOP) to provide nationwide entrepreneurship mentoring, training, and capital-access assistance to people released from Federal prisons and requires annual congressional reporting.
Official title: To amend the Small Business Act to provide re-entry entrepreneurship counseling and training services for formerly incarcerated individuals, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 21, 2026 by Morgan McGarvey · Last progress April 21, 2026
Creates a nationwide requirement for SCORE (the Service Corps of Retired Executives) to provide entrepreneurship counseling and training specifically for people released from Federal prisons. The SBA Administrator and the Bureau of Prisons Director must coordinate the program; services include year-long mentoring, workshops, instructional materials, help finding local resources and capital, and business planning tools, with satisfaction surveys and annual reporting to congressional small business committees.