Justice Champion Spotlight: John Arensmeyer, Small Business Majority
What is Small Business Majority?
Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization. We have a nationwide network of 85,000 small businesses, and we have close partnerships with about 1,500 organizations that provide services and other support to small businesses across the country. Our network is ⅔ women-owned and ⅔ owned by people of color, and the vast majority of our members are micro-businesses or self-employed.
We have three core beliefs that drive our work. One is that entrepreneurship is an essential building block to a healthy and sustainable economy, particularly in our most under-resourced communities. We believe these entrepreneurs deserve all the tools they can get to be successful, and that the authentic voice of small business is often missing in our policy debates. We have three basic organizational initiatives around our work: one is policy and advocacy at both the national and state level; one is providing education and acting as a hub for resources to small businesses; and one is doing extensive research into small business needs and attitudes.
What are the challenges facing small businesses right now, especially in light of the Great Resignation? How are those challenges different from what a larger company might be facing?
In light of the last two years of the pandemic, and more specifically, the Great Resignation, as is the case across the entire economy, small businesses are grappling with inflation, supply chain challenges, and labor shortages. And because small businesses had fewer resources prior to the pandemic, they're going to take longer to recover from the pandemic and return to pre-pandemic operations. To maintain and grow a quality workforce, unlike larger businesses, smaller firms are often unable to provide robust essential benefits such as health care, paid family leave childcare and retirement. And, of course, the so-called Great Resignation, where millions of people have decided to leave employer firms to pursue their dreams through entrepreneurship or otherwise, has exacerbated the problem for small employer companies. Indeed, the demand for workers continues to far outpace the number of unemployed people looking for work.
You recently conducted polling on how small business owners around the country feel about criminal justice issues and criminal justice reform. Can you tell us about some of those findings?
The poll that we recently did and recently released was conducted in six states, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. We found that 84% of small business owners agreed that Clean Slate policies would open up a pool of job applicants that deserve a second chance. I should mention this is the case across the political spectrum – it was a very evenly divided Republican, Democratic, and Independent sample size. An overwhelming majority agreed that this is a way to expand productivity and diversity, that removing barriers to employment for people with criminal records will save tax dollars, and that the US criminal justice system disproportionately impacts people of color. Additional findings were that 79% say we should allow people with old convictions fair access to occupational licenses, more than three quarters support policies that seal or expunge qualifying criminal records from background checks, and six in ten support legislation that would prohibit private sector employers from asking job seekers about their criminal backgrounds. Finally, I'd like to add that the federal government is implementing programs to help support reentry for justice-impacted individuals. Small businesses, we found in our poll, are more likely to hire such people after learning about these programs.
What are some of the benefits that small businesses have seen from things like second chance hiring or Clean Slate legislation?
There are definitely benefits that small businesses have already seen from things like second chance hiring and Clean Slate legislation. Look, although current hiring policies and government policies can often make it difficult for people with records to get jobs, smaller firms are sharing with us that they're willing to work through those barriers for possible candidates. Our network has been eager to share some of their positive experiences from second chance hiring. Indeed, one of our Small Business Council members in Las Vegas decided to hire a justice impacted person several years ago. That person remains an integral part of his business operations and has helped him to get through the uncertainties of the pandemic. I should also add that we have justice-impacted small business owners in our own network, who themselves are able to surpass the stigma and barriers of becoming an entrepreneur and have actually started their own businesses.
Small Business Majority is one of the founding members of the Workforce and Justice Alliance. Why is it important for small businesses specifically to engage on justice reform?
We're really excited and happy to join with RBIJ’s Workforce and Justice Alliance to help drive national change. Criminal justice reform impacts the health and vitality of our communities and our small businesses, and particularly with a tight labor market, why aren't we doing everything we can to afford employment opportunities for everyone? Second chance hiring also fosters rehabilitation by providing the dignity of work and enhancing people's ability to thrive and care for their families. Look, the small business community controls who we hire and how we hire, but our country can benefit from meaningful state and federal policy changes that will provide clarity and establish universal processes in hiring and building the skilled workforce. Moreover, our work on the Workforce and Justice Alliance will educate small business owners and provide them with resources and strategy on reaching populations that have been too often overlooked.
What practical steps can small business leaders take to get more involved in pushing for policy reform?
Small businesses need to step up to help implement Clean Slate policies across the country, and to expand Clean Slate laws that have already been passed so they can be clear and comprehensive. We all need to support bipartisan legislation like the Clean Slate Act introduced by Representative Lisa Rochester, and we need to ensure that expungement is available to individuals who may not have the financial means for state programs as some state programs can be costly. We also need to support enacting measures that will reform occupational licensing, specifically eliminating licensing restrictions so that solo entrepreneurs can start their own businesses without onerous and complicated hoops to jump through. And we need to open government jobs to justice impacted people. We at Small Business Majority are in a position to help channel the voices of small businesses who care about these issues, and present them to policymakers. Now is the time, particularly with the stresses and strains on the labor market, for small business owners to step up and join with us to push forward with some of these policies.
If you could send a message to every small business owner in the United States, what would it be?
If I could send a message to every small business owner in the United States, I’d just like to echo the words of Jonathan Summers, a justice-impacted small business owner in our network, who now currently has two small businesses and a nonprofit dedicated to providing meaningful resources that justice-impacted individuals need to successfully re-enter the workforce. To quote Jonathan, “people are more similar than dissimilar, and most people are genuine at heart.” Small business owners should feel okay with moving past any personal fear and employ justice-impacted individuals because they can become your business's rock stars. And as I said before, small businesses and policymakers should feel free to contact us – we can help organize them to advocate for legislative changes. You can reach us at www.smallbusinessmajority.org.
When you are not working, what else do you enjoy doing?
Oh, I do a variety of things when I'm not working. I love to travel. I love film. I love jazz. I love to hike. I recently moved from California to Washington, D.C., and my partner and I have really enjoyed going out every weekend – north, south, east, west, it’s a beautiful countryside with tremendous history and tremendous variety. So I just love to kind of once a week, check that off and go do that.
What is a fact about you that would surprise people?
Well, I'm not sure most people know I had the real benefit of growing up in different places around the world. I got to really learn about different cultures – in addition to the different places we live, we were able to travel everywhere, and I really got to understand how amazing different cultures are, but how really people are essentially the same in every culture. People have the same desires for themselves, for their families, for their businesses. And it was a real opportunity as a very young person to absorb that, and I hope I’ve carried that with me into the work that I do.