Message from the President
A Request to Be Heard
A letter to President Donald J. Trump from Doug Mayorga, President & Founder / CEO of the U.S. Minority Chamber of Commerce
Doug Mayorga requests a meeting with President Donald J. Trump to share the concerns and ideas of minority-owned small and medium-sized businesses and discuss practical ways to expand economic opportunity.
“Mr. President, our message is simple: we would like to be heard.”
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President:
A Request to Be Heard
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Minority Chamber of Commerce, and in my capacity as President and Founder of this organization, I respectfully write to request the opportunity to meet with you and present the voice, concerns, and ideas of minority-owned small and medium-sized businesses across the United States.
For 27 years, our Chamber has worked to build bridges between American businesses, entrepreneurs, international markets, and communities. Today, our network represents more than 39,000 associates, members, strategic clients, and business relationships, together with a deep institutional database and an extensive connection to entrepreneurs and business leaders in the United States and the Americas.
Mr. President, our message is simple: we would like to be heard.
A Fair Opportunity to Compete and Grow
Thousands of minority entrepreneurs, small-business owners, professionals, and families participated in the electoral process because they believed in the promise of a stronger America, greater economic opportunity, and an administration willing to listen to the people who create jobs, invest their savings, build businesses, and strengthen their communities every day.
Our request is not based upon partisan politics. It is based upon economic opportunity and service to America.
Small and minority-owned businesses are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for a fair opportunity to compete, grow, obtain access to capital, participate in federal contracting, expand into new markets, and create more American jobs.
Small Businesses and America’s Economic Strength
We believe that America's economic strength is built not only by its largest corporations, but also by the millions of small and medium-sized businesses that open their doors every morning, employ their neighbors, pay taxes, take risks, and continue building despite difficult circumstances.
Our Chamber would like to bring forward practical ideas and constructive recommendations concerning federal contracting, access to financing, entrepreneurship, international trade, workforce development, technology, and the expansion of opportunities for minority and small businesses.
Ideas, Experience, and a Willingness to Help
We are not coming to Washington simply to ask for something.
We are coming to offer something: ideas, experience, relationships, and a willingness to help strengthen the American economy.
Listening to Entrepreneurs
Mr. President, I have always believed that leadership requires not only speaking, but listening. We respectfully ask for an opportunity to sit across the table from you, even for a brief meeting, and share directly what thousands of entrepreneurs within our network are experiencing and what they believe can be done to make opportunity more accessible.
Faith, Work, and Service
As a person of faith, I also believe that America has been blessed with extraordinary opportunity and responsibility. We are reminded in Scripture of those who “cry in the wilderness.” Our entrepreneurs are not asking to remain in the wilderness. They are asking to be heard, to work, to build, and to contribute to the continued strength of this great nation.
We are America.
Our businesses, our families, our workers, and our communities are part of the economic foundation that makes this country strong.
Working Together for Economic Opportunity
Therefore, Mr. President, I respectfully ask you to receive us, listen to us, and allow us to bring forward the ideas of the business communities we represent.
We stand ready to work constructively with your Administration and with the institutions of the United States to expand economic opportunity, strengthen entrepreneurship, create jobs, and build greater prosperity for American communities.
I remain respectfully attentive to your direction and to the possibility of an opportunity to meet.
With highest respect,