From the Advocate

By Tara Lynn Gray 

May 2025

Happy Small Business Month!

May is Small Business Month, a month-long recognition of the “backbone of our economy” — as absolutely everybody likes to say – first put on the calendar in 1963 by President Kennedy.

So I start this May edition of my column, as I have for the last three years, with a heartfelt: Happy Small Business Month!

May is always a busy and fun month for me and my team. This year, however, I can’t not acknowledge the real and present economic dangers that small business-owners are currently facing: tariffs, inflation, and proposed cuts to federal economic programs that support your success.

But I’m choosing not to dwell on those things here.

Instead, I want to hold up the idea – as the CalOSBA team does every day across the state—of how small businesses are the backbone, the heartbeat, the life blood of our economy and our communities. Small businesses turn the places where we live into our homes. And I have the good fortune of being invited to lots of homes in the month of May.

Here is just one week of Small Business Month in California:

On May 6^th, I had the pleasure of speaking at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Small Business Week Opening Ceremony where City and County officials celebrated alongside more than one hundred small business owners.

Our host and Small Business Manager, Rolando Tirado, created space and opportunity for many businesses to showcase their products and services among city dwellers, bankers, philanthropists, and more. I caught up with Sandra Floyd of the California Chamber of Commerce, Matthew Ajiake of the San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce, Will Jackson of US Bank, Wells Fargo, Chase, our SBDCs, WBCs, and many other small business champions. San Franciscans made it clear they are open for business!

The next day, I was off to Latina Action Day in Sacramento where HOPE did a full day of educational programming before their advocacy meetings. Sonja Francine Marie Diaz, Co-Founder & Senior Advisor at Latina Futures 2050 Lab, moderated a power-packed panel where we discussed how Latinas are shaping the future economy through small business ownership and policy.

Wednesday was the start of the CALED annual conference in Ontario. My team and I hosted a listening session with local economic developers from across the state on how to Outsmart Disaster. Here’s some of what we heard:

“Information sharing between local agencies and federal disaster agencies needs work.” – Quentin Gaddy, Shasta-Cascade SBDC

“Recovery takes 20+ years so seed grants are important and planning is critical.” – Patty Hess, 3Core

“Home-based businesses need to be considered in disaster planning.” – Toni Symonds, Budget & Legislative Consultant Policy Works California

“Disaster training is hard to market so it should be woven into other training classes…” – Kristin Johnson, NorCal SBDC Lead

“Small business marketing changes due to displacement caused by disaster. It is more complex than we might think.” – Collette Moore, PCR Business Finance

Then on Friday, the Central California SBDC network celebrated its pitch competition winners, and I did opening remarks. Congratulations to all the winners!

I finished the week on Saturday by visiting two small businesses in Rio Vista as part of Small Business Saturday organized by the local chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action.

The morning I visited, the local chapter of BWOPA was holding an information sharing session on delta protection, affordable housing, small business, and building a local café called Ben’s Friends of the Vine. Recognizing that solid economic development strategies include creating thriving downtowns and small businesses, this organization reminds us to vote with our dollars by spending locally with small businesses in our communities.

Meet Andrea Cross, Owner, Ben’s Friends of the Vine

My second stop in Rio Vista was 5^th & Main Bed & Breakfast Inn where Joe and Stacy are building their California dream one room at a time. As they restore and buildout a mansion built in 1917 to its original glory, they welcome guests in rooms with names like Elephant, Delta, and Patriot.

Andrea and her pet-friendly café and Joe and Stacy at 5^th & Main are living, breathing demonstrations of why I always say small businesses are community institutions and the places where life happens for so many of us.

Our tagline at CalOSBA is “Supporting Small Strengthens Us All” and Small Business Month reminds us all to live that motto all year long.

California Small Business Support Organizations

• California Chamber of Commerce
• San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
• San Francisco African American Chamber Of Commerce | San Francisco
• HOPE
• Latina Futures 2050 Lab
• California Association for Local Economic Development
• Central California SBDC
• Black Women Organized for Political Action

National Small Business Advocacy Organizations

• S. Chamber of Commerce
• NSBA | National Small Business Association
• Small Business Majority
• NFIB | National Federation of Independent Business
• National Small Business Advocacy Council
• Small Business Roundtable
• Small Business for America’s Future
• National AAPI Chamber of Commerce – Asian Pacific Islander American Entrepreneurship
• S. Black Chambers, Inc.
• NBCC DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM
• United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• NAWBO National

Tara Lynn Gray was sworn in on April 26, 2021 as the fifth Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate. She serves in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development as the voice for California’s 4.2 million small businesses. Closing opportunity gaps, the role of women and diverse business leaders, and expanding procurement opportunities are recurrent themes in her advocacy work.