2. The Legislature finds and declares that a significant percentage of new jobs in this country are created by small businesses and that approximately 12 percent of the persons employed in the United States are self-employed, mostly in small businesses. In the wake of recent corporate downsizing, it is imperative that ways are found to help unemployed individuals, including professional and technical employees, to re-enter the labor force. Experience in numerous other states and in certain urban areas of New Jersey has shown that “micro-lending,” or carefully targeting small loans to individuals with well-developed, realistic business plans, has been successful in helping those individuals to establish small businesses and become self-employed entrepreneurs. This approach is particularly successful where the loan recipients are part of a peer group that provides support, advice and assistance, and helps to ensure loan repayments.

L.1995,c.394,s.2.