1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Ushering Progress by Leveraging Innovation and Future Technology Act of 2019 or the UPLIFT Act of 2019 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Studies have found that incubators, accelerators, and other similar models are effective at increasing revenues, the number of employees, and the likelihood that the business venture will be successful for participants. (2) According to the Kauffman Foundation— (A) minority-owned and women-owned businesses are half as likely to employ people than nonminority-owned and men-owned businesses; and (B) if minorities started businesses at the same rate as nonminorities, approximately 9,500,000 jobs would be added to the United States economy. (3) The Kauffman Foundation also found that the percentage of startups in rural communities has dropped from 20 percent in the 1980s to 12.2 percent. (4) According to the Martin Prosperity Institute, less than 1 percent of all venture capital funding goes to businesses located in rural areas. (5) According to PitchBook, around 2 percent of all venture capital funding goes to businesses with women founders. (6) According to Crunchbase, less than 3 percent of all venture capital funding goes to businesses with Black and Hispanic founders. (7) Historically Black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions, and community colleges are anchor institutions that serve populations that tend to be underrepresented in entrepreneurship, particularly in high-growth sectors. 3. Purposes The purposes of the Innovation Centers Program established under section 49 of the Small Business Act, as added by this Act, are to— (1) spur economic growth in underserved communities by creating good paying jobs and pathways to prosperity; (2) increase prospects for success for small business concerns in underserved communities, which often suffer from higher business failure rates than the national average