(a) Non-presumptive Disadvantage. All applicants must demonstrate social and economic disadvantage (SED) affirmatively based on their own experiences and circumstances within American society, and without regard to race or sex.

(1) To satisfy the SED requirement and ensure all determinations of disadvantage are not based in whole or in part on race or sex, an owner must provide the certifier a Personal Narrative (PN) that establishes the existence of disadvantage by a preponderance of the evidence based on individualized proof regarding specific instances of economic hardship, systemic barriers, and denied opportunities that impeded the owner's progress or success in education, employment, or business, including obtaining financing on terms available to similarly situated, non-disadvantaged persons.

(2) The PN must state how and to what extent the impediments caused the owner economic harm, including a full description of type and magnitude, and must establish the owner is economically disadvantaged in fact relative to similarly situated non-disadvantaged individuals.

(3) The owner must attach to the PN a current PNW statement and any other financial information he considers relevant.

(b) [Reserved]