FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – The WEOC Women’s Business Center in Fort Wayne has received $200,000 from the federal government to continue its work supporting woman-owned small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration issued 14 one-year grant awards of up to $200,000 each to organizations in 13 states as part of the Women’s Business Centers (WBC) Resiliency and Recovery Demonstration Grant under the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO).
The NIIC released the following:
The purpose of the grant is to establish or continue innovative projects that aim to improve service delivery, training, and support provided to women-owned businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The growth and recovery of women-owned small businesses are essential to our nation’s economy. During the pandemic, our Women’s Business Centers have played an integral role in meeting the needs of women entrepreneurs during an especially challenging time. As resource providers, they too have been impacted by the changing business landscape and have had to pivot to meet community needs,” said Natalie Madeira Cofield, Assistant Administrator for SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership. “With this funding, we will support WBCs that have established innovative programming to increase outreach to aspiring and active women entrepreneurs nationwide. We are proud to support organizations who have deep connections to small, diverse, and rural communities across the country and who understand their unique needs.”
Leslee Hill, WEOC Women’s Business Center Director, said, “We appreciate the ongoing support of the SBA to extend our work. Last year we learned a lot about the importance of serving rural business builders in their hometown communities. This grant enables us to expand our coaching, one-to-one mentoring, and financial literacy outreach to them.
We look forward to working with the following local organizations in their communities to accomplish this: Allen County Public Library, Purdue Extension Community Development, Region 3A Development, and Regional Planning Commission, Trine Innovation 1,” said Hill.
The NIIC has grown its staff to support this grant work. Anne Marie Labenberg is the new Program Manager and has begun working directly with those local organizations to extend support and training to Northeast Indiana rural business owners. A part-time business coach/marketing coordinator will also join the team and be announced soon.
“COVID 19 has forced all of us to take a hard look at how we help entrepreneurs achieve their small business dreams,” said SBA Indiana District Director Stacey Poynter. “We’re proud that SBA funding can support creative resource partners like the WEOC Women’s Business Center at The NIIC, enabling them to create programming which inspires, teaches, and supports Indiana small business owners.”
The WBC Resiliency and Recovery Demonstration Grant program was open to the 144 existing SBA-funded WBCs. Approximately $2.7 million in total funding was available for this program. Successful respondents demonstrated innovative approaches to service delivery to address the needs of women business owners adversely affected by COVID-19. Proposals included detailed plans to continue or establish projects to improve service delivery, training, and support to women-owned businesses impacted by the pandemic. Applicants were also required to provide counseling, technical and financial skill development, comprehensive business assessments, and mentoring services to women interested in starting or growing a small business.
The Office of Women’s Business Ownership’s mission is to enable and empower women entrepreneurs through advocacy, outreach, education, and support. Since it was established in response to an Executive Order in 1979, OWBO has provided training, counseling, technical assistance, access to credit and capital, and marketing opportunities to women.
