WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 34 million small businesses, awarded $26.25 million to create 13 new Women’s Business Centers (WBC) and support 17 existing WBCs across America, expanding SBA’s network of WBCs to 168 and the total grants to 185, the largest numbers in program history. This investment also is the first time the SBA awarded grants to provide specialized services for childcare enterprises, support government contracting efforts for women-owned small businesses, and develop national virtual trainings for women across the country.
“In the last four years, women have powered a generational Small Business Boom, filing new business applications at double the rate, and the Biden-Harris Administration is expanding the network of Women’s Business Centers to record highs to serve them,” said SBA Administrator Guzman. “I am proud of the SBA’s larger footprint, virtual capacity, and our leveraging of this new scale to specialize in areas of critical importance to our economy, including childcare businesses and women in government contracting. When we invest in women, our economy wins.”
In addition to this funding, the SBA also announced a collection of resources to support entrepreneurs that want to start, sustain, or expand their childcare business development. Later this year, the SBA will launch a new MySBA Learning journey dedicated to childcare businesses to complement the expanded in-person services delivered through the WBC network.
Today, the SBA awarded 35 WBC grants to 30 existing and new organizations in three categories. These included 16 awards to support entrepreneurs with starting and expanding childcare businesses, 13 awards focused on government contracting to assist entrepreneurs with obtaining government contracts and related certifications, and six core service awards to provide general entrepreneurial development services, including expanded and/or virtual services to reach rural and underserved communities.
Among the grantees, there are:
- Seventeen existing WBCs receiving 22 grants to support expansion and specialization of services including nine grants to WBCs focused on government contracting, 10 focused on childcare, two for expansion into rural communities and one to provide core services through a nationwide virtual WBC. This marks the first time the SBA issued WBCs multiple awards for distinct services and represents an investment in high-performing WBCs to expand their capacity.
- Thirteen new WBCs to help women entrepreneurs pivot, grow, and navigate SBA resources to ensure their businesses thrive.
- Four organizations to provide nationwide virtual support to women entrepreneurs in unique areas, including rural areas not currently served by a WBC, childcare business development, and cooperative business enterprise support. This is the first time SBA has funded a virtual-first WBC. These four organizations are noted with an asterisk (*) in the chart below.
- One organization in the U.S. Virgin Islands that represents the first SBA-funded WBC supporting the community.
The SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership oversees the WBCs and since early 2021, more than 50 have been added to the network to help women entrepreneurs start and grow small businesses and compete in a marketplace where they still face obstacles. The WBCs offer one-on-one counseling, training, networking, workshops, technical assistance, and mentoring on numerous business development topics, including business startups, financial management, marketing, and procurement.
Women’s Business Center Grant Recipients
| State/Territory | Grantee | Grant Focus | Current or New |
| Alabama | Catalyst Center* | Government contracting | Current |
| Arizona | Southwest Human Development Council YWCA Southern Arizona | Childcare Childcare | New Current |
| California | International Rescue Committee (Oakland) | Childcare | New |
| Connecticut | Women’s Business Development Council* | Childcare, core, government contracting | Current |
| Florida | Broward County Black Chamber of Commerce Foundation | Government contracting | New |
| Georgia | Georgia Microenterprise Network Atlanta Black Chambers Foundation | Government contracting Government contracting | New New |
| Illinois | Women’s Business Development Center | Government contracting | Current |
| Iowa | Iowa Center for Economic Success | Core | Current |
| Maine | Coastal Enterprises | Childcare | Current |
| Massachusetts | Center for Women & Enterprise | Government contracting (two grants) | Current |
| Michigan | Camp Fire West Michigan (Vibrant Futures) Lean Rocket Lab | Childcare Government contracting | New New |
| Montana | Zero to Five Foundation | Childcare | New |
| Nebraska | Center for Rural Affairs | Childcare, core | Current |
| New Hampshire | Cooperatives for a Better World (Start.COOP)* | Core | New |
| New Mexico | Women's Economic Self-Sufficiency Team | Childcare | Current |
| New York | Business Outreach Center Network | Childcare, government contracting | Current |
| North Dakota | Women and Technology | Childcare | Current |
| Ohio | Economic & Community Development Institute | Government contracting | Current |
| Oklahoma | Rural Enterprises of Oklahoma | Government contracting | Current |
| Texas | Better Business Bureau (Austin) | Core | New |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands | Core | New |
| Utah | Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce | Childcare | Current |
| Virginia | George Mason University Instructional Foundation EO Companies | Childcare Childcare | Current New |
| Washington | Seattle Economic Development Fund | Government contracting | Current |
| Washington, D.C. | National Association of Family Child Care* | Childcare | New |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation | Childcare | Current |
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About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.
SBA HQ Press Team U.S. Small Business Administration press_office@sba.gov
