Trinity College Nets $150,000 SBA Grant To Launch Vermont Women's Business Center

June 22, 1999

N E W S From The Vermont Congressional Delegation

Trinity College of Vermont has received a $150,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to cover startup costs for a new Vermont Women's Business Center, to be based in Burlington at the college, that will help women interested in either starting or expanding their own businesses.

The Center will address the needs of women in Vermont who are trying to start and expand their own businesses, targeting problems commonly encountered by prospective women entrepreneurs -- including women interested in agriculture -- by offering basic business training programs, financial and loan technical help, management and marketing aid and one-on-one business counseling. Mentoring roundtable groups will meet monthly, and a six-hour seminar on wholesale trade shows will be presented at two sites. The Center also will produce an annual business showcase and conference. Programs will be offered on Vermont's Interactive Television Network, through which a three-hour session on capital formation will be offered at 12 sites. The Center also will offer toll-free referrals to services and online Internet training and workshops. Thirty percent of participants will be economically disadvantaged. Training will be available through such existing organizations as CyberSkills Vermont, which will work with the Center to create a Women's Business Center website and to provide the on-line training.

The Center's plan and grant application were written with support and encouragement from and in conjunction with the Vermont SBA, the Vermont Small Business Development Council, the Governor's Commission on Women, all five Vermont Community Action Agencies and Vermont's congressional delegation. Vermont's Center will be one of more than 80 nationwide funded by SBA.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Jim Jeffords and Rep. Bernie Sanders all offered support and assistance before, during and after drafting of the Trinity College grant application. Sanders last year authored and passed an amendment in the House to increase grant monies for the Women's Small Business Center Program by 50 percent in SBA's annual appropriations bill. Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has sought and achieved committee approval this year for expansion of the program in the SBA appropriations bill. And Jeffords and Leahy both have cosponsored a bill to increase the authorized funding for the program.

Leahy said: "Trinity College is the perfect home for this new resource for women in business. This will help clear the path to success for Vermont women who want to launch or expand their own businesses. Our first goal is to forge a strong and cohesive link to existing sources of technical help across the state. Then we will build on that to offer new training and personalized, practical support that matches the specific needs of Vermont women in business."

Jeffords said: "With the awarding of this grant, Vermont will join more than 80 other Women's Business Centers around the country in helping women entrepreneurs to be successful in local and global business markets. And I can't think of a better program to administer the center than Trinity College's outstanding Women's Small Business Program. Vermont women entrepreneurs will benefit from the services provided, and the State will benefit from an increased number of women-owned businesses."

Sanders said: "The new Vermont Women's Business Center is a major step forward in increasing opportunities for women to own and grow their own businesses. The contribution of women to the economic vitality of Vermont and the nation cannot be overstated. I am proud to have assisted Trinity College in receiving this grant."

Though women-owned firms are the nation's fastest growing segment of new small businesses, many women business owners continue to face significant challenges: isolation and lack of assets, formal business training, credibility and effective business networks. Even established women business owners are not immune from these hurdles, which haunt them through lower earnings, fewer advancement opportunities and occupational segregation.