As the new fiscal year begins, SCORE Fairfield County has been forced to consolidate with two other chapters in the state to stay afloat, according to a SCORE statement issued Monday.
While SCORE officials did not mention the defunding by the Trump administration in the 2026 federal budget, it is known to be the reason for such action. The US Small Business Administration under President Trump pulled $17 million discretionary budget for the nonprofit starting Oct. 1.
SCORE Fairfield County, SCORE Western Connecticut and SCORE Northwestern Connecticut will now be one chapter known at SCORE Western Connecticut.
The chapters will also be part of SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors and a resource partner of the US Small Business Administration.
Ashwani “Ash” Bhaskar, former co-chair of the Fairfield County chapter, and David Rich, former chair of the Western Connecticut Chapter, will be co-chairs of the chapter.
In addition to managing SCORE’s support of local small businesses in Fairfield and Litchfield counties, the chapter will also guide the non-profit organization’s presence in nine towns from the western portion of New Haven County including Beacon Falls, Cheshire, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Oxford, Prospect, Southbury, Waterbury and Wolcott.
The newly minted chapter will be powered by the business acumen of nearly 200 business mentor volunteers, professionals spanning a diverse scope of business experiences and industries. In addition to overseeing the mentoring volunteers Bhaskar and Rich will be responsible for all educational activities and business events co-produced with local partners.
“Our Connecticut chapters have historically prided themselves on being dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth, and success of small businesses,” Bhaskar said. “Consolidating under a singular banner, we believe the shared resources, inherent knowledge of our savvy volunteers and an unwavering, shared desire to help small businesses throughout Western Connecticut will help even more entrepreneurs overcome various hurdles to reach their goals in 2026 and beyond.”
Rich believes the consolidation will make SCORE stronger in the state.
“By combining the Western, Northwestern and Fairfield chapters, we will be strengthening our overall collective ability to deliver SCORE’s mission to foster vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education, and ultimately greater small business impacts,” he said.
Small business clients who receive more than three hours of mentoring report higher revenues and increased business growth and are five times more likely to stay in business, he added.
With the SCORE fiscal year ending Sept. 30, a look at the metrics through August for the combined metrics of the three chapters in 2025 illustrates the ongoing commitment to the Western Connecticut small business communities. To date, the three chapters in total conducted 2,017 mentoring sessions with entrepreneurs during the 2024-2025 fiscal year; conducted 107 in-person business workshops generating a cumulative attendance of 1,979. As well the trio of chapters held 42 online workshops with 2,403 participants.
