Helping women-owned businesses survive and thrive
Women”™s Business Development Council founder and CEO Fran Pastore said that the organization had recorded a 600% increase in the number of clients (6,000) it saw during 2020. “Never in WBDC history have we witnessed this,” she said.
Historically, she added, when an economic crisis like the pandemic arrives, women are usually hit harder, as most women earn less than their male counterparts; single-parent households are headed by women; they disproportionately work at less secure jobs; and they have limited access to the kinds of resources that can help them and their small businesses weather the storm.
The creation of the WBDC Equity Match Grant Program, which the group administers with support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, has raised over $525,000, with dollar-for-dollar matching funds contributed by the state government. Grants range from $5,500 to $10,000. The aim, Pastore said, is to help those businesses “not only survive, but thrive post-pandemic.”
In May, the WBDC awarded nearly $400,000 in grants to 44 businesses that are in all eight counties. She said 32% of those are minority-owned, noting that about 39% of the group”™s clients are minorities.
The group also maintains a child care initiative and its Blue Stream program, dedicated to helping military spouses in New London County realize their entrepreneurial aspirations.
For more, visit https://ctwbdc.org/
