On June 11, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing to examine the reauthorization of programs administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Committee Chair Donald Manzullo (R-IL) opened the hearing by stating that the committee “remains open to any suggestions that will help focus the SBA business and enterprise development programs on small manufacturers and their economically-depressed communities.”
Several witnesses included comments on Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) and the Office of Women’s Business Ownership. In her testimony, Kaareen Street of the SBA noted that many programs within the SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development (ED) “do not have the flexibility they need to improve efficiency, institute new ideas, and reach out to emerging markets.” She continued by saying that the Women’s Business Center (WBC) “provides valuable services to an underserved community, but its costs per client are the most expensive program within the ED programs, and this program reaches a smaller number of women than any of the other programs.”
According to Ms. Street, the WBC’s “sustainability” pilot requires the SBA to spend 30.2 percent of the program budget on WBCs that have already graduated from the original five-year program. As a result, she said, “SBA is awarding grants to 81 centers, leaving little or no budget resources available for new centers, innovation, marketing, or outreach.”
Kersten Hostetter of the MicroBusiness Development Corporation praised the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership, saying that the office is the “only federal office that specifically targets women business owners.” She added that last year alone, “Women’s Business Centers provided consulting, training and technical assistance to more than 80,000 women.”
Hedy Ratner of the Women’s Business Development Center explained that women-owned businesses “are increasingly recognized as an important economic force.” She said that in the U.S., “there are 6.2 million majority-owned, privately held women-owned firms, with 9.2 million employees and generating $1.15 trillion in sales nationwide.”
Ms. Ratner also recommended strengthening the WBC program by:
