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SBA
PRESS OFFICE
Release Date: November 15, 2004
Contact: Charlotte Johnson, DOTR for the Women’s
Business Centers in Georgia
Phone: (404) 331-0100 ext 415
SBA Georgia District Office announces funding for New
Women's Business Center in the State of Georgia
ATLANTA - Cobb Microenterprise Center (CMC) in Kennesaw,
Georgia, has received a $150,000 annual grant for five
consecutive years from the U.S. Small Business
Administration to help it fund training, counseling, and
mentoring services to women entrepreneurs in the Atlanta
Metropolitan area.
CMC is one of 21 new centers and 49 existing centers across
the country receiving a combined $6.885 million in a fresh
round of funding from the SBA. These grants are in addition
to the 35 existing centers that received $5.1 million in
total funding in July, bringing the number of funded Women's
Business Centers to 105.
"We are pleased to make this announcement on new funding,"
said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto. "One of the most
exciting things about the Women's Business Center Program is
that it continues to reach out to new customers. Women
business owners are one of the fastest growing segments of
the small business community and President Bush recognizes
their contribution to our economy. These centers will offer
those entrepreneurs comprehensive, professional advice and
counseling about how best to start and grow their
businesses."
The WBC program, administered by the SBA's Office of Women's
Business Ownership (OWBO), provides female entrepreneurs
with the resources they need to start and grow a business.
Each site is required to match a portion of the federal
funds with private contributions, and services are tailored
to the community in which the WBC is located. The WBC
program provides funding for an initial five-year term.
Last year, the WBC program served more than 106,612 clients
nationwide. The centers are located in rural, urban, and
suburban areas and direct much of their training and
counseling assistance toward economically disadvantaged
women. They offer many innovative programs, including
financial management, marketing and technical assistance,
procurement training, mentoring in several different
languages and Internet training. The centers also provide
specialized programs that address issues facing displaced
workers or rural home-based entrepreneurs.
The program also offers an online Women's Business Center
that can be accessed 24 hours a day at
http://www.onlinewbc.gov/. For more information on
the SBA's Women's Business Center please, contact the
Georgia District Office at
www.sba.gov/ga,
visit the Office of Women's Business Ownership's home page
at
www.sba.gov/financing/special/women.html; or contact
our new Women’s Center at (770) 499-3228 or
www.cobbmicro.org.
Cobb Microenterprise Center, the new WBC recipient in
Georgia, is a non-profit organization, which was formed as a
community partnership between Kennesaw State University,
Michael J. Coles College of Business; the Center for Family
Resources; YWCA of Northwest Georgia; and United Way of Cobb
and Cherokee County. CMC, is housed at the Coles College of
Business at the KSU Center, and it has been in existence
since 1998, their first program services was launched in
February 1999.
CMC has graduated more than 360 low- to moderate-income
people from its 12-week Business Development Class and has
provided technical assistance for more than 200
business start-ups and expansions. More than 856 hours of
technical assistance are provided each year to promote the
growth of micro businesses into small businesses. More than
$1.8 million dollars have been leveraged to provide access
to capital for business owners. To date, Cobb
Microenterprise Center has raised more than $3.5 million
dollars to support programming services that have impacted
the economic development in our community.
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