Maloney Announces Legislation to Create Jobs, Support Women-Owned Small Businesses

Press Release

Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) announced legislation aimed at giving women entrepreneurs equal treatment when it comes to starting and growing their own businesses. Introduced with Representative Suzan DelBene (WA-01), this legislation would improve access to lending and increase business counseling and training services for women entrepreneurs, and give women-owned businesses more access to federal contracts. In particular, the Women's Small Business Ownership Act would increase funding for the Women's Business Center program, which supports training and counseling services like the Women's Enterprise Development Center (WEDC) at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

"Women in the Hudson Valley are more likely to be the breadwinners, caretakers, innovators, and leaders at home and at work -- providing the tools women need to start and grow their own businesses strengthens our economy and our communities. When women have the tools they need to succeed in their homes and workplaces, our communities and economy succeed," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.

"WEDC is a nonprofit small business development organization and a U.S. SBA Women's Business Center. WEDC provides women (and men) with the skills, tools, and resources they need to start their own businesses, expand existing ones, and achieve economic self-sufficiency. WEDC has been serving clients throughout the Lower Hudson Valley at its center in White Plains since 1997. In 2013 a second WEDC center, WEDC-MHV, was established through an EDA grant to serve the Mid-Hudson Valley," said Anne Janiak, Executive Director of WEDC. "We applaud Congressman Maloney's continued support for WEDC and his co-sponsorship of "The Women's Small Business Ownership Act of 2014'. This legislation will give women entrepreneurs equal treatment to start and grow their own businesses. Specifically, it will increase funding for Women's Business Centers like WEDC to expand/improve counseling and training services to reach more entrepreneurs. It will also expand and improve some SBA lending programs to reach more women borrowers, and improve the small business Federal contract program. With passage of this legislation, WEDC will continue to provide the business training programs, one-on-one counseling, workshops, access to capital, government program information, and other valuable resources needed to successfully start and grow a business."

The Women's Small Business Ownership Act of 2014 would remove significant barriers for women looking to start or grow their own business by expanding and improving the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan and Intermediary Lending programs to reach more women borrowers, reauthorize the SBA Intermediary Lending program and increase lending capacity from $5 million to $7 million, and increase funding for the Women's Business Center program to expand and improve counseling and training services to reach more women entrepreneurs, especially in low-income areas. Additionally it will allow sole-source contracting for federal contracts awarded through the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract program, and establish a 2015 deadline for an SBA study to identify industries in which women-owned small businesses are under-represented.

Women entrepreneurs account for just $1 out of every $23 in small business lending, despite representing 30 percent of all small companies. They are also more likely to be turned down for loans or face less favorable terms than men. This legislation would change current law, and aims to help the federal government meet its goal of awarding 5 percent of contracts to women-owned businesses -- a goal that has never been reached since it was established by legislation 20 years ago. When this goal is not reached, women-owned companies miss out on $4 billion in federal contracting opportunities each year.

The Women's Economic Development Center (WEDC), a nonprofit microbusiness development program formed in 1997 to help women achieve economic self-sufficiency through small business ownership, now serves more than 1600 clients annually. WEDC provides a comprehensive array of programs and services to Lower Hudson Valley entrepreneurs by providing training, advisory services, and access to capital. Women's Business Center's assist 150,000 clients annually and in 2013 helped women to access more than $25 million in capital.

In July, Rep. Maloney hosted a "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds" workshop to connect women in the Hudson Valley with information and resources on financial security, food and nutrition, healthcare, legal services, childcare services, elder care, job training programs, higher education and homeownership. Earlier this year, Rep. Maloney introduced his plan to "Expand Women's Economic Opportunities" which Politico said is "one of the most extensive efforts" to highlight economic challenges facing women. Rep. Maloney's seven-part agenda is "focused solely on women, including closing the pay gap, raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, expanding the child-care tax credit and broadening paid family and medical leave."

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