Sununu Supports "Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act of 2006"

SUNUNU SUPPORTS "WOMEN'S SMALL BUSINESS OWNERSHIP PROGRAMS ACT OF 2006"

Measure aims to strengthen the Small Business Administration's Women's Business Center Program, increase number of women-owned small businesses

United States Senator John Sununu (R-NH) today (8/10) announced his support for the "Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act of 2006" (S. 3659) - legislation that aims to strengthen the Small Business Administration's (SBA) women's business center (WBC) program and increase women-owned small businesses across the country.

"This legislation would ensure that successful women's business centers - like the New Hampshire Women's Business Center- have continued access to SBA funding to provide women entrepreneurs with valuable education, counseling, and mentoring," said Sununu. "Many businesses that women are starting and growing provide sustainable jobs and economic expansion, thanks, in part, to the support they have received from women's business centers across the country. This legislation provides the opportunity for this valuable work to flourish and meet an increasing demand for skills that are so critical to success in today's business environment."

Women's business centers represent a national network of more than 100 education resource centers that are designed to assist women in opening small businesses. They are financed by a mix of private and public funding, including resources from the SBA. Under the legislation, eligible and qualified new centers will receive an initial four-year SBA grant and existing centers with proven records of success will be eligible to receive additional three-year renewable grants.

In 2004, Sununu was instrumental in helping the Portsmouth Women's Business Center secure $75,150 as part of $6.8 million in SBA funding for centers across the nation. The New Hampshire center is currently in its 11th year of operation and assists more than a thousand women in New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts, and southern Maine each year with education programming, one-to-one counseling and peer support.

Ellen Fineberg, Executive Director of the Women's Business Center, stated, "It is so important that advocates like Senator Sununu are working to ensure that women's business centers -- a valuable resource for all entrepreneurial women -- will continue to be available not only here in New Hampshire but nationwide."

The "Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act of 2006," introduced by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), has been referred to the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

http://www.sununu.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=261636&&year=2006&