The WBC at JEDI serves women and men starting and growing businesses in the Siskiyou, Shasta, Trinity and Humboldt Counties of California.

This new program is in part funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and supported by the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership.

Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) represent a national network of over 100 educational centers throughout the United States and its territories, which are designed to assist women in starting and growing small businesses. WBCs seek to “level the playing field” for women entrepreneurs, who still face unique obstacles in the business world.

SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO) oversees the WBC network, which provides entrepreneurs (especially women who are economically or socially disadvantaged) comprehensive training and counseling on a variety of topics in several languages. Since it was established in response to an executive order in 1979, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership has fostered the participation of women entrepreneurs in the economy, especially those who have been historically under-served or excluded. In 1988 the SBA established the Women’s Business Center Program to better help women overcome continuing barriers to success by providing business training and counseling, access to credit and capital, and marketing opportunities, including federal contracts.

The Women’s Business Center (WBC) at JEDI provides in-depth, substantive, outcome-oriented business services to women (and men) entrepreneurs, both nascent and established business owners, a representative number of whom are socially and economically disadvantaged.

WBC services include:

• entrepreneurial and financial awareness training
• coaching and business development consultation
• workshops and webinars on business topics
• access to capital consulting and events
• federal contracting opportunities
• export assistance
• and much more through the network of SBA and other business development partners.