Professional Services Agreement - St Marys Womens Entrepreneurship Initiative - Spark Womens Business Accelerator Neighborhood Pilot

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According to a 2018 report from American Express, 40% of businesses in the United States are now women -owned and women of color are the fastest growing group of business owners (The 2018 State of Women Owned Businesses Report, American Express, 2018.) However, women entrepreneurs have less access to training, mentorship, and capital three key factors to successfully launch and grow than similarly situated men. ("The Megaphone of Main Street: Women's Entrepreneurship" SCORE, 2018.) To give women entrepreneurs the best chance at success, WEI's addresses all three of these factors by: 1) Providing intensive training and mentoring through the SPARK program to give participants and graduates, as well as other local women entrepreneurs, business skills and access to additional expertise that allows them to avoid common pitfalls and be competitive in the open market. 2) Providing ongoing mentorship through our mentor network which includes over 60 subject area experts and business owners. 3) Partnering with area banks and CDFIs to provide small business loans to qualified graduates of our flagship SPARK program who have a completed business plan, ensuring they have sufficient start- up capital. Since its inception in 2011, SPARK has graduated 214 women and helped launch 90 small businesses. SPARK is one of the only technical assistance programs available in the greater South Bend region and attracts women from five counties (within an hour radius.) There are currently 52 prospects on a waiting list for the 2019 program before any advertisement or recruitment. WEI's client base are women who would like to start a business or who have already started a business, but would like to grow it. Below are some basic demographic data on the 31 women in SPARK's 2018 cohort: EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT High school/GED 17% Some college 13% Two year associates degree 13% Four year college de ee Masters or other advanced degree 33% 20% Did not report 3% RACE/ETHNIC ITY Asian 1 % Black Hispanic 36% 9% Native American 1 % White 53%