At a time of impressive economic growth in our country, too many Americans, especially women, are not benefiting from this prosperity. That is the message that Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, brought to a campus forum on issues affecting women who are trying to start their own businesses.
The forum, held at the University's Hartford College for Women (HCW), marked the college's receipt of a $750,000, five-year grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to open a Women's Business Center. The new enterprise will be run by HCW's Entrepreneurial Center, which for more than 14 years has helped give hundreds of area men and women the skills, resources and support necessary to start their own enterprises. The SBA grant will enable the Entrepreneurial Center to focus on creating new programs to assist Connecticut's prospective, new and established women business owners.
The official opening of the new Women's Business Center at Hartford College for Women was marked by a ribbon cutting on campus. From left to right are: Sherrye Henry, assistant administrator, Office of Women's Business Ownership, SBA; University President Walter Harrison; Jean Blake-Jackson, director, HCW Entrepreneurial Center; and Fred Hochberg, deputy administrator, SBA.
"For all [our economic] success, too many Americans, and especially women, are not seeing the fruits of our prosperity yet. Our challenge and our responsibility as leaders in America is to find more creative ways to expand opportunity to everybody," Tipper Gore said. "My husband believes that we must help women go from being job seekers to being job creators... and turn your ideas into economic opportunities," she added.
She said her husband, a 2000 presidential candidate, wants to address the issue through "increases in the minimum wage, equal pay, and greater access to education and training, so that women can get the jobs they need and be fairly compensated for the work they do."
Participating in the July 22 forum were several local women who have successfully started their own firms, as well as local lenders and representatives of government agencies that provide resources and support for new ventures.
Gore was visibly moved by the stories she heard, among them that of April Couloute, a married mother of six who at one time lived in a Hartford housing project and received welfare benefits. After graduating from the Entrepreneurial Center, Couloute started her own business -- Budget Painting and Renovations -- and has since bought a five-bedroom house for her family.
Seeing success. During her HCW visit, Tipper Gore, right, was able to view displays of products produced by women-owned businesses. Here, Laurie Collum describes some of the stained glass works produced by her company, Lauriel Stained Art Glass Designs of Oakville, Conn.
"If I were working a 9-to-5 job, most of my money would be going to day care," she said. Couloute, who passed out her business cards to Gore and her staff, made it clear that she has even bigger dreams for the future. "I want to paint the White House," she told the vice-president's spouse.
Through the SBA grant, the future of many other Connecticut women could be as bright as Couloute's. The goal is to reach 400 women in the first year of the grant and to increase that number by 10 percent each year, for a target of 585 women by the fifth year, said Jean Blake Jackson, director of the Entrepreneurial Center. Under the grant program, the center willdirect much of its training and counseling advice toward socially and economically disadvantaged women.
Zina Davis, left, director of the Joseloff Gallery and the Museum of American Political Life on the University of Hartford campus, greets Tipper Gore at the museum. A reception for Gore campaign supporters from the Hartford area was held there following the forum.
The Women's Business Center staff will be the initial contact for all women who call the Entrepreneurial Center. Prospective and new business owners will be directed to the next available self-assessment session, wheretheir business skills, their personal situations and their business ideas will be evaluated to determine if starting and running a new enterprise is the right decision for them at that time. The Women's Business Center will also offer workshops that will help the established business owner with developing her business. These will include: franchising, procurement, marketing, getting a business plan ready for the loan process, upgrading a marketing plan, trends in business or financial management, and quality-of-life issues.
The Women's Business Center program was established by Congress in 1988 and is administered by the SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership. For more information and a complete listing of Women's Business Center locations, visit the SBA's Online Women's Business Center at <www.onlinewbc.org>.
