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RCED-99-278R 1 (1999-09-02)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacrow0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i ~GAO Aiiiiii. . .,ccountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Resources, Community, and Washington, DC 20548 Economic Development Division B-283476 September 2, 1999 The Honorable Christopher Bond Chairman The Honorable John Kerry Ranking Minority Member Committee on Small Business United States Senate The Honorable James M. Talent Chairman The Honorable Nydia M. Velazquez Ranking Minority Member Committee on Small Business House of Representatives Subject: Small Business Administration: Information on the Women's Business Center Program The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 created the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Women's Business Center Program.' This program was intended to remove the barriers to creating and developing small businesses owned and controlled by women. The program provides grants for private sector organizations to establish business training centers for women-often focusing on those who are socially and economically disadvantaged. The women's business centers are financed by SBA funds and matching funds from nonfederal sources. The grants are awarded through a competitive process for periods of up to 5 years. The amount of the nonfederal match increases over the life of a grant, going from $2 of federal money for each $1 of matching funds the first year to $1 of federal money for each $1 of matching funds by the fifth year. As of program year 1999, 58 centers were receiving SBA funding. In preparation for reauthorizing this program, you requested (1) a description of the women's business centers, including their funding status, their experiences in raising matching funds, the types of services offered in a women's business center's first and last year of grant funding, and the differences between parent and satellite centers; (2) a determination of the extent to which SBA's award criteria predict long-term success or failure of women's business centers; and (3) our comments on the Office of Women's Business Ownership's 'The Congress passed the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 mandating that the SBA create and administer what was then called the Women's Business Owner Demonstration Program. The 1997 Reauthorization Act made the program permanent. SBA's Office of Women's Business Ownership administers this program. 7S GAOIRCED-99-278R Women's Business Center Program

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