The Women's Enterprise Development Center Inc. (WEDC), a not-for-profit
microenterprise* development program, was formed in 1997 to
help women achieve economic self-sufficiency through small business
development. It was launched as a collaborative effort of:
- The Westchester County Association
- Westchester Community College
- Westchester Association of Women Business Owners
- New York State Division for Women (Lower Hudson Valley
Advisory Council)
These organizations continue to support, advise and collaborate
with WEDC.
| We gratefully acknowledge
the important contributions made by our community partners: |
- The Small Business Administration
- The Child Care Council of Westchester
- Westchester Hispanic Coalition
- Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
- Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- The Enterprise Fund
- Trickle Up Program
- Westchester County Department of Social Services
- Westchester County Office of Economic Development
- Westchester County Office for Women
- Center for Business, Jobs, & Nonprofits of the White
Plains Library
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WEDC began as a response to the Welfare Reform Act of 1996.
The initial focus was to work with the Westchester County
Department of Social Services to help women who were transitioning
from public assistance with their small business ideas.
WEDC continued to forge collaborations with other organizations
and agencies to assist various groups of women. For example,
WEDC partnered with Project Transition at Westchester
Community College to do entrepreneurial training for displaced
homemakers; with the Westchester Hispanic Coalition
to conduct training in Spanish for Latinas and with the Child
Care Council of Westchester to do training for child care
providers. WEDC's most recent collaboration is with domestic
violence agencies to help survivors of domestic violence explore
small business development.
WEDC recognized that the graduates of its core fifteen-week
entrepreneurial training program needed capital to grow their
small businesses. In early 2000, WEDC became a coordinating
agency of the Trickle UP Program, an organization which
provides $700 in grant money to low-income entrepreneurs.
The following year it worked with The Westchester Housing
Fund, a local Community Development Financial Institution,
(CDFI) to form The Enterprise Fund which provides WEDC
graduates with two additional access to capital programs:
Individual Development Accounts, a matched savings account
program; and a micro loan fund program.
A major milestone for WEDC occurred in 2003 when it was designated
a Women's Business Center by the U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA). The five-year federal grant from the SBA allows the
center to serve all women entrepreneurs business training
needs, and to provide programs and services to women business
owners in neighboring counties.
For more data and figures, go to Facts
About Women-Owned Businesses
* A Microenterprise is defined as a business with five
or fewer employees and in need of start up capital of under
$35,000. Most WEDC graduates are sole-proprietors and are
in need of capital of under $15,000.
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