WBDC Accepting Applications for Next Round of CT Child Care Business Grants

The Women’s Business Development Council’s Child Care Business Support Program and Opportunity Fund is now open for a new round of applications and child care businesses in Connecticut are encouraged to apply for grants of up to $25,000. The innovative grant program, supported by a partnership with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), will accept applications through September 27.

Pair of WBDC Grant Programs Reopening for New Round of Applications

In August, the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) will once again be accepting applications for both its Equity Match Grant Program and its Child Care Business Opportunity Fund. The Equity Match Grant Program is made possible through the support of multiple corporate, foundation, and private funders, and the CT Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). The Child Care Business Opportunity Fund is supported by partnering with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC).

WBDC Announces New Round of Grants for CT Child Care Businesses

A partnership between the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) and the CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC) began in 2020 to support child care businesses through the WBDC Child Care Business Support Program and Opportunity Fund. In its first two years, the program — powered by this first-of-its-kind partnership — has distributed 366 grants to 219 child care businesses, totaling $4.19 million in funding to Connecticut’s child care providers — an industry devastated by the pandemic.

Women’s Business Development Council Announces 5 New Hires, Including Three Child Care Business Advisors

The Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) is pleased to announce the hiring of five new staffers, including three new business advisors specifically committed to supporting home- and center-based child care businesses in Connecticut.

The child care industry has been particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many providers closing their doors due to factors such as severe revenue losses, increased health compliance costs, and staffing shortages. This situation has wider ramifications for the economy as a whole, as a lack of available child care has forced millions of parents — primarily working women — to pause or stop their careers to care for young children.

Stamford coffee shop survives, then thrives, during pandemic with boost from women-owned business grant program

Leyla Dam is just one proprietor of a women-owned enterprise in Connecticut who was able to pivot, survive, and then thrive during the pandemic — largely through the support of an innovative grant program administered by the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC). Since the program’s launch in 2020, WBDC’s Equity Match Grant program — which offers grants of up to $10,000 to qualified women-owned small businesses in Connecticut — has awarded grants to 98 businesses, and counting.

Groundbreaking CT Child Care Business Support Program Helping Child Care Providers Thrive

A program designed to support, sustain, and grow child care businesses in Connecticut — an industry devastated by the pandemic — has shown in its first two years to not only have affected economic growth and job creation in that industry, but has also yielded positive outcomes for many of the state’s child care providers. The program is accepting new grant applications between March 23 and April 12.