Congressional Research Service IF13312.1 (The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Centers Program)

Summary

This Congressional Research Service report of September 14, 2026 describes the SBA’s Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), which the SBA funds through grants and cooperative agreements to third-party entities. Congress first authorized a pilot version in the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 and permanently authorized the current form in a 2007 appropriations act. By statute WBCs must offer technical, management and marketing assistance, and by regulation applicants must be non-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status. Initial grants run up to five years, after which WBCs may receive continued funding for three-year periods with no limit on renewals. A 2025 evaluation commissioned by SBA counted 168 WBCs in 2024.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Cite this document

“Congressional Research Service IF13312.1 (The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Centers Program).” Original at www.congress.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/congressional-research-service-if13312-1-the-small-business-administra-e332c9bead/, SHA-256 042165bc054db1b7e28e53a0ebb49aaf1cc9fee45a5447793ee64670e49c9b7f.

Full text

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Centers
Program
September 14, 2026

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) management and received appropriations (P.L. 105-135). P.L. 105-135, the Small
technical assistance programs offer free counseling, training, Business Reauthorization Act of 1997, also allowed WBCs to
and resources to small business owners and entrepreneurs. receive funding for up to five years (an initial year and four
Although these programs are open to any type of small business option years).
owner and entrepreneur, some management and technical
P.L. 106-165, the Women's Business Centers Sustainability Act
assistance providers target specific demographics. Among those
of 1999, provided WBCs that had completed an initial five-year
are Women’s Business Centers (WBCs).
grant the opportunity to apply for an additional five-year
SBA funds WBCs through grants and cooperative agreements, sustainability grant. In 2005, P.L. 109-108, the Science, State,
and the WBCs are operated by the third-party entities receiving Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act,
federal awards. Congress initially authorized a version of the 2006, explicitly provided the WBC program permanent
WBC program as a pilot program in the Women’s Business statutory authorization. As noted, P.L. 110-28 repealed the
Ownership Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-533) and permanently statutory language authorizing the sustainability grants program
authorized the program in its current form in the U.S. Troop and replaced it by allowing WBCs that had completed five years
Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq in the program to receive continued funding for additional three-
Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (P.L. 110-28). year periods, with no limit on the number of renewals. This
remains the WBC program’s current structure.
By statute, WBCs must offer small businesses:
• technical assistance, including counseling for obtaining Program Administration and Appropriations
business credit and investment capital (SBA and WBCs do The WBC program is a competitive program. SBA issues
not provide direct financial assistance to small businesses); notices of funding opportunities for entities to apply for grant or
• management assistance, including guidance with general cooperative agreement awards. By regulation, eligible
business planning, organizing, and staffing; and applicants must be non-profit organizations with active
• marketing assistance, including help identifying market 501(c)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service.
opportunities, preparing marketing plans, and developing
Initial WBC grants are typically awarded for up to five years,
pricing strategies.
consisting of a base period of 12 months from the date of the
According to a 2025 evaluation of the WBC program award and four 12-month extension periods. SBA determines if
commissioned by SBA, there were 168 WBCs in 2024. Women- the option periods are exercised and makes that determination
owned businesses may also seek assistance through other SBA subject to the availability of funds and the recipient
programs, including Small Business Development Centers organization's compliance with federal law, SBA regulations,
(SBDCs), Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs), and and the terms and conditions specified in the grant or
SCORE chapters (a mentoring program formerly known as the cooperative agreement. As mentioned, WBCs that successfully
Service Corps of Retired Executives). Collectively, these complete the initial five-year grant period are usually offered to
providers (which SBA calls “resource partners”) seek to apply for an unlimited number of three-year continuation grants.
improve access to entrepreneurial education and assist with Annual grant amounts for these grants are capped at $150,000.
business formation and expansion. There is no specific cap on initial grants.

History By statute, during their initial five-year grant period, WBCs
must provide matching funds of one nonfederal dollar for each
As noted, Congress initially established the Women's Business two federal dollars in years one and two, and one nonfederal
Demonstration Pilot Program in P.L. 100-533. The act directed dollar for each federal dollar in years three, four, and five. After
SBA to provide assistance to private, nonprofit organizations to the initial five-year grant period, the matching requirement in
conduct demonstration projects giving financial, management, subsequent three-year funding intervals is not more than one
and marketing assistance to small businesses, including start-up nonfederal dollar for every federal dollar.
businesses, owned and controlled by women. Since its
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (P.L. 119-75)
inception, the program has generally targeted the needs of
provided $27 million for the WBC program. The Trump
socially and economically disadvantaged women. In 1991, the
Administration's FY2027 budget request proposed no funding
program was provided statutory authorization to continue as a
for the WBC program. See Table 1 for details on WBC program
pilot program for an additional four years, through October 1,
appropriations from FY2017-FY2026.
1995; (P.L. 102-191); in 1994, an additional two years (P.L.
103-403); and, in 1997, for any year thereafter that the program

https://crsreports.congress.gov
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Centers Program

Table 1. WBC Program Appropriations, FY2017-FY2026 established businesses, for whom revenue growth may be harder
Fiscal Year WBC Program Appropriations to achieve than it is for newer, smaller businesses. The
evaluation also found that WBC clients were more likely to start
2017 $18.0 million a business than SBDC clients, potentially because of the
2018 $18.0 million narrower scope of clients targeted by WBCs.

2019 $18.5 million Recent Legislation
2020 $70.5 million Some Members of recent Congresses have introduced
2021 $23.0 million legislation seeking to address aspects of the WBC program. In
the 119th Congress, the Women’s Business Centers
2022 $24.4 million Improvement Act of 2026 (H.R. 9818) would expand WBC
2023 $27.0 million eligibility to include, among other entities, state, regional, or
local economic development organizations; increase the
2024 $27.0 million
maximum grant amount for WBC continuation grants from
2025 $27.0 million $150,000 to $300,000 and extend the funding interval from
three to five years; and add new criteria for selecting WBC grant
2026 $27.0 million
or cooperative agreement awardees, among other changes. In
Source: CRS analysis of annual appropriations acts and other laws. the 118th Congress, the Women’s Business Centers
Notes: In FY2020, the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136) provided $48 million for the
WBC program and P.L. 116-93 provided $22.5 million for the WBC program.
Improvement Act of 2023 (H.R. 5361 and S. 2184) proposed
similar changes.
Outcomes and Performance
According to the 2025 evaluation, WBCs served 94,593 total
Considerations for Congress
clients in 2024, of which 62,673 were women. That represented Congress may consider funding levels for the WBC program,
a 343% increase from 21,354 total clients in 2015. Figure 1 including the Trump Administration's request for no funding for
presents WBC client data from 2015-2024. the program for FY2027. Congress debated SBA funding in
FY2026, when the Trump Administration also requested SBA
Figure 1. WBC Total and Female Clients, 2015-2024
funding cuts, including eliminating funding for the WBC
program. Congress ultimately provided $27 million for the
WBC program for FY2026. In weighing WBC program funding
levels, Congress may also consider the increase in WBC clients
over the past decade.
Congress may also consider whether the results of the WBC
program evaluation should inform program structure or
offerings. As noted, the evaluation found that the WBC program
may be more effective at creating new small businesses than in
providing services for existing ones. Congress could seek to
address this dynamic. One factor that led evaluators to this
conclusion was that WBC clients were less successful at
accessing capital than small businesses that were not WBC
clients, consistent with findings that women-owned firms face
Source: Women's Business Centers' Client Outcomes: Evaluation Report. barriers to capital access. Congress could review options to
expand WBC clients’ access to sources of capital, potentially
The evaluation found that participation in the WBC program including SBA programs such as the 7(a) loan guaranty program
was associated with an increase in new business formation and and the Microloan program. Conversely, Congress could
in the average number of employees working for WBC clients. determine that the WBC program should be aimed more at
However, on average, WBC clients received smaller loans than increasing new business starts than at helping businesses grow.
small businesses that were not WBC clients, and business The WBC program evaluation left some unanswered questions.
growth for WBC clients lagged that of small businesses that had For example, evaluators could not conclusively say what
not received services. According to the evaluation, this accounted for some of the outcome differences between WBCs
suggested that WBC services may be more effective in helping and other resource partners. Partly to address this, the evaluation
to create new small businesses than in supporting existing small suggested SBA collect additional data and metrics related to the
businesses. WBC program—such as gross profits and new market revenue
The evaluation also compared some aspects of WBC program for WBC clients—and conduct or commission further study of
performance to that of other resource partners. For example, it the WBC program. Congress could decide whether to act on
found that median gross revenue for WBC clients rose these recommendations.
moderately during the study period, while median gross revenue Adam G. Levin, Analyst in Economic Development Policy
for SBDC clients declined during the same time. The study IF13312
posited that this may be because SBDCs serve larger or more

https://crsreports.congress.gov
The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Centers Program

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional
committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS
Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has been provided by CRS to
Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not
subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without
permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to
obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.

https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF13312 · VERSION 1 · NEW

File and source

File: IF13312.1.pdf
Size: 480,892 bytes
SHA-256: 042165bc054db1b7e28e53a0ebb49aaf1cc9fee45a5447793ee64670e49c9b7f
Our copy: IF13312.1.pdf
Original: www.congress.gov