Center aims to help women with business plans
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, August 9, 2001
By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
This women’s center is not an exclusive club.
The Northwest Women’s Business Center, which opened last month in Everett, does offer programs crafted primarily for women, said Kay Lasco, the center’s vice president and director.
This includes training seminars and help arranging everything from business plans to start-up loans. Traditionally, women have lagged behind when it comes to these opportunities, Lasco said.
But men also are welcome to take advantage of the programs, she said. "It’s just that our focus is on women."
The center is a part of Community Capital Development, a Seattle-based organization founded in 1997 to help arrange small business loans for people with good business ideas but bad credit.
The organization now offers a mix of programs, funded by government and private grants and by low-interest loans from participating banks.
The Everett office is the first outside Seattle. It is expanding the organization’s reach into Snohomish, Island, Kitsap, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
Satellite offices are opening in Mount Vernon and Bremerton. Some of the programs will be offered in Spanish.
The organization’s business assistance programs include seminars on management, marketing, financial planning and bidding on contracts. And counselors are available — either for free, or at $10 an hour — to help develop the plans needed to qualify for the center’s loan programs.
Different loan programs are available for a range of uses, from loans to help start-ups with working capital to loans to help existing companies restructure their debt.
Since the Everett center opened July 1, most of its clients have been women looking for help developing their hobbies into home-based businesses, Lasco said.
The center is located within the offices of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council at 728 124th St. SW in south Everett.
Both are in economic development, which makes them "a perfect fit," Lasco said. "We are more community-based. … They look after the big guys."
You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454
or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.
