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Economic Security
In 2010, the federal government announced that we had reached the highest poverty rates in fifty years. Due to the recession, poverty rates have increased significantly in Chicago. Additionally, the slumped economy has compounded the gender and economic disparities that already face women in their quest for economic security. Poverty rates for women in Chicago are 11% higher than the poverty rates for men (23% vs. 20%) and are the highest for African American women (33%) and Latinas (26%). Women’s Initiative graduates increase their income an average of $10,000 within 12 months after training. |
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Business Growth
Chicago ranks third in the country in terms of the number of microenterprises, yet this sector is growing more slowly on average in Chicago than in the next largest 23 U.S. metro areas. This suggests that the city is lagging behind the national trend of business growth through increasing business ownership rates among women, especially women of color and immigrants. Nationally, nearly all business growth in the past decades can be attributed to the increase in women-owned and immigrant-owned businesses. Women-owned firms are growing at twice the rate of all other businesses, and women of color are starting businesses at a much higher rate than all other business owners combined. Five years after training, 70% of Women’s Initiative graduates are still in business and making regular sales, far exceeding the national average. |
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Job Creation
The number of women creating their own jobs, and jobs for others, through business owernship in the U.S. is rapidly growing, especially among businesses owned by women of color. However; training, networking and mentoring opportunities for low-income women are limited in Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods and there is unequal access to capital. Women, especially women of color, face challenges in starting successful businesses. There is an opportunity to advance job creation in Chicago through an investment in women and minority-owned business startup and growth. One year after training, 90% of Women’s Initiative graduates are employed or self-employed. Five years after training, Women’s Initiative graduates provide an average of 2 jobs to others through their businesses. |
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Economic Development
Chicago’s highly segregated neighborhoods and concentration of services in the downtown area pose unique challenges to local economic development and job creation. Reducing disparities between Chicago’s neighborhoods requires an approach that preserves the individual character of Chicago’s neighborhoods and keeps money from leaking out of the local economies that need it most. Civic Economics studies have consistently shown that small local businesses have a far greater impact on the local economy than national chains because they spend a larger portion of revenue on local labor, spend more of their profit on local goods and services, and provide more support for local organizations. For every $1 invested in Women’s Initiative, $30 are returned to the local economy as a result of women paying taxes, hiring others, and leaving the welfare system. |
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Community
Women’s Initiative believes that all change happens locally. The key to our expansion model is working in partnership with local organizations and institutions to make our services accessible to low-income women in underserved and economically underdeveloped neighborhoods. The agency works with community based organizations and institutions such as community colleges and vocational training institutions, health clinics, schools, service providers for low-income women and families, and domestic violence shelters. The benefits of women starting and growing local businesses go far beyond their families' well-being. Graduates become mentors to other emerging entrepreneurs and are respected community leaders. Women’s Initiative graduates donate an average of more than $1,000 to charitable organizations and volunteer more than 170 hours of their time to local organizations annually. |
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Publications
» Women's Initiative Fact Sheet
» Women's Initiative Chicago Fact Sheet
» 100 Chicago Champions for Job Creation
» What a difference a class makes
» Chicago Expansion Deck
» Community Reinvestment Act Requirements - Investing in Women’s Initiative for Self Employment
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