[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E385]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO WOMEN IN BUSINESS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 17, 1998

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Women's History 
Month, I rise today to pay tribute to women in business and to express 
pride in the fact that the women of Chicago and Cook County have 
benefited from the successful programs of the Women's Business 
Development Center.
  Based in Chicago, the Women's Business Development Center serves 
2,000 women annually with counseling, training, financial assistance, 
certification, procurement and advocacy on behalf of women's economic 
empowerment. The programs of the Chicago-based center are effective, 
successful and benefit diverse women. These centers service an array of 
women and their families, including self-employment for former welfare 
recipients, business development, expansion and job creation.
  The work of the Women's Business Development Center and other women's 
business assistance centers are essential to strengthening the economy 
of this Nation by fostering women's business development nationally.
  The WBDC and women's business assistance centers are funded by the 
United States SBA office of Women's Business Ownership and by private 
and public sector support. They help support a diverse and growing 
population of new and emerging job-creating women entrepreneurs, 
including women in transition off welfare.
  These centers are unique in that they provide long-term training, 
involve public and private partnerships for their support, and can be 
measured on the basis of their economic impact. These centers have 
served tens of thousands of women.
  The women's business assistance centers serve our constituencies by 
offering quality programs to effectively leverage scarce public and 
private resources into successful job creation, new business start-ups, 
and business expansion. Most of them, even after they are no longer 
eligible for Federal funding, continue to be sustained by the private 
sector.
  These centers are committed to economic self-sufficiency programs 
that are as diverse as the women served; women of color, women on 
public assistance, women seeking self-employment, rural and urban 
women, and women starting home-based businesses. Therefore, it is 
appropriate that we pause to recognize the great work of the Women's 
Business Development Center and women's business assistance centers 
throughout the country.
  I take special note of the work of Hedy Ratner and Carol Dougal of 
the Women's Business Development Center, Counselo Pope of the 
Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce, Connie Evans, Director of the Women's 
Self-Employment Project, Karen Yarbrough, proprietor of Hathaway 
Insurance, Deborah M. Sawyer, founder Environmental Design 
International and other outstanding women in the City of Chicago and 
the state of Illinois, who provide immeasurable help and support to 
other women seeking to go into business.

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