Email: info@cweonline.org
Phone: 617.536.0700
Geography: United States
Founded: 1995
Address:24 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
About the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE)
The Center for Women & Enterprise is a nationally known nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people start and grow their businesses. CWE has worked with more than 28,000 Massachusetts and Rhode Island entrepreneurs since 1995.
In 1998, CWE pioneered an initiative to assist women entrepreneurs in accessing equity capital called the CWE Women's Venture Center. Recognizing the need to increase and strengthen corporate supplier diversity initiatives, CWE also became the New England regional women's business organization partner to the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), a national organization which certifies women around the country to increase supplier diversity opportunities between women owned businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and the U.S. Government.
CWE continued its expansion by launching the Community Entrepreneurs Program (CEP) in 1999, which was designed to address barriers faced by very low-income women starting home-based businesses. Many of the women enrolled in CEP were single mothers, and CWE made sure to help provide transportation and child care to them during class time. Both the Women's Venture Center and the Community Entrepreneurs Program have been recognized as groundbreaking initiatives that continue to serve as national models.