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Publications
Closing the Wealth
Gap Through Self-employment
Women’s Initiative for Self Employment has
found that microenterprise is a highly successful
strategy for increasing household wealth as well
as income. This year we completed a decade-long
study of our clients’ asset growth after completing
our 20-session business management course, Simple
Steps to Business Success. The study collected and
analyzed empirical data which shows that business
ownership is particularly effective in
bridging the wealth gap for women of color who receive
culturally-competent training and resources to start
and grow their own businesses.
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VIEW PDF of the full research
report
ALAS Newsletter
Women's Initiative publishes a quarterly newsletter
for its Spanish-speaking clients about microenterprise
development, upcoming events put on by Women's
Initiative and our graduates, and our cutting
edge programs.
»
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Why women are the focus
of our work
According to the Center
for Women’s Business Research, for the
past two decades majority women-owned firms have
continued to grow at around two times the rate of
all firms. Women are building businesses, creating
safe workspaces and hiring others. However this
is not the full picture of what is happening for
women in business. There is still a disparity between
women owned business, particularly ones owned by
women of color. Women entrepreneurs have a huge
need for access to training and capital that will
help launch their business or expand a current company.
Karuna Jaggar, Research and Public Policy Director
at Women's Initiative, authored a white paper about
why Women's Initiative focuses on training women.
Helping women gain tools to become financially independent
has an effect far beyond one woman. It means she
is able to uplift herself, her family and others
(through job creation and mentoring).
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Women's
Initiative Measures Up report
The Women's Initiative Measures Up Report reveals
that Women’s Initiative for Self Employment
entrepreneurship training program contributes
to an economic return of $21 for each $1 invested
in the services clients receive. Microenterprise
training, technical assistance, and financing
is a proven economic development strategy to help
low-income women to realize the American dream
of economic self-sufficiency through business
ownership. The results below are based on interviews
during a three-year study period (1999 through
2002) with 180 program participants.
»
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Publications in collaboration
with the Aspen Institute's FIELD Program:
Measuring
Success: A Report on the Post Training Outcomes
of Microenterprise Training Program Participants
(February 2002)
Learn about our recent Outcome Evaluation report.
One significant finding is that the women we serve
are dramatically increasing their incomes, with
the average income of the participants nearly
doubling (an average income increase of $13,226)
within 18 months following completion of our comprehensive
business management training.
»
VIEW PDF of the full report
»
VIEW PDF of the executive summary
Measuring Success: Outcome
Evaluation in Action (January 2001)
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CLICK HERE to read the full report
Improving Microenterprise
Training and Technical Assistance: Findings for
Program Managers (2002)
Describes the makings of effective training and
technical assistance by examining the findings
from research projects undertaken by five FIELD
grantees. Provides a synthesis of key research
findings and includes the executive summary of
the research report written by each grantee.
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Practitioner Manual -
Assessment Tools for Microenterprise Training
& Technical Assistance (2001)
This manual features 13 easy-to-follow tools geared
to practitioners who want to more systematically
understand and assess the value of their training
and technical assistance services. Included are
tools designed by and used at five microenterprise
organizations.
»
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FIELD Best Practice
Guide: Vol. 1: Entering the Relationship: Finding
and Assessing Microenterprise Clients (2002)
This training module explores how program practitioners
can conduct market research, develop effective
marking strategies and appropriately screen and
assess incoming clients. Each of these topics
is discussed in depth, along with lessons and
findings based on research into best practices
in use in the microenterprise industry today.
Also included is a set of tools practitioners
can use to adapt these best practices to their
own institutions.
»
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FIELD Best Practice
Guide: Vol. 2: Building Skills for Self-Employment:
Basic Training for Microentrepreneurs (2002)
This publication focuses on best practices in
core training and its implications for improving
training services. It distills practitioners'
experiences into relevant observations and recommendations
that should inform both managers who develop and
monitor training, as well as front-line trainers
who deliver it. The module attempts to balance
current thinking about best practice with illustrative,
useful examples. Users also will find a helpful
set of tools in the final section of the volume.
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MIS for Microenterprise:
A Practical Approach to Managing Information Successfully
by Charles Waterfield, for the Aspen Institute
This 190 page manual is a step-by-step guide to
help microenterprise development practitioners
develop an effective management information system.
It provides practical guidance on understanding
the parts of an MIS and their relation to each
other, what organizational factors influence how
an MIS should be designed and managed, how to
define information needs and assess the appropriateness
of available software to meet them, and how to
implement and use an effective MIS.
»
ORDER PRINTED COPY
Research Brief No. 2
- Improving the Climate for Self-Employment: Recommendations
for TANF Reauthorization
This 8-page brief presents the most recent findings
from FIELD's evaluation of the Mott Foundation's
10 site demonstration project. Also presented
is a set of policy recommendations that could
help TANF recipients use self-employment to transition
off assistance and toward economic self sufficiency.
These recommendations are based on findings from
FIELD's work , as well as a set of case studies
and site visits conducted by the Center for Law
and Social Policy (CLASP).
»
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Research Brief No. 1
- Microenterprise as a Welfare to Work Strategy:
Client Characteristics
This 6-page report is a summary of Research Report
No. 1. In addition to summarizing findings about
client characteristics (drawn from the first wave
of a longitudinal survey), the publication also
compares those findings with other national data
sources and earlier studies of low-income entrepreneurs.
»
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Research Report No. 1 - Microenterprise as a Welfare
to Work Strategy: Client Characteristics
This 22-page publication takes a thorough look
at the findings from the first wave of a longitudinal
survey of clients participating in a 10-site demonstration
project exploring ways that self-employment can
become an alternative to employment for TANF recipients.
Described in some detail are the survey methodology
and various client characteristics. In addition,
findings are compared to two national TANF data
sources, as well as to two previous studies of
low-income entrepreneurs.
»
VIEW PDF of the full report
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