U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Opens New Frontier for Women's Economic Leadership with Creation of National Financial and Business Service Enterprises

First deliverable of bold new 360 model for women's industry leadership is a breakthrough in retirement planning for small business owners, the USWCC SmartRETIRE 401k.

Washington, DC, July 21, 2011 -- There's a new leader for women's retirement planning -- women themselves.  Today, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce™ announced the opening of a new frontier for women's industry and retirement leadership through the creation of national financial and business service enterprises that put women in the driver's seat for improved retirement planning and business growth. 

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U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Dismisses Long Standing Legal Claim Against U.S. Small Business Administration

Women Business Owners Look Forward to Business Growth with the
Implementation Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program

WASHINGTON DC, March 14, 2011 -- The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration jointly dismissed a long standing legal claim that was filed by the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce against the SBA in 2004 over the failure of the Bush Administration to implement the more than decade old Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting Program. 

"It is only fitting that the final steps towards implementing the Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contracting Program should happen during Women's History Month," said Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce.  "For more than a decade, women have waited for the Small Business Administration to carry out the will of Congress by implementing a contracting program that enables contracting officers, under certain conditions, to set-aside contract competitions between women-owned firms.  We are confident this important program will help federal agencies to finally provide women-owned firms with fair access to federal contracts," adds Dorfman.

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U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce Supports the Women of Wal-Mart

Business, Women’s Leaders Urge Supreme Court to Recognize Value of Class Actions to Employees and Business Community at Large

Amicus Brief Describes How Nondiscriminatory Policies and Critical Workplace Reforms Achieved through Class Actions Benefit Businesses 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 1, 2011 — On Tuesday, a group of business women and leading women’s organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the business benefits of fair and inclusive policies, and the importance of class action lawsuits in reforming discriminatory practices. The brief offers a unique, business perspective in support of the plaintiffs in the upcoming Wal-Mart v. Dukes case.

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Women's Federal Procurement Program Final Regulations Published

Finally. . . . .

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has been working for years to spur the Small Business Administration to implement the over decade-old Congressionally mandated women's set-aside program.  We won a claim against the SBA for failure to implement the law -- and kept this issue alive, and under the careful watch of the courts, to assure that the SBA under the Obama Administration move expediently forward towards a full implementation as intended by Congress.

The SBA has finally published the "final rules" for the program -- the federal rules/regulations that will be employed to setup and run the program. And, now we wait another 120 days or so for the implementation process to be completed.

There is nothing for you to do at this time -- as we must simply wait again while the federal government continues inching forward. However, I know you are all very interested in the industries included/excluded and the full administrative scope.  You can read the final rule here and view the NAICS codes included here.  And, after the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce has carefully reviewed the final rules, we will provide a thorough, detailed analysis.

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U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce Says Small Businesses Cannot Afford to Go Back to the Policies of the Last Decade

Non-public firms lost a crushing twenty-percent market share during the last decade

WASHINGTON, DC/September 27, 2010 -- Today, the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce™ (www.uswcc.org) released an important report, “Small Businesses Cannot Afford to Go Back to the Policies of the Last Decade” to bring a clear business outcomes assessment to the debate over small business political leadership.  A key finding within the report is an analysis of recent U.S. Census data that finds smaller non-public firms lost a crushing twenty-percent market share during the last decade.

The U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce report includes statistical information from recently released U.S. Census data that confirms the business growth disparities between large public and smaller non-public firms grew dramatically under the watch of the predominantly Republican controlled Congress and White House.   During the period 1997 – 2007, while the percentage of large public firm gross revenues grew 16%, the percentage of smaller non-public firms’ gross revenues shrunk 20%. 

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U.S. Banker Publishes USWCC Op-Ed: What Women-Owned Firms Need Most: Access to Capital

We extend our thanks to the publishers of U.S. Banker for publishing the following op-ed from the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce in their October 2010 Edition, "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking."

Excerpt:  "The hype surrounding the tremendous growth of women-owned businesses continues to overlook the bottom line for measuring the success of all businesses: revenue and profits. Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that, even though the number of women-owned businesses grew 44 percent between 1997 and 2007, our already small market share, as measured by revenue, declined more than 10 percent, dropping from 4.41 percent in 1997 to 3.95 percent in 2007."

>>Read the USWCC op-ed, "What Women-Owned Firms Need Most: Access to Capital" (or view digital edition)

>>View, "The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking," October 2010 Edition of U.S. Banker

CEO Update: The Women-Led Economy™ National Movement

Dear friends and supporters:

I want to personally thank all of our supporters in the first regions to introduce The Women-Led Economy™ to local participants. The learning, dialogue and "buzz" has been tremendous. We're pressing forward to next steps in each region and taking steps to continue the outreach to educate the community and begin getting bottom line education and connections progressing.

Here is a quick run down of activities to date:

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How Women-Owned Businesses Can Support Paid Sick Days

Our friends at CLASP have prepared an excellent whitepaper with suggestions for how women-owned businesses can support paid sick days.

Paid sick days are good for business -- and women-owned businesses are uniquely situated to support paid sick days.

We hope you will read and take action now to support paid sick days for all of America's workers.  And, you may contact Andrea Lindemann at CLASP directly if you would like additional information or would like to assist CLASP in their outreach and education on this important topic.

Since 1969, CLASP has been a trusted resource, a creative architect for systems change, and one of the country's most effective voices for low income people.

>>Read the whitepaper on how women-owned businesses can support paid sick days