Employment, Education & Skill-Building, and Income & Asset Building
Communities need living wage job opportunities, entrepreneurial and small business supports, employer-provided workforce training, and childcare for working families.
Families need childcare, financial education and skills, literacy and numeracy skills, and career readiness skills.
Meet a Member
Brijanee enrolled in the Financial Opportunity Center® (FOC) program in the summer of 2023 to manage her finances better despite working full-time and having little savings. With her FOC coach, Christy, she created a plan for spending, saving & debt repayment, including choosing a student loan repayment option and addressing $800 in back taxes.
Over the past year, Brijanee made consistent payments, paid off her back taxes, and reduced her student loan debt. She found success by breaking larger expenses into smaller, bi-monthly payments. A work promotion helped her open a Self-Savings account and a secured credit card. FOC Coach Christy is proud of her progress, and Brijanee feels more confident and organized since enrolling in the FOC program.
Our Impact on Families
Our Impact on Communities
The Shops at Sharp End
The Shops at Sharp End is a partnership between CMCA, Regional Economic Development, Inc., and The District. It offers entrepreneurs an opportunity to operate their small business in a brick-and-mortar location in Columbia’s Historic Sharp End. Business owners hone their skills in marketing, inventory control, pricing strategies, point of sales systems, and more with the support of business coaching.
Capital Access Program
Operated through the Missouri Women’s Business Center, our Capital Access Program allows us to support business owners with microloans for startup or expansion costs. Many times, banks are hesitant to lend to new small business owners. Through this program, we have lending capital to partner with local banks to provide microloans from $500 to $5,000 to MoWBC clients.
Job Creation
A community’s economic health can be partly measured through the number of new jobs created and the number of new businesses established. The Missouri Women’s Business Center supports entrepreneurs and small business owners in starting or growing their businesses through trainings and individualized business coaching. When these businesses result in part- or full- time jobs, they contribute to economic health of the community.