Smart Women Grant Applications

These days the fastest growing group of business owners is women who use their entrepreneur spirits, leadership and creativity to start businesses. According to the Center for Women's Business Research, in 2006, 7.7 million firms were either woman-owned or women held the majority share. Women account for 29.7 percent of all businesses in the U.S., a 42.3 percent increase since 1997. Women are having a direct impact in our national and state economy.

Zions Bank is committed to working with women to make their dreams a reality by offering a series of micro-grants for women. The 2008 Zions Bank Smart Women Grant enables deserving women with hopes of starting a community-oriented business or project to have access to funding to make this a reality.

Grants are open to female residents in both Utah and Idaho and are awarded in six different areas including small business start-up and expansion; child and elder care; community development; continuing education and teacher support; health and human services; and arts and culture. Community review panels will select the grant recipients.

Applications are available online at www.smartwomen.zionsbank.com and are due by July 31, 2008.

Read on for details about the grants and to find out if you might qualify for one.



Luz Robles
Director, Zions Business Resource
Center

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SBA and USIBA have signed a Strategic Alliance Memorandum that will allow them to share resources to help start, maintain and expand small businesses, particularly through trade with India. Read more in the latest issue of Global Utah from World Trade Center Utah.
 

Small Biz  Partners & Resources

- SCORE -- Provides counseling to small businesses
- Ogden SCORE - E-mail
ogdenscore158@aol.com
- Salt Lake SCORE - Chapter 0049
310 S. Main St., N. Mezzanine, Salt Lake City. Phone: (801) 746-2269; Fax: (801) 746-2273; e-mail: mallen@slcscore.com
- Wayne Brown Institute -- Runs the oldest and most successful non-profit venture accelerator program in the country, helping technical entrepreneurs from every social economic level raise money for their businesses.
- Grow Utah Ventures -- A privately funded organization established solely to advance entrepreneurism and high growth business creation in Utah. Among its initiatives are the eStation Business Incubators and Launch-- The Magazine for Utah Entrepreneurs.
- Small Business Development Centers
-- Provides counseling and training to small businesses.
- Small Business Administration -- Provides information about small business (Click here for Utah SBA)
- Utah Micro Enterprise Loan Fund -- Provides counseling and funding for small business
- The Pete Suazo Business Center -- Provides counseling and training for Hispanic/Latino business
- Utah Business.gov -- Provides online access to Utah Government services; one-stop shop business registrations
- Export.gov -- Provides information on how to export your product.

Feature

Apply Now for a Smart Women Grant

Last year during the Smart Women Smart Money Conference, eight women from Utah and Idaho received micro-grants totaling $21,500 from Zions Bank. We are now in the midst of another grant cycle and the bank is encouraging women entrepreneurs and business owners from Utah and Idaho to apply for a 2008 Smart Women Grant.

The purpose of the Smart Women Grants is to help support the efforts of everyday heroines who strengthen women, children and their communities. Grants of up to $3,000 are available to female candidates from Utah and Idaho for business startup or expansion efforts that promote the empowerment of women, emphasize collaboration between women entrepreneurs or non-profit entities supporting women. Grant categories include:

• Community development.
• Continuing education and teacher support.
• Child and elder care.
• Health and human services.
• Arts and culture.

To apply, you must submit either a business plan or project plan. A community peer review panel will select the grant recipients.

Grant application information is available online at www.smartwomen.zionsbank.com or by calling (801) 594-8245. To access the Business Plan application in PDF format, click here. To access the application in Microsoft Word format, click here.

For the Project Plan application in PDF format, click here. To access the application in Microsoft Word format, click here. Applications are due by 4 p.m. July 31, 2008. Completed applications must be mailed or hand delivered to:

Smart Women Grants
C/O Zions Business Resource Center
310 S. Main, Mezzanine North
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101

(Emailed or faxed applications will not be accepted.)

2007 Utah Smart Women Grant Recipients

Meagan Hilmo – Nightingale Dolls

Twelve-year-old Meagan Hilmo requested a grant of $172 to pay for materials to make her cloth “Nightingale Dolls,” which she creates for children in hospitals, homeless shelters and battered women shelters. Her project was the result of studying about Florence Nightingale for a 7th grade class.

Susan Durnan – Middle School Students Outreach to Rural Elder Care Residents

Susan teaches Family and Consumer Science classes and her “Middle School Students Outreach to Rural Elder Care Residents” project brings students together in an after-school setting to meet and work with senior citizens. The students also create bibs and walker organizers for the seniors.

Jayne Luke – Senior Theatre Project

Jayne created Walk-Ons, Inc. as a 501( c)( 3) non-profit organization in 2006 with two other individuals. Together they create live theatrical performances for underserved audiences. Jayne’s Senior Theatre Project traveled to 12 senior centers and residential facilities for the elderly, performing two short plays for and about seniors and the issues that affect their lives. The plays are directed and performed by professional actors who engage the group in discussion about the plays.

Jill Hunt – Legacy of Love

Jill applied for a Smart Women Grant to pay for materials to paint and furnish a teen interview room and a bathroom for younger children in the Washington County Children’s Justice Center. The center provides a child-friendly atmosphere designed to help children feel safe and comfortable while they are being interviewed about alleged abuse.

Jennifer Davidson – SnoDaisy

SnoDaisy’s mission is to build self-esteem by exposing girls of all ages to the joy and fun of snowboarding in a supportive, female environment. The company sells “chick-tacular” gear, boarding lessons and four-day tours for female snowboarders.

As a sole proprietor with low overhead, Jennifer planned to use her $3,000 grant for marketing and to attend the SnowSports Industries of America trade show in Las Vegas this past January.

Sharla Bayles – Blue Moon Country Inn

Sharla Bayles and her Blue Moon Country Inn offer an off-campus student housing program to women attending the College of Eastern Utah in Blanding. Each year Sharla chooses one recipient to receive a “scholarship” to fund part of her housing expense. Of her $3,000 grant, Sharla said $1,760 would be used to fund the housing scholarship, $1,000 would be used to purchase a set of coin operated washer and dryers for a second house and $240 would be used to create a business Web site.

Economy Stalled Out, Slow Progress Ahead

Utah economist Jeff Thredgold’s latest Tea Leaf economic update suggests that the economic doldrums may be harder to shake than the conventional wisdom suggests. Many economists expect “that a return to noticeable economic growth is likely during 2008’s second half, with a return to still more impressive performance during 2009.” To use a driving analogy, economists see the economy currently stalled by the side of the road undergoing repairs.

I think the conventional wisdom may be a bit too optimistic,” Thredgold says. “I also see the economy currently stalled by the side of the road. Unfortunately, the car has two flat tires and one tire severely under-inflated.” Thredgold does see some forward progress by the end of the year or early next year, but it will hardly be “worth writing home about.”