2015 Rhode Island SBA District Director Award

Carmen Diaz-Jusino

Susan Rittscher

The Center for Women & Enterprise celebrates their 20th Anniversary as an organization dedicated to the building of a community that included disadvantaged women and women with greater experience and education. They wanted to learn skills from each other, as well as cultivate an environment that would facilitate success in any endeavor.

This desire to serve aspiring women entrepreneurs jettisoned the organization to develop a place where women could hone their business acumen. Acquiring knowledge on how to access capital to fund new ventures became the rallying cry, and in the summer of 1995, in the City of Boston, the dream became a reality.

The Center opened its first office with a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration, funds from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Bank of Boston, and Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Ironically, during this same time the Rhode Island Small Business Advisory Council began to work on a voluntary program to teach women entrepreneurs the essentials of being a successful business person through a program called “Power UP”.

With support of the U.S. Small Business Administration Grant and matching funds from the Human Resources Investment Council of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Foundation, and Fleet Bank, CWE’s services were easily expanded to Rhode Island in 2000. The “Power UP” program and its principals folded nicely into this new organization. Since then, nearly 1200 women entrepreneurs (and some men as well) have completed and graduated from the program, many starting or expanding their business and becoming successful in their own right.

This is just a small sample of all of the programs run by the center, which now boasts four locations. The Center for Women & Enterprise, its President & CEO Susan Rittscher, and Carmen Diaz-Jusino, Director of New Enterprise and CWE have become outstanding partners of the Rhode Island District Office.

The collaboration has been endless. CWE is willing to participate in any undertaking that we ask. Always. In fact, they often volunteer their assistance before being asked. When CWE takes the lead, the Rhode Island District Office never has to worry; we know projects will be completed correctly and efficiently, and that participants will benefit from exceptional training curriculum.

In recognition of their collaboration with the Rhode Island District Office, as well as other resource partners, and their unwavering effort to assist the entrepreneurial community, I am proud to present the 2015 Rhode Island SBA District Director Award to Susan Rittscher and Carmen Diaz-Jusino of the Center For Women & Enterprise.

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