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SBA names program director for Women’s Business Center

Staff Report //July 28, 2020//

SBA names program director for Women’s Business Center

Staff Report //July 28, 2020//

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Ana ParraThe Small Business Administration has chosen Ana Parra to serve as program director of the SBA’s Women’s Business Center housed at CommunityWorks in Greenville.

The SBA earlier this summer announced plans for two centers. The other is in Columbia.

Parra joins CommunityWorks from a local marketing agency and brings a background in community development, nonprofit leadership and communications, according to a news releae. She is a board member of Public Education Partners and Speaking Down Barriers, and a graduate of Leadership Greenville.

The CommunityWorks Women’s Business Center focuses on serving women, particularly minorities, who may be economically disadvantaged, and works to offer comprehensive training and counseling on an array of business-related topics. CommunityWorks, an SBA approved lender, has a mission to build opportunities for all through equitable lending, investing and financial education, according to the news release. This mission closely aligns with the goal of the new center to provide tailored services through advocacy, outreach, education and support to women entrepreneurs who seek to start or grow their own business.

“The CommunityWorks Women’s Business Center will serve to broaden the reach and scope of their current programming and place a unique focus on supporting underserved and underrepresented women entrepreneurs,” Greenville Chamber CEO Carlos Phillips said in the release. “Their ability to expand their services in this way will ensure Upstate South Carolina’s women entrepreneurs will have greater access to capital and coaching to expand or start their small business. We at the Greenville Chamber see great value of such an effort.”

The center operates out of the CommunityWorks office at 100 W. Antrim Drive in Greenville.

CommunityWorks was established in 2008 as a local housing trust fund through a partnership between the city of Greenville, United Way of Greenville County and Greenville County Redevelopment Authority

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