Equity Match Grant program

Webster Bank is the founding funder of the Women's Business Development Council (WBDC) Equity Grant Match program. A partnership with nonprofit, government and financial entities, it was designed to promote economic prosperity of women- and minority-owned small businesses throughout Connecticut especially building access to capital for historically under-represented women of color. In August 2020, the bank donated ,000 to begin the program to provide working capital with preference given to WBDC clients who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or meet low-moderate income requirements. Since then, we have renewed our funding and WBDC has secured almost million in additional grant and state funding. Since inception, the WBDC awarded nearly .2 million in grants to 129 women-owned businesses in Connecticut; 32 percent of the grants were awarded to businesses owned by women of color.

'Webster has a long history of supporting our communities with a deep commitment to building self-reliance especially for low-to-moderate income and marginalized communities. Finding ways to strengthen small business owners, particularly women-owned, women of color and minority-owned small businesses is critical to continuing to lift our communities up as they recover post-pandemic. We believe this is an opportunity to assist in a meaningful way as founding funder of the Equity Match Grant Program,' said Kathryn Luria, SVP, Head of Philanthropy. 'This innovative partnership is particularly timely and needed during this transformational time in society.'