AWBC Celebrates the 2025 WBCs of Excellence Graduates

WASHINGTON, D.C. – AWBC is honored to celebrate and recognize 32 Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) for graduating in the 2025 cohort of the National WBC of Excellence program.
The primary objective of the National Women’s Business Center of Excellence designation is to recognize organizations that demonstrate a strong commitment to the mission, vision, and values of their Women’s Business Center, thereby achieving the greatest outcomes for women-owned businesses.

“Becoming a Women’s Business Center of Excellence is an incredible achievement,” says Klassi Duncan, AWBC Board Chair and Vice President of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) at the Urban League of Louisiana. “The work that these graduates have put into the process demonstrates not only their commitment to improving their center’s operations but also their dedication to achieving even more impactful outcomes for the women-owned businesses they serve.”

Over the course of six milestone assignments, WBCs partnered with a peer in their cohort to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement in various areas, including strategic goal-setting, service delivery, continuous improvement, and peer relationships. In fulfilling these objectives, AWBC recognizes the value of the organization’s volunteers, leadership teams, and funders, as reflected in their involvement in the final stages of designation attainment.

The 2025 Women’s Business Centers of Excellence are as follows:

ACE Women’s Business Center – Savannah Region
Alaska Women’s Business Center
Appalachian Highlands Women’s Business Center
Central Valley Women’s Entrepreneur Center
Center for Rural Affairs Women’s Business Center
CWE New Hampshire Women’s Business Center
Greater Wealth Works (EDGE) WBC
Greenwood Women’s Business Center
Maryland Women’s Business Center
MCSC Women’s Business Center (San Luis Obispo, Monterey Counties)
Metro Women’s Business Center
Missouri Women’s Business Center at CMCA
New Growth Women’s Business Center
NEW Women’s Business Center
North Dakota Women’s Business Center – East
Old Dominion University Women’s Business Center
Rocky Mountain Women’s Business Center
San Diego & Imperial Women’s Business Center
The Urban League of Louisiana – Women’s Business Resource Center
WBC at Cornerstone Alliance
WBC at True Access Capital – Wilmington
WESST Albuquerque WBC
WESST Las Cruces WBC
WESST Santa Fe WBC
West Virginia Women’s Business Center
Western Wisconsin Women’s Business Center
Women’s Business Center at JEDI
Women’s Business Center of Greater Cincinnati
Women’s Business Center of Northern Ohio
Women’s Business Center of the Triad
WomenVenture WBC
Wyoming Women’s Business Center

The National WBC of Excellence graduation and closing ceremony took place on December 5. We were privileged to have SBA leadership join us, including Aditi Dussault, Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, and Lori Gillen, Acting Associate Administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership.

For more information on how to find a Women’s Business Center, please visit www.awbc.org.

About the Association of Women’s Business Centers

The Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1998 to support the national network of Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) with programming and advocacy. AWBC works to secure economic justice and entrepreneurial opportunities for women by supporting and sustaining a national network of nearly 150 Women’s Business Centers in every U.S. state and Puerto Rico. WBCs have more than 30 years of success in providing educational training, mentoring, free business counseling, business development, and financing opportunities to over 150,000 women entrepreneurs and small businesses each year. The WBC program is a public-private partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. To learn more about AWBC, visit www.awbc.org.