The U.S. Small Business Administration opened a $6 million grant competition on July 21, 2026, aimed at expanding Women's Business Center services into eight states and one U.S. territory. By August 10, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, applicants must submit proposals through grants.gov to be considered. The agency is calling the effort the Women's Business Center Modernization Initiative, and it targets Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, Wyoming and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
None of the new funding touches the SBA's existing network of 138 Women's Business Centers, which keep operating under their fiscal year 2026 cooperative agreements. The agency said the money comes from statutorily obligated funds set apart from base WBC awards, describing the competition as a stand-alone project rather than a replacement for current grants.
Where the money goes
SBA calculated each state's or territory's award with a population-based formula, then lifted the smallest jurisdictions to a funding floor.
- Texas — $2,084,765
- Florida — $1,540,617
- Pennsylvania — $930,077
- Tennessee — $494,329
- Louisiana — $333,167
- West Virginia — $250,000
- Wyoming — $250,000
- U.S. Virgin Islands — $200,000, the floor amount SBA set for the smallest eligible jurisdictions
Three of the eight — Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming — have no Women's Business Center today, so a winning applicant there would be starting a service from scratch rather than modernizing one that already exists.
Political framing
SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler tied the new round to what she described as a wave of 2026 business formation, saying the initiative is "designed to deliver a broader range of statewide resources" in places where, in her words, "business starts are growing the fastest." In the same release, she said "the Biden Administration failed to meet statutory grant deadlines for years" and argued that "American taxpayers deserve to know that any dollar deployed is being managed for return on investment."
The Women's Business Center program itself predates the current administration by roughly four decades. Established under the Reagan Administration, the network is one of SBA's oldest technical-assistance programs, and its Office of Women's Business Ownership traces its origin to a 1979 executive order.
Who can apply, and by when
Eligible applicants must be U.S.-incorporated, private not-for-profit organizations in good standing with active 501(c) tax-exempt status from the IRS. Beyond nonprofit status, SBA also requires financial management systems that meet the federal standard under 2 CFR 200.302, along with a demonstrated record of technical-support services for entrepreneurs.
SBA scheduled two informational webinars ahead of the deadline, on July 28 and August 4, both running from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET, with registration required in advance. For questions about the competition, applicants can reach the Office of Women's Business Ownership directly, while general SBA inquiries go through 800-827-5722.
Separate scrutiny of the WOSB program
The grant competition lands alongside a separate, unrelated SBA review of contracting eligibility. As part of that audit, SBA has requested three years of personal and business tax returns from Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business-certified firms to verify continued eligibility.
Federal agencies awarded a record $31.7 billion in contracts to women-owned small businesses in fiscal 2024, up from $27.1 billion in fiscal 2020, according to SBA's June 2025 procurement scorecard.