Overview

Key Takeaway

The Small Business Boost pilot demonstrated the salience of financial issues like credit, debt, and separating business and personal finances to small business owners, particularly Black and Latina women.

The Small Business Boost pilot, with generous support from Principal Foundation, explored how FEC financial counseling can support the personal financial needs of small business owners and better position them to achieve their business goals. Five municipal FEC partners connected their professional, one-on-one financial counseling programs to their local small business  entrepreneurship ecosystems. As a part of the SBB pilot, national research organization the Urban Institute conducted a process and outcomes study that examined pilot implementation, take-up and retention, and the role of personal financial counseling in small business development.

This brief outlines key findings about the client experience and the integration itself; read the full report from the Urban Institute.

Additional Takeaways

Small Business Boost clients identified and made progress on a range of personal and small business goals during the pilot, and interviews with both clients and counselors indicated that in successful engagements participants saw a clear link between personal and business financial well-being.

The pilot demonstrated how free, one-on-one financial counseling as a public service could support small business owners and small business support ecosystems, when built upon robust partnerships that recognize evolving client pathways.

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