WrenCommunity.org
Title
WREN Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network
Description
Our work began in 1994 with an eight month entrepreneurial development program for 15 very low-income North Country women, resulting in the successful launch of 12 businesses. An even more powerful outcome was to emerge from our initial efforts - the WREN Community. This diverse network of program participants, business owners, civic leaders, other not for profits, people in the wider community, and supporters of the organization has remained at the heart of the WREN, providing motivation and direction for our past, current and future efforts.
As a women-led organization, WREN currently touches the lives of over 600 members - men and women in 13 states, mostly residing in New Hampshire (83%) and Vermont (10%) who annually invest in the organization's efforts through membership fees. We see tremendous benefit in bringing a broad spectrum of people together - young and old; novice and professional; the highly educated and those who never completed high school; artist and techie; those financially poor and those doing just fine; and long time and start-up business owners. The mix is rich with talent, ideas, inspiration, and a willingness to collaborate. Over time, this network has utilized WREN for a variety of purposes. Members report that WREN builds their connections with others, raises their self-esteem, expands their skills, increases their earnings, and broadens their access to resources and opportunities they could not secure on their own.
While over the last decade we have supported the development of more than 1400 entrepreneurs and their businesses, our mission has broadened considerably since 1994. Today we are pursuing a multi-faceted, holistic approach that supports the needs and aspirations of rural people, especially those with limited financial resources. WREN's work has rippled outward from entrepreneurial literacy to market creation and from Main Street revitalization that cultivates the 'creative economy' as its driving force to a hopeful paradigm for rural economic development. These strategies and solutions are creating greater opportunity for hundreds of individuals, bringing economic vibrancy to our hometown of Bethlehem, New Hampshire and providing an innovative model that informs and inspires the work of others across the country.
Additional Information
Related Domains
- Bethlehem
- Bethlehem New Hampshire
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- Entrepreneuiral Classes
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- Entrepreneurs
- Micro Business
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- Rural Marketplace
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- United States
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- Wren New Hampshire
- Wren Wings