Outreach to and Engagement of Women by FAST and GAFC awardess (interviews)

Draft

DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR: SBA Resource Partner Personnel (FAST and GAFC)

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. My name is [XXXX], and I am a researcher with Dawnbreaker. I am joined by my colleague [XXXX], who will be taking notes during today’s discussion. Dawnbreaker is under contract to the U.S. Small Business Administration to conduct research on the agency’s behalf to learn more about the involvement of women-owned small businesses in the services that you provide. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act, this discussion cannot take place without approval from the Office of Management and Budget. SBA obtained that approval under OMB Control # 3245-0398. Your participation in this research effort is completely voluntary. The total estimated time for participating in this discussion is forty-five to sixty minutes. You may send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this discussion to Brittany Sickler, [email protected]. There may be some data that you may need to look up after this call. I will call you back to discuss that data with you.

Dawnbreaker is an independent contractor. We will keep the information you provide confidential to the extent permitted by law. Your name and organization will not be associated with any of your responses in the published report.

Today’s discussion has two parts. I’d like to start by asking some very general questions about women-owned small businesses. I then have some more specific questions that relate to data that you may or may not collect about the profile of clients that you serve. With your approval, I would also like to talk with the person that is responsible for the outreach for your organization.

The note taker will take note of the following information at the outset:

Organization Name:

Individual Interviewed:

Title of Individual interviewed:

Number of Years in that position:

Name of Discussion Leader:

Name of Notetaker:

Date Interview conducted:

Outreach to and Engagement of Women Participating in Programs

conducted by SBA Resource Partners

Questions for use with FAST and GAFC Personnel

1. Has your organization placed a special emphasis on involving women in the services that your organization provides?

2. If yes, can you tell me more about what you have done to emphasize your services to women?

3. In the data that you collect regarding the services provided, do you track engagement by gender, by race/ethnicity, by disability status? If yes, how long have you been collecting the data in that fashion?

4. I am interested in knowing how many women and/or women-owned companies received each of the following services annually? How does this compare to the total number of clients served?

1. NOTE: If the organization does not collect gender information, this question will be skipped – with the comment made that the organization does not collect this type of data.

Data request list for FAST Personnel

	# Women	Total # participants
Outreach event participants
Webinar participation
Proposal writing assistance
Other technical assistance
Solicitation matching
Conference grants
Bridge awards
New Phase I SBIR/STTR applicant
How are these data collected?

Data request list for GAFC Personnel

	# Women	Total # participants
Mentorship
Commercialization Assistance
Introductions
Pitch Opportunity
Resource sharing
Small amount angel seed $$
Specialized or structured loans
How are these data collected?
Do you provide SBIR/STTR proposal assistance services?

5. What do you consider the objective of outreach to be?

6. What types of outreach does your organization use to promote the services that you provide?

7. How do you determine if your outreach has been effective? What metrics do you use?

8. Which outreach method do you find to be the most effective?

9. How do you find new women-owned small businesses and/or new potential women entrepreneurs to include in your outreach?

10. Using a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 meaning very little and 5 indicating a lot – rate the extent to which your outreach efforts specifically includes each of the following:

1. College/University students/Postdoc

2. Early career (outside of academic career)

3. Faculty

4. Mid-to-late career

5. Racially and ethnically diverse women

6. Women with disabilities

11. Do you experience any organizational restrictions on outreach?

12. What have you found to be the most effective ways to interest WOSB and potential women entrepreneurs in the SBIR/STTR program or the services that you provide?

13. From your perspective, what are some of the barriers that may make it difficult for women entrepreneurs to pursue an entrepreneurial career path?

14. What would you single out as your best practice for involving women entrepreneurs?

15. Is there anything else you would like to share?

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