The YWCA of Hamilton is working with the Community Research Platform to conduct a survey with past participants of their Power UP Program, an intensive, ten week, business training program for women entrepreneurs looking to start or scale up their businesses. Through bi-weekly theme-based workshops and one-on-one business coaching sessions, Power Up participants develop a range of skills and strategies for building and scaling their business in critical areas such as, marking, sales, finance, legal and operations.

Since its launch in 2019, 69 individuals have joined the program. Feedback from participants indicates the program is achieving its objectives, however, the YWCA needs to obtain specific data on participant experience and business outcomes to support ongoing program improvement, advancement and sustainability.

Working in collaboration with YWCA staff, this project is being led by Leora Sas van der Linden (CRP Program Manager) and Dr. James Gillet (Associate Professor, Dept. of Health, Aging and Society) and with the support of Madison Hayes (Undergraduate Student Research Assistant) and Allison Leanage (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Political Sciences).