WOMEN VENTURE

In 1978, Judy Justad, Carol Truesdell, and Marion Etzwiler established CHART, a nonprofit organization supporting women entering or re-entering the workforce. The goals of CHART were to assist women in building a positive and accurate self-concept, identifying and pursuing satisfying life and work goals to help them become self-sufficient, building workplace skills and behavior, and preparing them to take responsibility for their own workplace satisfaction and career development.

Making history as the first Twin Cities nonprofit merger, CHART and WEDCO became Women Venture in 1989. The two distinguished organizations joined forces to offer a full spectrum of services related to career and business development for an increasingly diverse population of clients that included teens, technology-driven businesses, women in non-traditional construction trades, and more. Since then, Women Venture has added a comprehensive array of services to support small business owners on their entrepreneurial journey. Our lending program has grown from offering micro-loans to providing over $1.9M in loans during our last fiscal year.