Key4Women Partners With Women Impacting Public Policy to Educate Women on Access to Capital

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Apr 26, 2011, 09:30 ET

CLEVELAND, April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) announced today Key4Women's sponsorship of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), a national non-partisan public policy organization that advocates for and on behalf of women-owned businesses. Key4Women, a Key Bank program for women in business, will partner with WIPP to offer a national educational program "Women Accessing Capital: Women, Money, and Opportunity." The program will seek to familiarize and inform women with appropriate legislation directly impacting their businesses. It will also provide financial education associated with acquiring funding, a combination that aims to support women in business with the resources essential to business growth.

"Key4Women is proud to be partnering with such a highly respected organization as Women Impacting Public Policy," said Maria Coyne, founder of Key4Women and head of Key's Business Banking segment. "Together we think our two organizations will move the needle even further in our efforts to better educate and support women business owners."

According to the Center for Women's Business Research, women-owned businesses contribute $3 trillion to economic development, and women are outpacing men in launching new small businesses. With customized solutions, Key4Women helps women access the right capital at the right time to grow their businesses.

In conjunction with WIPP's goal to make securing capital an easier and more transparent process, Key4Women will host webinars and local seminars on topics such fraud prevention, courage and leadership, SBA loans, venture capital and angel investing, and capital expenditures. Also, WIPP will connect their local Instant Impact teams with Key4Women's programming and vice versa so that members of both organizations can benefit from the resources, information and connections being shared.

"WIPP's partnership with KeyBank will strengthen our ability to advocate for women-owned businesses and help them succeed in today's economy," said Barbara Kasoff, President and CEO of WIPP. "This collaboration is ideal because KeyBank's Key4Women program closely aligns with WIPP's Women Accessing Capital program. Our members will directly benefit from expanded educational opportunities, shared resources, and access to expert financial advice."

As one of the nation's largest financial services companies and top small business lenders, Key provides financial services to thousands of women-owned businesses in 14 states. Founded in 2005, Key4Women helps women business owners achieve their goals by providing access to capital, customized service, networking events, and educational opportunities. Key4Women has lent $3 billion to qualified women business owners since 2005 and committed to lending another $3 billion by 2012.

About Women Impacting Public Policy, Inc.

Women Impacting Public Policy is a national nonpartisan group with over half-a-million members. WIPP is the collective voice in Washington, D.C., for over 50 national women and small business organizations. WIPP advocates for and on behalf of women in business in the legislative process of our nation, creating economic opportunities for members and building alliances with other small business organizations. Visit www.wipp.org.

About KeyCorp

Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $93 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/.

SOURCE KeyCorp