The New Hampshire Women's Foundation adapted their AmplifiHer awards this year to celebrate the women and girls who have stepped up in ways big and small to support their families, loved ones and communities through the pandemic. The Foundation received over 100 stories of resilience and creativity, giving and caring.
Liz Gray, SBDC's state director, is one of the 100 honorees. She, along with four others, will also be a featured 2021 AmplifiHer Honoree at the GALA on Friday, March 21.
Liz's vision and programming ideas served and steered SBDC and helped NH’s small businesses through the pandemic. Liz’s Leadership is a shining example of “stepping up in ways big and small to support their families, loved ones and communities through this global health crisis.”
We at SBDC are amazed at what our Team has accomplished this past year, with Liz leading the way. Here are just a few examples. SBDC:
- helped 7,178 small businesses in 2020, more than double our average of 3,000.
- delivered hundreds of webinars and videos, many of which centered on COVID relief programs.
- launched the first COVID assistance webpage in the state, which has been viewed over 35,000 times.
- launched our new website this past January, with great efforts from the wonderful team at UNH Web & Mobile Development, and it houses new eCourses, developed with subject matter experts from Paul College and BiP.
Liz realized that someone needed to document the path of small businesses during the pandemic. SBDC has produced 2 of 3 phases of the Business Resiliency Survey, in partnership with the UNH Survey Center, collecting and analyzing data from 1,549 (Phase 1) and 1,611 (Phase 2) small businesses across the state regarding their experiences with the pandemic. Utilizing that data, Liz envisioned the Resiliency Academy, and in conjunction with UNH Cooperative Extension, the first multi-session Resiliency Academy was developed. Noting that cybersecurity was a strong concern among the businesses surveyed, SBDC is presenting web-based resources and webinars on cybersecurity topics, including partnering with the Delaware SBDC to bring their Data Assured workbook and program to New Hampshire.
Liz's leadership is evident in many other ways, from building a team to managing homeschool and family. We are grateful to the New Hampshire Women's Foundation for recognizing Liz Gray as a 2021 AmplifiHer honoree.
