Lafayette Square Institute Receives $5 Million for Access to Capital Initiative
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Lafayette Square Institute has been awarded $5 million to launch Access to Capital (A2C), a national initiative aimed at expanding capital access for small businesses. The award, part of the $60 million Workplace Innovation Now (WIN) Challenge, will support the development of A2C in partnership with the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
The WIN Challenge, launched in fall 2025, seeks to discover and scale transformative ideas across three key pillars: Culture & Practices, AI, and Narrative. The initiative received nearly 900 applications from organizations across the United States and U.S. territories, with 18 awardees selected to address workplace challenges.
According to Katie Deal, Vice President at Lafayette Square Institute, the A2C tool will turn structural obstacles in small business finance into a financing pathway for every entrepreneur in the United States.
The A2C tool will be an AI-enabled navigator designed to connect entrepreneurs with public and private financing more efficiently. The initiative aims to address the disparity in capital access, particularly for women-owned firms. The Federal Reserve's Small Business Credit Survey found that women-owned firms are disproportionately more likely to be denied financing compared to their counterparts.
The tool will simplify the process for entrepreneurs by removing the navigational complexity that currently impedes the supply of public and private financing solutions.
The WIN Challenge will spotlight the award-winning solutions at its inaugural WIN Summit on October 22 in New York City. The summit will convene leaders from business, philanthropy, academia, and the social sector to connect and learn, and to advance and scale ideas that will help women thrive and everyone win.
The Lafayette Square Institute is a nonprofit policy and data analytics platform committed to aligning private capital with the public interest. Through deep bipartisan relationships, innovative finance tools, and technology, LSI mobilizes investment in the people and places that need it.