A new city initiative is helping women entrepreneurs with their business ventures by offering them lines of credit with low interest rates.

For Kathy Lacognata, owning the Training for Warriors gym in Marine Park is not just a job, it's a passion.

However, she says sometimes, as with many other business owners, that passion can come with challenges.

"My bills are constant. Operation expenses don't change. If my membership changes and goes down, you know in the summertime people go away, people get hurt, people get sick, people want to move on, so there's always that - it's not a solid base of a constant income. It's always changing,” says Lacognata.

That’s why NYC Small Business Services is investing in women, offering a new initiative funding credit, to help them grow their businesses.

"We spoke to about 1,500 women and 70% of those women cited access to capital was a challenge for them to grow their business. So, we've been creating different capital products for women entrepreneurs, and we fund credit is our latest installation of that,” says Gregg Bishop, commissioner of Small Business Services.

“We fund credit is a credit line for women entrepreneurs in the city that can be used as an alternative to taking out a business loan,” says Bishop.

A resource that Lacognata says she hopes will encourage more women to fulfill any aspirations they have to start a business.

"it's a huge opportunity for us to take advantage of and really, you know what, if you have a dream, now you have someone to back you up and believe in you. Once you have someone to believe in you I think that you're options are endless,” says Lacognata.

Applicants for the fund must be in business for at least a year, have a credit score of 620 or higher, and their business must have an annual income of at least $50,000.

Lacognata says she plans to use the line of credit to give the gym a makeover and to buy new equipment.