Acción USA

CONTACT:

56 Roland St., Suite 300
Boston, MA 02129
617-625-7080
www.accionusa.org

Gina Harman, President & CEO

DESCRIPTION:

Many people have heard of ACCIÓN International (AI), founded in 1961, as one of the leading pioneers in the early 1970s of microfinance as an instrument to combat poverty in Latin America. Fewer people are aware that ACCIÓN is a Massachusetts charity, headquartered in Somerville and has a domestic direct-lending operation called ACCION USA that offers microfinance to more than 30 U.S. cities and towns. ACCIÓN USA, which in 2000 was separately incorporated as a 501(c)(3), was formed with the mission of making access to credit a permanent resource to low-and moderate-income small business owners in the U.S. Today, ACCIÓN USA serves self-employed people in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Goergia, and Florida. To date, more than $90 million has been loaned to more than 10,000 men and women as a result of ACCIÓN USA efforts.

The basic idea of microfinance is to provide business credit and training to poor people so they can work their own way out of poverty. Working in 18 countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Sahara Africa, and in more than 30 U.S. cities and towns in the last decade, ACCIÓN has disbursed $5.8 billion in microloans averaging only $600, to 3.2 million entrepreneurs, with a historical repayment rate of over 97 percent. ACCIÓN is a recognized leading authority on its subject and has advised the U.S. Congress, government agencies, multi-lateral institutions, bank superintendencies, and other development organizations, and produced a respected series of publications on microfinance methods, based on 40 years of experience in the field it helped to create.

ACCION USA aims to provide access to credit to disadvantaged small business owners throughout the United States, making it possible to remove a lack of access to capital as a barrier to the growth of the businesses of our nation’s poor. Utilizing an innovative lending model, ACCION USA is rapidly expanding its operations into disenfranchised regions throughout the country by establishing direct-lending satellite offices and creating partnerships with local community organizations. In October 2000, a lending program was established in Atlanta, Georgia and quickly became the largest microlending program in the State. In October 2001, ACCION USA merged with Working Capital, the largest microlending institution in New England. In April 2003, ACCION USA launched a program in Miami, Florida, surpassing over $1 million in loan disbursements in the first year. ACCION USA is currently exploring the possibility of expanding its operations into other depressed communities in Southern New England and around the country. If, therefore, you have an interest in working with ACCIÓN USA, this project is for you.

(2000: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being)