Posted by:
Steve Dubb
New York City gathering to take place May 23-24
Over the last two years, Opportunity Fund, a community development financial institution (CDFI) based in San Jose, California and its partners have planned and convened two conferences in the San Francisco Bay Area to build and expand the field of microfinance in the United States. In response to requests from the U.S. microfinance field to host the conference in different locations around the country, Microfinance USA will convene in New York in 2011 for the first time. Conference will be held May 23rd and May 24th. Individuals, organizations, and funders on the East Coast will have the opportunity to engage with domestic microfinance and deepen the movement nationally. Last year’s conference attracted 700-800 investors, policymakers, social entrepreneurs, practitioners, students and microfinance enthusiasts to explore microfinance strategies and practices unique to the United States. An agenda for this year’s conference is available here. Registration for the conference can be done on line here. Prices for conference registration are $75 for students, $275 for individuals, and $350 for microfinance professionals.
Three organizations are the leading co-sponsors of the event:
Opportunity Fund is one of the largest providers of microloans and microsavings in the nation. Since 1995, Opportunity Fund has directed $172 million in community investment into the San Francisco Bay Area’s economically challenged neighborhoods, improving the lives of 12,000 households.
Acción is the leading microfinance network in the United States. Since 1991, Acción has provided 35,000 loans—more than half of all microloans in the U.S.—to hardworking entrepreneurs and families lacking access to fairly priced capital. A champion of low-to-moderate income business owners, Acción is committed to driving domestic microfinance and innovation forward.
Kiva.org is one of the world’s leading micro-lending websited, empowering individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. Founded in 2005, Kiva.org’s mission is to connect people, through lending, to alleviate poverty. To date, over 551,000 people have loaned more than $190 million to 495,000 entrepreneurs in 58 countries. Kiva.org is headquartered in San Francisco.