Washington CASH

Founded in 1995, Washington CASH provides a business training course, micro-credit lending services from $500-$5,000, technical business assistance, and peer support to enable low-income women, people with disabilities, and new immigrants/refugees to start or expand self-employment ventures. As of November 2009, Washington CASH has helped create or expand more than 800 businesses and has trained more than 2,800 people through its business-training course. Maintaining a 96-percent loan repayment rate, it has made 362 loans, totaling $748,000 and has assisted more than 112 individuals increase their assets through its Individual Development Account (IDA) program.