Grameen America is a nonprofit microfinance organization based in New York City and founded by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus. Grameen America's mission is to alleviate poverty and spur entrepreneurship by providing small loans, savings programs, credit establishment, and financial education to people living below the poverty line in the United States.
Grameen America launched its first branch in Jackson Heights, Queens in January 2008. As of September 30, 2009, Grameen America has disbursed over $2.9 million in loans to over 1,350 borrowers. Grameen America currently maintains a repayment rate of over 99%.
Grameen America provides small loans to low-income individuals for income generating activities. For example, a borrower might use a loan to invest in equipment for a food-cart, purchase a sewing machine for a tailoring business, or start a home-based day-care business. Grameen America loans offer borrowers an alternative to predatory payday lenders, and allow them to start or expand income-generating activities that help provide for their families. Grameen America also helps build credit by reporting to Experian, one of the three major credit rating bureaus.
Grameen America provides an alternative for these borrowers. Grameen America provides banking for the unbanked.
Accessible Microfinance is Necessary in America
The need for accessible microfinance in America is great. Despite being the world’s richest country, around 28 million people in the US are unbanked and nearly 45 million have only limited access to financial institutions. The problem is exacerbated by the US credit rating system which excludes all those who lack collateral, education, references or a banking history. The US financial system excludes the poor, especially recent immigrants, because they do not have credit ratings and cannot obtain them because they cannot meet some or all of the credit rating requirements.
According to US Census figures, some 36 million people lived in poverty in the United States in 2005. Among these poor persons, 8.7 million were first-generation immigrants and their family members. At a macro level, 20.4 million of the nation’s 36 million poor are women and 13 million of these women are in what the US Census Bureau has accepted as “deep poverty”. Of that number, 9.8 million are single mothers who are by far the poorest group with 38 percent living below the poverty line. This compares to 11 percent of all Americans who live below the poverty threshold.
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