Dear Microcredit Bank Partner,
Welcome to our first edition of JustHope's Microcredit newsletter -- a quarterly newsletter just for our microcredit supporters! We want you to know what's happening with the over 150 women now involved in our microcredit program; and be aware of the ongoing positive effects that your donations are having on their lives! So, each quarter we'll share stories about various women, about our long established banks, about our newest banks, and about our 'waiting lists'!
So first, just a few details about how banks are born! When we have funds for a new bank ($3000), Elba Delgado, our Director of Women's Projects, visits the next neighborhood in line for a bank and holds a meeting with all the women in the neighborhood to explain the program. Those who are interested then go through training in the basic skills of budgeting, money management, and marketing; and create a project proposal for the business they would like to start. Elba and a small leadership committee then consult with each woman and choose the 10 who will become "founders" of that bank. The other women are put on a waiting list. Funds are then distributed among the women, and they get busy opening or enlarging their small businesses! Each circle meets monthly to support and encourage one another. If one woman gets in trouble with her project, the others do all they can to help her find solutions--each woman's success is everyone's priority! Because of this, after four years, our program still has a 100% repayment rate, and ALL the women involved share a new level of pride and confidence!
 So today... Meet the women of our newest microcredit bank from the Pedro Arauz Palacios sector in Chacraseca! This group of 10 women is supported by College Hill Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The women are very excited to have completed their training, and received their funds on April 14, 2014. They will be raising pigs and chickens, starting small grocery stores, and cooking lunch items to sell in their neighborhood. We look forward to sharing their progress! Watch for future newsletters to hear about all 12 of our banks... and meet the women who are making them work! Or contact us if you'd like to help start a new bank to empower another group of women! |
