Wednesday, 31 August 2011 09:13
Silicon Valley Community Foundation Supports New Lending Circles
We are extremely excited to announce the launching of our new program, Citizenship Tandas. In partnership with Silicon Valley Community Foundation, we are piloting this new program to help low-income immigrants save money for the high costs of filing a naturalization application. There are many immigrants who are eligible to apply for citizenship but don’t because the filing fee is cost prohibitive. We are working to overcome this barrier in the Bay Area by providing eligible participants with a 25% match contribution.
Citizenship Tandas build on the cultural practices of peer lending common in many immigrant communities by helping individuals save for the naturalization application much more quickly.
In June 2010, unemployment hit Alicia’s family hard. Using credit cards for basic necessities, her credit score was damaged. This mother of three from Mazatlan, Mexico has a big heart and gives giant hugs when you first meet her. But between a family courier business and selling tamales on the side, they were struggling to make minimum payments on their credit cards.
Especially for those who aren’t born in the United States, building a credit score can be trickier than it seems. Many think that staying away from loans and debt automatically gives them a good credit score. After Pablo moved to San Francisco 11 years ago from Columbia, he discovered the truth: “I didn’t have a credit history and by being in a Cesta, I learned how to improve my credit score. Many of us—when we get here—don’t know how the financial system works. Because I didn’t have credit history, I had no score. I thought that if I had no debt, my score would be good. But it wasn’t. Now, I can get a credit card or loans, when I want one.”
