José Quiñonez, author of one of the book’s essays and CEO of the San Francisco-based Mission Asset Fund, sat down with Spotlight’s Jodie Levin-Epstein to discuss: the Mission Asset Fund’s strategies; the impact of the program; and how the Mission Asset Fund is expanding its reach to more communities.
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Jodie Levin-Epstein
January 5, 2016
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Informese sobre 3 consejos de como eliminar las deudas Navideñas de nuestra Coordinadora de Programs Karla Henriquez.
The promise of financial stability is now available nationwide. Since our analysis, MAF has grown beyond its original Bay Area birthplace. Forty-six nonprofit partners across 12 states are working with MAF today, providing lending circles to more than 3,000 participants and guaranteeing almost $4 million in loans. A social-loan platform at lendingcircles.org has also been developed for clients anywhere in the nation to access lending circles on their mobile devices.
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Belinda Reyes and Elías López
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Before June 15, 2012 I knew what it’s like to live in the shadow of a constant paralyzing fear. The fear that I could lose my home, my friends, and my life as I knew it at any moment. I went out into the world not knowing if I would ever see my home again. I lived with this fear for years, in silence because I didn’t know who I could trust. I thought that I was the only kid who was undocumented. On June 15th 2012, my life has changed dramatically — it’s the day that the Obama Administration implemented Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
By
Ju Hong
May,22 2015
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“The most common reason [business owners get turned down for loans] in our community is having no credit history or a low credit score,” says Ximena Arias, financial services manager at the Mission Asset Fund.
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“PWC offers lending circle programs to help them spread out the program fees over 10 months, with zero interest and fees, and can apply as soon as they are ready, with more financial assistance. Organizations like PWC offer communal support and empowerment to those seeking it. Sweeping immigration programs, she said, are “a momentum that we are continuously building.”
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“Meanwhile, innovative nonprofits are leveraging technology to decrease lending costs, encourage sound financial behaviors and quickly turn effective community-based programs into national models. Mission Asset Fund‘s successful peer lending and saving program in San Francisco has catalyzed legislative change in California and spurred replication of the model in communities throughout the country, including Miami, New York City, Chicago and many others.”
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“There are now innovations to bring the unbanked population from the margins and help them access the necessary credit. One such program, Lending Circles, which is managed by the Mission Asset Fund, currently has 2,935 clients, and has issued $3,651,307 in zero-interest loans.”
by Sean McElwee
“Resettlement experts hope to use lending circles, where default is almost unheard of, to help immigrants and refugees acquire credit scores. That, they hope, will lead to access to the formal financial system and its capitalist tools, like credit cards and bank loans.”
by Robert T. Smith
“The Mission Asset Fund wasn’t looking to reinvent the lending circle when it launched its own version in 2008 for low-income residents of the Mission District in San Francisco.”
by Joel Berg