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Corporate Social Responsibility
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3.05.2007 - 11:40am ET
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25 Organizations Selected to Join New "Citigroup Microenterprise Researchers Program"
(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, DC- March 5, 2007 – Twenty-five organizations across the
country that help small businesses start and grow have been selected to
participate in the “Citigroup Microenterprise Researchers Program,” a
new initiative launched with a $250,000 grant from Citigroup
Foundation.
The program funds each organization to recruit and hire a graduate student
to work as a summer intern in 2007, collecting data about clients and
learning about the small business development field. Recruitment of the
interns is expected to begin immediately.
As part of the new program, Citigroup Foundation also is funding FIELD,
the Microenterprise Fund for Innovation, Effectiveness, Learning and
Dissemination (FIELD), a research group housed at the Aspen Institute in
Washington, D.C., to manage the project and provide the interns with data
collection training.
Microenterprises are defined as very small businesses capitalized with
$35,000 or less and employing five or fewer people. Today there are
approximately 500 organizations nationwide, known as microenterprise
development organizations that provide budding entrepreneurs with capital
and/or training.
The internship program grew out of recognition that microenterprise
development programs frequently do not have the internal resources
necessary to collect extensive data on their clients. Yet, such feedback
can be invaluable to organizations that want to improve or add services,
fund-raise or advocate for entrepreneurship. Moreover, introducing a group
of college students to the microenterprise field could help create the next
generation of industry leaders.
FIELD selected the 25 organizations through a competitive application
process. Interns will be paid a stipend of $5,760 and should be pursuing a
degree in public policy, planning, business or a related field.
The 25 organizations and their locations are:
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| The Abilities
Fund | Centerville, Iowa | | ACCION San
Diego | San Diego, California | | ACCION
Texas | San Antonio, Texas | | AnewAmerica Community
Corporation | Berkeley, California | | Community
Finance Resource Center | Los Angeles, California
| | Community First Fund | Lancaster, Pennsylvania
| | Detroit Entrepreneurship Institute | Detroit,
Michigan | | ECDC Enterprise Development Group
(EDG) | Arlington, Virginia | | Justine Peterson
Housing and Reinvestment Corporation | St. Louis, Missouri
| | Latino Economic Development Corporation |
Washington, DC | | Lenders for Community Development
| San Jose, California | | Mercy Corps Northwest
| Portland, Oregon | | Micro Business Development
Corporation | Denver, Colorado | | Mountain
BizWorks | Asheville, North Carolina | | Northeast
Economic Development, Inc. | Norfolk, Nebraska | |
Philadelphia Development Partnership | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | PPEP Microbusiness and Housing Development Corporation,
Inc. | Tucson, Arizona | | Renaissance
Entrepreneurship Center | San Francisco, California
| | Trickle Up | New York, New York
| | Utah Micro Loan Fund | Salt Lake City, Utah
| | Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (Washington
CASH) | Seattle, Washington | | Women’s Economic
Self-Sufficiency Team (WESST) | Albuquerque, New Mexico
| | Women’s Economic Ventures | Santa Barbara,
California | | Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore |
Baltimore, Maryland | | Women’s Initiative | San
Francisco, California |
The Citigroup Foundation, working with a global network of colleagues and
nonprofits in the community, supports programs in three areas: financial
education, educating the next generation, and building communities and
entrepreneurs. Within these areas, the foundation provides grants and
technical expertise to organizations that help people improve their lives,
help businesses grow and help communities prosper.
FIELD is a nonprofit research organization created to identify, develop
and disseminate best practices in the microenterprise field and to broadly
educate policy makers, funders and others about microenterprise as an
anti-poverty intervention. It is part of the Aspen Institute, which was
founded in 1950 and today is an international nonprofit dedicated to
fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue.
Additional information about the "Citigroup Microenterprise Researchers
Program" is available on FIELD’s Web site: www.fieldus.org.
The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit
organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded
dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership
development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek
to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The
Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen,
Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Its
international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome,
Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership programs in Africa,
Central America and India.
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