2008 Woodie Awards
Students form microcredit program
IS organization benefits poverty-stricken individuals
Danielle Stillman
Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Front Page
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The Center for International Studies Microcredit Program was created earlier this year in an attempt to aid the poorest of nations by making small loans to individuals within those countries.
"Through a loan of only a few dollars, micro-entrepreneurs living below the poverty threshold are able to start up an income generating business," Amanda Duhon, program president and senior international studies major said. "As a result, families from all around the world, too poor to be credit-worthy by traditional market criteria, are able to raise their standards of living, avoid the financial loan sharks and build for themselves a better future."
The organization uses the website kiva.org to help make itsloans. The platform allows individuals to link with individual entrepreneurs and choose which businesses they would like to sponsor.
Almost 100 percent of Kiva's loans are paid back throughout the course of the loan, typically around six to 12 months. Users can then utilize the returned seed money by re-investing in a different individual's business.
"When I heard about what kiva.org was doing and about the idea of microcredit, my heart went with it immediately," senior international studies and romance languages major Nancy Velasquez said. Velasquez serves as the program's assistant vice president for finance and accounting. "Many of us spend much time thinking about how to make this world a better place for everyone-this is it!"
International studies professor Rogelio Garcia-Contreras serves as the adviser to the organization, but the group is entirely student-run. A board of directors, made up of international studies majors, oversees how the money is spent and targets the regions that need it most.
"I envisioned myself helping run a non-profit at some point in my life, but never did I dream that I would be given the opportunity to do it while still in college," junior international studies major Tom Mendez said. Mendez serves as the group's vice president of public relations.
"The program is helping alleviate poverty, while giving students hands-on experience in running a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization," Mendez said. "This is what college is all about: developing and using skills that we have learned in the classroom to make the world a better place, to make a difference."