Learning Cluster Members

Ten organizations were selected in 2000, following a Request for Applications process, to receive two-year, $70,000 grants from FIELD as part of an attempt to identify and support promising models for microenterprise development – as implemented within different institutional settings – and to document the strengths, weaknesses and costs of these different institutional models. The selected grantees fit into five categories – or settings: Credit Unions, Community Action Agencies, Networks (composed of Community Development Corporations or university-based), Employment and Training Agencies and Community Development Financial Institutions.

The 10 projects that participated in this learning cluster are listed below and grouped by the five categories listed above. The projects they planned to pursue are also described.

Credit Unions:
Alternatives Credit Union
Ithaca, N.Y.
Alternatives set out to explore ways to deliver microenterprise services more effectively. Specifically, Alternatives proposed to: expand services into rural counties; implement a number of new and/or improved services; evaluate various service delivery methods to determine which are most effective for different populations; and develop a system to collect, maintain and analyze data to help assess program impact.

Credit Where Credit Is Due, Inc. (CWCID)
New York, N.Y.
CWCID, a nonprofit organization that opened a community development credit union in 1997, planned to open a branch of the credit union in West Harlem and improve the management information system used to track borrowers from the application process through the loan repayment period and beyond. Such data collection was intended to allow for more meaningful analysis of the impact of CWCID's work on local microentrepreneurs.

Burlington Ecumenical Action Ministry (BEAM)
Burlington, Vt.
Created in 1968, BEAM operates a number of successful social services projects and maintains an ongoing partnership with the Opportunity Finance Credit Union (named the Vermont Development Credit Union at the time of the FIELD grant). BEAM proposed to use its FIELD grant to underwrite the cost of a new microenterprise advisor/loan officer position to better support clients and expand the volume of loans to these individuals. This was in keeping with BEAM's mission to serve all motivated, low-income microentrepreneurs by building a bridge of "bank-ability" for those individuals who are not immediately financially qualified.

Community Action Agencies:
People Inc.
Abingdon, Va.
People, Incorporated planned to develop a comprehensive management information system that gathered, measured and reported useful information on the performance and impact of BusinesStart, its microenterprise program. Such data was expected to lead to better coordination of the services housed within the organization, thereby improving its ability to serve clients.

Central Vermont Community Action Council, Inc. (CVCAC)
Barre, Vt.
Funding was to be used to: build a case-management structure that helped ensure better coordination of the services clients use; develop a master data base to be shared with CVCAC's other programs so that referrals could be more easily made and the agency could better track the services clients use; and develop new ways for agency staff to become better informed about each other's work to improve referrals and overall practices within CVCAC.

CDC Networks & University-Based Networks:
Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community
Augusta, Maine
Administered and in large part housed within the University of Maine System, the Center planned to explore ways the University and the Center could serve microentrepreneurs in a more intentional and coordinated manner. Funding was to be used to: strengthen the Center's microenterprise services, particularly follow-up services; establish a research project focused on data collection and participant outcomes; establish a research advisory team involving University faculty, staff and students; and strengthen the ties between the microenterprise program and its University partners, particularly in the areas of women's education and career development, economic equity and small business development.

Community Business Network (CBN)
Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corps.
Boston, Mass.
As a collaborative of 10 community development corporations, CBN planned to use its grant to: work with each CDC to develop a plan to reach more low-income entrepreneurs; improve the management information system used for tracking client outcomes and program impacts; and develop more diverse funding sources to build long-term stability.

Western Massachusetts Enterprise Fund, Inc.
Greenfield, Mass.
The Fund planned to test the notion that a strong central organization can provide effective, high-quality service over a wide region when it partners with local organizations that have knowledge of the market and can provide access to people needing microenterprise services. To that end, the Fund proposed to work with each of the 11 community development corporations that are members of the Fund to: develop a joint market research/outreach strategy, and implement a client tracking system to improve the efficiency of microenterprise program delivery.

Employment and Training Agencies:
Goodwill Industries of North Georgia
Atlanta, Ga.
Goodwill planned to strengthen its microenterprise program through cross-marketing and complementary service delivery coordinated with its workforce development programs. In addition, Goodwill expected to expand outreach for microenterprise services to disabled constituencies, a group Goodwill already services. Plans also called for leveraging other Goodwill services to help graduates of BusinessNow, its microenterprise program, cope with personal crises that interfere with business development.

Community Development Financial Institutions:
Northeast Entrepreneur Fund
Virginia, Minn.
The Fund planned to increase the number of clients served in three ways, by: creating three local advisory councils; seeking to have its business planning course meet both continuing education and licensing requirement standards; and creating an interactive Web site to reach more clients with a goal of eventually offering training on-line.