Learning Cluster Members

Eight organizations were selected in 2000, following a Request for Applications process, to receive two-year, $100,000 grants from FIELD to explore methods for dramatically expanding outreach and generating significantly higher numbers of clients over time. FIELD's overall goal was to advance the microenterprise industry's understanding of how to achieve scale. The selected grantees represented a mix of both credit-led and training-led microenterprise programs, so that the implications of scale on both strategies could be understood.
A description of each organization’s proposed project follows:

Florida Atlantic University's
Center for Urban Redevelopment and Empowerment (FAU-CURE)
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
FAU-CURE had been successful in establishing partnerships with community development and faith-based organizations, and planned to expand into additional neighborhoods by developing similar relationships under the FIELD grant. In addition, FAU-CURE expected to provide instruction, outreach, equipment/supplies and curriculum assistance to nine new partnering organizations in the community. Its goal was to double its annual client load, in a highly cost-effective way, to 748 participants.

Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED)
Iowa City, Iowa
Although headquartered in Iowa City, ISED has regional offices throughout the state. ISED proposed to use the FIELD grant to lower attrition in the Davenport, Iowa program, with an ultimate goal of significantly increasing the number of businesses established by clients graduating from its training programs. If successful, the new approach was to be replicated in other branch offices. ISED planned to: use new training interventions; develop a diagnostic tool to assess participants' barriers to self-employment; and assign a case manager to work closely with clients. In addition, the program planned to focus on marketing and outreach to attract more low-income individuals and welfare recipients. ISED served 799 clients in 1999.

Center for Rural Affairs Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP)
Walthill, Neb.
REAP planned to more broadly market its services to reach additional start-up businesses; develop a new model for delivering services to program clients that would allow more clients to be served without substantially increasing staffing costs; and leverage new funding sources. Its goal was a 28 percent increase in clients in two years.

Nebraska Microenterprise Partnership Fund
Walthill, Neb.
Organized as a project of the Nebraska Community Foundation, the Fund serves as a statewide financial intermediary and support organization for microenterprise practitioner organizations across Nebraska. The Fund proposed to focus its resources on high-performing practitioner organizations that were "scaling up," using its grantmaking capacity to challenge such programs to increase the number of low-income clients served and loans made. It also planned to introduce new loan-delivery techniques and help expand the pool of state and local investors interested in microenterprise. The Fund planned to support a minimum of 2,750 clients annually.

ACCION New Mexico
Albuquerque, N.M.
ACCION planned to expand its customer base by delivering business credit to low-income microentrepreneurs in remote areas of New Mexico. To that end, ACCION proposed to partner with commercial bank branches that would promote and process loans, and train local "promoters"— individuals living within the targeted community — to encourage peers, neighbors and acquaintances to use ACCION's services. The program's target was a 150 percent increase in clients in two years.

ACCION New York
Brooklyn, N.Y.
ACCION New York’s plan was to place loan officers directly in targeted communities with high concentrations of minority and women microentrepreneurs, in order to focus specifically on loan generation and post-loan technical assistance, and provide support with centralized loan processing, collections and administration. The FIELD grant was to fund a variety of marketing activities and to support a new management information system. ACCION New York's goal was to increase the number of clients served from 191 in 1999 to 1,372 at the end of 2002.

National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions
New York, N.Y.
The Federation, an intermediary trade association of 185 community development credit unions in 38 states, proposed to use its grant to develop a model for credit unions seeking to increase micro loans. The model would include manuals, training, tracking software and marketing materials. The aim was to allow credit unions to more systematically increase microenterprise lending in a way that meets both client needs and regulatory demands. The initial goal was to have 10 to 15 credit unions serving some 2,000 clients at the end of two years.

ACCION TEXAS
San Antonio, Texas
ACCION Texas proposed to use its FIELD resources to work with a professional, media consulting firm to develop and implement a comprehensive marketing strategy that promoted ACCION Texas' services in targeted markets. The goal was to double the number of clients (from 571 to 1,194) and increase the number of loans five-fold by the end of the grant period.