News Coverage and Videos from Citi Community Development’s $500,000 Contribution to LEDC Announcement

Below is news coverage and videos related to yesterday’s announcement that Citi Community Development has made a $500,000 contribution to support DC small businesses through LEDC’s Microloan Program. The contribution is the largest private gift in LEDC’s 20-year history and the largest contribution that Citi has made to a community-based organization that does microlending in the DC region in the last 25 years.

Washington Business Journal – Latino group lands $500K Citi grant for loans
Univision (Spanish) – Citigroup dono 1/2 millon de dolares a pequeñas empresas
LEDC Manny Hidalgo’s Welcome Remarks (Vide0) – Watch Here
DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins Remarks (Video) – Watch Here
Citi’s Global Director of Microfinance and Community Development Bob Annibale Remarks (Video) – Watch Here
Small Business Owner Fidel Garcia, Capital Pilates Remarks (Vide0) – Watch Here
Small Business Owners Fredy Robles and Erin White, Mindy’s Catering Remarks (Video) – Watch Here

 

Citi Community Development to Announce Major Contribution to LEDC to Boost Lending to Washington, DC Small Businesses

MEDIA ADVISORY
February 20, 2012

Media Contacts: David Roskin, Citi, 212-559-4767 or david.roskin@citi.com
Ash Kosiewicz, LEDC, 202-425-1303 or akosiewicz@ledcmetro.org

WHAT: Citi Community Development/LEDC Grant Announcement with DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins
WHERE: Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) 2316 18th ST Washington, DC 20009
WHEN: Tuesday, February 21st, 2012; 10-10:30 AM
WHO: Bob Annibale, Citi Global Director of Community Development and Microfinance; District Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor Hoskins; LEDC Executive Director Manny Hidalgo; Capital Pilates Small Business Owner Fidel Garcia; Mindy’s Catering Small Business Owners Fredy Robles and Erin White; Citi and LEDC representatives

WASHINGTON– Tomorrow, Citi Community Development and the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) will announce a $500,000 contribution to help small businesses in the District access microloans to support business expansion, income growth, and job creation. Citi’s major commitment will enable LEDC to expand its micro-lending program and increase lending to small businesses by nearly 50 percent over the next year. In 2011, LEDC disbursed 81 small business loans that injected nearly $700,000 of capital into the regional economy, including 30 loans in the District. With an average loan size of $10,000, Citi’s  contribution will enable LEDC to make approximately 40 loans in the District in 2012. LEDC will leverage these funds to seek additional support in pursuing its goal of tripling the amount it will loan to small businesses in the Washington region in five years to approximately $2.16 million, including $650,000 for DC small businesses. Citi’s support for LEDC – the largest private gift to LEDC in its 20-year history – is the latest and largest in a long record of local investment in the greater Washington, DC area.  In 2011 alone, Citi and the Citi Foundation together committed more than $700,000 to support programs and partners involved in neighborhood revitalization, small business development, financial capability-building, and other initiatives.

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About Citi Community Development
Citi Community Development (CCD) is leading Citi’s commitment to achieve economic empowerment and growth for underserved individuals, families and communities by expanding access to financial products and services, and building sustainable business solutions and innovative partnerships. Our focus areas include: commercial and philanthropic funding; innovative financial products and services; and collaborations with institutions that expand access to financial products and services for low-income and underserved communities. For more information, please visit http://www.citicommunitydevelopment.com.

About LEDC
Working families deserve to live in affordable homes and own successful small businesses – but too many are unable to turn these dreams into a reality. The Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) equips Latinos and other DC-area residents with the skills and financial tools to create a better future for their families and communities. Participants in our programs learn how to buy and stay in their homes, take control of the decisions affecting their apartment buildings, and start or expand small businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.ledcmetro.org.

 

Innovative Microloan Product to Ease Pathway to Citizenship for Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2011

Contact: Susana Flores, CASA de Maryland
(240) 706-2624; sflores@casamd.org
http://www.casademaryland.org
David Roskin, Citi Community Development
(212) 559-4767; david.roskin@citi.com
http://www.citicommunitydevelopment.org

CASA de Maryland and Citi Lead Pilot Initiative to Make Naturalization Costs More Manageable While Building Credit and Seeding Savings Accounts

Langley Park, MD (November 1, 2011) – Today, Citi Community Development and CASA de Maryland (CASA) launched an innovative microloan program for legal permanent residents (LPRs) seeking to become naturalized citizens.  CASA will collaborate with two community development financial institutions (CDFI’s) — the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) and the Ethiopian Community Development Council Enterprise Development Group (EDG) — to launch and test the innovative citizenship microloan program that will lower the financial barriers to naturalization while simultaneously building an individual’s credit and financial literacy.

The loan program is the latest addition to a set of naturalization services available through Citizenship Maryland, a wrap-around comprehensive effort led by CASA and participated in by partner AmeriCorps volunteer host organizations that seek to support the hundreds of thousands of eligible legal permanent residents in Maryland become citizens.

“Our state and our nation have a great deal to gain by embracing new Americans and supporting their efforts to contribute to our society and economy,” said Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, whose parents immigrated to America to start new lives and achieve their dreams. “Decreasing the financial burden for immigrants who wish to become naturalized citizens will help them improve their families’ lives and enrich their communities. It is exciting that this innovative program is being piloted right here in Maryland.”

 

Washington Post – Microloan Program to Help Legal Immigrants Cover Naturalization Costs

Ernestina Pacas completed her citizenship application last week, 17 years after she moved to the United States from El Salvador.

This week she is awaiting approval of a loan for $680, which she plans to use to pay the application fees charged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Pacas, 42, is among the first to apply for a new microloan designed to help legal permanent residents cover their naturalization costs.

To read more about LEDC’s participation in CASA de Maryland’s new pilot microloan initiative, click here.

 

Understanding Innovative Partnerships and Strategies in Microenterprise Development

Today in Richmond, the Virginia Microenterprise Network in collaboration with the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) are bringing together organizations from across the Washington region that are committed to quality business training and increasing business access to capital to discuss the latest innovations in microenterprise development.

The two-day conference, entitled “Strategies for Change: Innovation for Microenterprise and Community Economic Development,” will explore how organizations are forming new partnerships to increase efficiency, debuting products including consumer and green loans, exploring better ways to use data to improve outcomes, and creatively using the web including social media and online peer lending.

LEDC Executive Director Manny Hidalgo will moderate a panel on cutting edge partnerships, which will explore green jobs accelerators, the cross section of community health and economic development, and how Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs has increased its profitability and productivity through a unique partnership with ACCION Texas.

 

Citi, LEDC, and the Power of Microlending

Today, Appropriations staff from the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are conducting a tour of small businesses in the District supported by the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. LEDC microloan recipient Gladys Esparza’s small business — Columbia Hair Salon in Ward 1 — is one stop on the tour.

For Bernardo Figueroa, the new owner of Lalos Grocery in Columbia Heights, his dream of owning a small business came true when a $10,000 LEDC microloan helped him make a down payment on his father’s grocery store – helping him to continue his family’s tradition of entrepreneurship.

“My father started the business outside just selling fruits – me, him, my mom, and my sister,” Bernardo says. “And then we tried to get more money as we could to open inside [the market].”

A new Citi video, “Entrepreneurs in Action: Building Small Businesses in DC,” highlights the work of LEDC’s Microloan Program in the DC area with entrepreneurs like Bernardo and Gladys. Citi works with LEDC to support microlending and education for prospective and current owners of small businesses – the engines of any local economy and a primary source of job creation.

 

LEDC’s 2010 Annual Report: A Vision Forward on a Foundation of Success

Click below on the cover art to read LEDC’s 2010 Annual Report: A Vision Forward on a Foundation of Success.

The report, released this week, shares inspiring stories from 2010 across the Washington region. Read how a new facade improvement helped small business owner Mesfin Gegziabhear transform his pharmacy and 99 cent store into an exciting new restaurant on Georgia Avenue; how a $5,000 microloan is turning Elda Carcache’s dreams of strengthening her Wheaton-based small business into a reality; how the Kenyon Street Housing Cooperative said “Yes We Can” to keeping their housing affordable in Columbia Heights; and how first-time homeowners Laura Bowman-Pimentel and her husband Wellington are enjoying their new home in Woodridge with their two sons Benjamin and Fernando.

 

So What Do Small Businesses Think About the Walmart Store in Ward 4?

This past Saturday, the Latino Economic Development Corporation surveyed 25 small businesses along parts of the Georgia commercial corridor to understand what they thought of the proposed Walmart store at the intersection of Georgia and Missouri avenues in Northwest DC.  These businesses were scattered south of the proposed site, between Missouri Avenue and Emerson Street, along and near Georgia Avenue.

The surveyed businesses on average have been around for more than 10 years.  The average number of jobs represented per business for those who agreed to provide information regarding employment equals around 4 jobs.

Businesses surveyed included small grocers, liquor stores, auto part stores, dine-in and carry out restaurants, nail and hair salons, bakeries, a florist, dry cleaners, and the Peabody Commons Flea Market.

 

Washington Business Journal – Hispanic businesses surge in Washington

Alfredo Casta started his business the way many entrepreneurs do: knowing he could do better on his own.

“The entrepreneurial spirit was in me, and I wanted to scratch that itch,” he said.

So after spending 10 years as a computer specialist for the Department of Labor, the Puerto Rican formed Herndon-based Cascades Technologies Inc. in 1998 and started doing information technology consulting for the government.

To read the full article, click here.

 

Voice of America – Group Provides Small Loans to Low Income People in US to Start Businesses (Video)

Micro lending for small businesses is common in some countries, especially in the developing world.  But with the economic recession, micro lending is growing in the United States because it’s difficult to get a bank loan to start a small business, especially for people with low incomes.  A private group is lending money to low income people in Washington so they can follow their dream. The loans range from $500 to $50,000.

Fidel Garcia is the owner of Capital Pilates and Patrick Carl is co-owner of the Capital City Diner. Both were able to start businesses in Washington with a small loan from the Latino Economic Development Corporation.

To watch the full video, click here.

To read the full article, click here.