Latino Economic and Development Center (LEAD)

Blackfoot, ID

Amount Funded: $15,000
Executive Director: Sonia Martinez
Mission: To assist Latino entrepreneurs with expert tools for successful business start-up or expansion leading to increased economic opportunities and participation in eastern Idaho's economy.
Project Description: LEAD's entrepreneur and small business development program will provide targeted technical assistance to Latino owned businesses positioned for growth. LEAD will expand services by providing small business technology training to Latino entrepreneurs, including e-commerce training, QuickBooks, and Excel.

Nuestra Comunidad Sana, a program of Next Door, Inc.

Hood River, OR

Amount Funded: $15,000
Executive Director: Janet L. Hamada, MSW
Mission: Dedicated to promoting the physical and mental health and well-being of the Hispanic communities of the Mid-Columbia. We seek to overcome the barriers to access and care which place the Hispanic/Latino community at a greater health risk than is the community as a whole.
Project Description: The Promoviendo Prosperidad/Promoting Prosperity project is dedicated to building and expanding services to aspiring and current Latino business owners through financial education services, business expansion, and needs assessments.

Rural Community Development Resources (RCDR)

Yakima, WA

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Luz Bazan Gutierrez
Mission: Empower new and emerging entrepreneurs to efficiently and effectively operate their businesses for longer term sustainability.
Project Description: RCDR's project will help bring culturally and linguistically relevant asset building tools to create more economically viable Hispanic/Latino families in rural Yakima County. The project will provide financial education and management workshops and start up loans to microenterprises.

Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (C.A.S.H)

Seattle, WA

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Derek Birnie
Mission: Washington C.A.S.H provides the business training, supportive community, and capital to help enterprising individuals with limited financial resources gain self-sufficiency through small business ownership.
Project Description: Washington C.A.S.H's Latino Microenterprise Development Program provides culturally-appropriate business development, asset and credit building, technical assistance and links to resources to low-income immigrants and Latinos interested in starting or expanding their small businesses. Funds will expand Washington CASH's capacity to improve on-going Business Support groups.

Willmar Area Multicultural Market

Willmar, MN

Amount Funded: $15,000.00

Executive Director: Roberto Valdez

Mission: Help to establish and promote new and culturally diverse business among the Willmar area through support and training.
Project Description: Proposed project will address the need for the continuance of microenterprise technical assistance to Latino entrepreneurs. This grant will allow WAMM to continue at its current organizational capacity.

Catholic Charities of Atlanta, Inc.

Atlanta, GA

Amount Funded: $15,000
Executive Director: Joseph Krygiel
Mission: To play an important role in helping vulnerable individuals and families move towards wholeness and self-sufficiency. Through our mission, we help individuals and families in North and Central Georgia to achieve their full potential.
Project Description: CCA aims to stabilize households and help families maintain self-sufficiency. The organization devotes resources to financial literacy and housing counseling. CCA recognizes that Latinos are now the largest minority group in the country and the second largest in Georgia. Because of this and the fact that Latinos are subject to predatory/subprime lending in the past, financial literacy and homebuyer education are crucial and will remain essential in the near future.

Hacienda Community Development Corporation

Portland, OR

Amount Funded: $10,000
Executive Director: Victor Merced
Mission: Hacienda CDC develops affordable housing and builds thriving communities in support of working Latino families and others in Oregon by promoting healthy living and economic advancement.
Project Description: Hacienda CDC seeks to build their capacity to lead the development of the first Latino Public Market (Portland Mercado) in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Mercado will give Latino small and start-up businesses a market in which to operate and expand, and also provide a venue for trusted financial, legal, and social services to help families grow household assets.

Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama (HICA)

Birmingham, AL

Amount Funded: $17,000.00
Executive Director: Isabel Rubio
Mission: The Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the social, civic and economic integration of Hispanic families and individuals in Alabama. ¡HICA! Engages and empowers Alabama's Hispanic community and its numerous cultures as an economic and civic integrator, social-resource connector, and statewide educator.
Project Description: ¡HICA! seeks to promote community development in Alabama's Hispanic immigrant communities through its Asset Building and Economic Development Programs. The funding will increase ¡HICA!'s capacity to provide financial education, free tax preparation, small business and workforce development, and matched savings accounts through a contract employee, evaluation consulting, professional development, and curriculum development.

Latino Community Development Center

Durham, NC

Amount Funded: $17,000.00
Executive Director: Luís Pastor
Mission: The Latino Community Development Center (Latino CDC) is a nonprofit membership based organization created in 2002, which is dedicated to promote financial literacy, access to financial services, and economic development for the low-income immigrant Latino/Hispanic population in North Carolina. Latino Community Development Center's mission is to help Latinos overcome economic disparities by retaining their money through use of mainstream financial services, learning basic money management skills, building and maintaining good credit, and creating wealth for themselves and their families.
Project Description: Latino CDC seeks to increase the financial capability of its members and other low-income immigrant Latinos by implementing its recently developed interactive online curriculum and enhancing the accessibility of its website for financial education purposes. The funding will help Latino CDC to increase impact of its core business - financial education for low-income immigrant Latinos.

Midlands Latino Community Development Corporation

Omaha, NE

Amount Funded: $10,000.00
Executive Director: Marta Sonia Londoño Mejia
Mission: Midlands Latino Community Development Corporation (MLCDC) is dedicated to provide Latinos with opportunities to generate economic growth and develop a sustainable future in the Midlands. MLCDC'S vision is to be a catalyst for thriving, diverse, and inclusive community enriched by Latino influence, economic results, culture, and leadership.
Project Description: MLCDC provides services to the growing population of Latinos in the greater Omaha area in the state of Nebraska and Pottawattamie County in the state of Iowa. The Latino population is in search of employment into opportunities to care for their young children, and methods of becoming acculturated to mainstream society including the U.S. financial system.

Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development

Cleveland, OH

Amount Funded: $11,000.00 (from Open Society Foundation); Also received $6,000.00 (from Sam's Club)
Executive Director: Stephanie Mercado
Mission: The Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development is a 501 (c)3 IRC organization established for the charitable purpose of providing technical assistance in the economic development ef existing and start up Hispanic businesses.
Project Description: The funded project seeks to 1) teach business owners how to produce accurate financial statements through bookkeeping and QuickBooks instruction in a group and individual setting; and 2) teach business owners how to engage in financial management practices through creating an annual financial operating plan which includes: cash flow management, setting performance metrics, producing budgets, overhead factoring and breakeven analysis to properly price products or services.

Acción Emprendedora, USA

Durham, NC

Amount Funded: $17,000
Executive Director: Alejandro Sanchez
Mission: To overcome poverty through entrepreneurship.
Project Description: Accion Emprendedora will expand and enhance its current offering of practical, introductory business courses to Hispanic microentrepreneurs in North Carolina. Aspiring entrepreneurs will increase their knowledge and skills in basic business management topics.

Acercamiento Hispano de Carolina del Sur

Columbia, SC

Amount Funded: $17,000
Executive Director: Jorge Leone
Mission: Preserve the dignity, promote the well being, and improve the quality of life of the Hispanic/Latino community of South Carolina.
Project Description: Logrando la Estabilidad Económica/ Achieving Economic Stability is Acercamiento Hispano's financial education program designed to provide essential training to South Carolina Latinos on financial topics/issues such as managing your credit, banking and savings, and opening a small business.

Adelante Mujeres

Forest Grove, OR

Amount Funded: $17,000.00
Executive Director: Bridget Cooke
Mission: To contribute to the holistic education and empowerment of low-income Latina women and their families.
Project Description: Juntos en la Cocina, Together in the Kitchen, a commercial kitchen project, is part of Adelante's Microenterprise Program, Adelante Empresas. This project will provide asset building opportunities for Latino entrepreneurs in Western Washington County, Oregon, by providing access to a commercial kitchen and business training to establish and grow food businesses.

Azteca Economic Development & Preservation Corporation (AED&PC)

Laredo, TX

Amount Funded: $17,000.00
Executive Director: Rafael I. Torres
Mission: To help low-income individuals and families by creating low-income housing, developing job opportunities, providing financial education, and bringing capital to new businesses created by low-income individuals and families in Laredo, Texas.
Project Description: AED&PC will augment the delivery of small business support and financial education services to Border-based entrepreneurs and families in Laredo, Texas.

Latino Economic Development Center

Minneapolis, MN

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Ramon Leon
Mission: To transform our community by creating economic opportunity for Latinos.
Project Description: The Latino National Entrepreneurship School (LANES) is a pilot program and continuation of LEDC Minnesota's Public Markets as a tool for economic development training. LANES is designed to train business consultants to work directly with Latino clientele.

Latino Economic Development Corporation Washington, DC

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Manuel (Manny) Hidalgo
Mission: To drive the economic and social advancement of low-to moderate-income Latinos and other D.C. area residents by equipping them with the skills and tools to achieve financial independence and become leaders in their communities.
Project Description: LEDC's comprehensive bilingual and bilcultural Small Business Development Program offers critically needed access to credit, skills and financial capability training. Through coaching (individual and group) and other essential skills, LEDC supports Latino and other aspiring entrepreneurs who wish to start their own businesses, but lack critical skills necessary to successfully achieve their goals.

Mission Economic Development Agency

San Francisco, CA

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Luis Granados
Mission: To achieve economic justice for San Francisco's low- to moderate income Latino families through asset development. Asset Development is the process of encouraging and supporting individuals and families to develop, accumulate and manage personal, social and material (especially financial) assets.
Project Description: Prosperity Center at Plaza Adelante is an innovative model that breaks down barriers between business development and workforce development by serving both businesses and job seekers in the same location with strategically targeted services.

Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development

Cleveland, OH

Amount Funded: $6,000.00 (from Sam's Club);
Also received $11,000.00 (from Open Society Foundation)
Executive Director: Stephanie Mercado
Mission: The Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development is a 501 (c)3 IRC organization established for the charitable purpose of providing technical assistance in the economic development ef existing and start up Hispanic businesses.
Project Description: The funded project seeks to 1) teach business owners how to produce accurate financial statements through bookkeeping and QuickBooks instruction in a group and individual setting; and 2) teach business owners how to engage in financial management practices through creating an annual financial operating plan which includes: cash flow management, setting performance metrics, producing budgets, overhead factoring and breakeven analysis to properly price products or services.

The Resurrection Project

Chicago, IL

Amount Funded: $15,000.00
Executive Director: Raul Raymundo
Mission: To build relationships and challenge people to act on their faith and values to create healthy communities through organizing, education and community development.
Project Description: The Greater Pilsen Economic Development Association initiative is dedicated to providing assistance to small businesses operating within Chicago's predominately Latino Pilsen community. As the lead organization behind the Pilsen Planning Committee, TRP plays an essential role in building partnerships and strengthening technical assistance to local entrepreneurs.