Grameen in Queens - Grameen America

[Guest]

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[waywardcats]

Thanks John!  That is great news!

[cjp1973]

More on this in a bit, but a sneak peak for you guys!

Grameen America
http://www.kiva.org/partners/186

The first few loans from Grameen America are up now!
http://www.kiva.org/lend?partner_id=186&status=All&sortBy=Most+Recent

Thanks.
7 and 13 loan terms on the two that are fundraising now!

[JohnR]

More on this in a bit, but a sneak peak for you guys!

I'm going to miss you!  Thanks.

John

[Visitor Number 1]

Grameen America will also be opening a new branch in Indianapolis:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110319/BUSINESS/103190320/1003/BUSINESS/Grameen-microloans-can-turn-lives-around?odyssey=nav

[JohnAtKiva]

We mailed a newsletter about the partnership... and a documentary about Grameen America that's screening next Thursday for one night only!

There's a new film featuring Grameen America that is airing at theatres across the United States this coming Thursday, March 31st. To Catch A Dollar: Muhammed Yunus Banks on America tells the story of how the Nobel Prize winning Dr. Yunus and Grameen America are helping bring the microfinance revolution to bear on addressing poverty in the United States.

To Catch A Dollar introduces viewers to Grameen staff and borrowers, as they work together to prove that the group lending model can work in the United States. Following the documentary, there's a special panel, recorded earlier this month in New York, featuring Robert De Niro, Kiva President Premal Shah, financial guru Suze Orman, Dr. Yunus, and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.

The film will be showing at over 200 theaters across the country; find one near you:
http://www.screenvision.com/s/showing/ToCatchADollar/

Remember, this is a one-night-only event, so get your tickets now!

http://www.kiva.org/updates/kiva/2011/03/25/to-catch-dollar-showing-3312011-for-one.html

A bunch of people from the Kiva office are going to the Embarcadero screening next Thursday... I won't be there, but do stop by and say hi to the rest of the team if you can make it!!

John

[David2051]

We mailed a newsletter about the partnership... and a documentary about Grameen America that's screening next Thursday for one night only!

A bunch of people from the Kiva office are going to the Embarcadero screening next Thursday... I won't be there, but do stop by and say hi to the rest of the team if you can make it!!

John

I would like to, but it is not at a theater near me...  Louisville, Indy or St. Louis are the nearest places... 

Maybe someone lucky enough to see it can post a review here?

[Amy-in-PHX]

"Microloan Foundation Is Proud of Helping Out," an article in connection with the appearance of Alex Counts in Phoenix on Thursday, when he spoke at a luncheon hosted by local organizations Guerrant Foundation and Arizona Community Foundation, was published in the Arizona Republic, on its website on Thursday the 19th May and in print today, 20 May, above the fold on the front page of the business section.  Counts founded the Grameen Foundation in 1997, with $6,000 provided by Mohammed Yunus for the purpose.  Counts had worked with Yunus at Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and founded Grameen Foundation to facilitate the spread of the Grameen Bank concept to other countries.

In addition to Grameen Foundation, the article gives favorable mentions to Grameen America and Kiva.  See http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/05/19/20110519microloan-foundation-proud-helping-out.html

[Peter S]

Interesting, though slightly ambivalent, Reuters blog yesterday on Muhammad Yunus and Grameen America by financial journalist Felix Salmon, who interviewed Muhammad Yunus earlier this week.

Seems that Muhammad Yunus had something critical to say about Kiva. 

. . .
When the conversation came around to Kiva, for instance, Yunus told me that he found the emphasis on very poor borrowers to be “undignified”.

If you go to the Kiva website, said Yunus, you see an individual whose poverty is being used to gin up donations. Which doesn’t dignify her. “After all, she’s paying interest. Why should you advertise her as someone who’s deserving of donations? It’s an undignified way of doing it. She’s running a business. Respect her as a client. As somebody who’s paying full cost.”
. . .

Not really sure what the point is there, or of course whether it's been conveyed accurately.  Kiva borrowers aren't put forward as "deserving of donations", and Kiva does make it very clear that borrowers do pay interest on what is a loan, not a donation.  Since Grameen America is a Kiva field partner, the message seems confused to say the least.

Peter