Articles Archive

• Get

• Give

• Learn

• Support

ACCION New Mexico and Community Development Loan Fund Hailed
in New Report as Promising Practices in Entrepreneurship
ACCION New Mexico and the New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund (NMCDLF) are earning new national accolades for their work providing needed capital to the state’s entrepreneurs.

The nonprofit lenders are among eight financing programs highlighted in a new report on programs nationwide that promote healthy economies.

They are featured in “Promising Practices in Entrepreneurship,” a brief published by CFED, formerly the Corporation for Enterprise Development. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization has been a national leader in economic development for more than two decades.

CFED is chronicling promising practices in focus areas addressed in its popular annual Development Report Card for the States, a state-by-state assessment of the economies of the 50 states. Promising Practices in Entrepreneurship is the first in this series of supplemental reports and features examples for policymakers, practitioners and advocates who want to find the best ideas around the country.

“While securing capital for start-up, product development, and market research remains a major obstacle for many aspiring entrepreneurs across the country, New Mexicans can benefit greatly from the outstanding work of ACCION New Mexico and the Community Development Loan Fund to fill those gaps,” said Dr. Lillian “Beadsie” Woo, senior economist for CFED. “Our panel of experts highlighted two microlending organizations in one state, which says a lot about the leadership of these programs.”

In its Promising Practices brief, CFED highlights NMCDLF’s work supporting low-income individuals on achieving self-reliance statewide and on the Navajo Nation. The loan fund targets individuals and organizations that provide positive social benefits to the community, such as job creation, affordable housing development and the provision of basic services in disadvantaged communities. Loan fund clients are low to moderate-income or serve low-income communities.

Since making its first loan in 1990, the NMCDLF has disbursed 639 loans totaling more than $19 million and provided technical assistance and training to more than 5,500 individuals and nonprofit organizations.

“We are very pleased to be recognized by the CFED,” NMCDLF Executive Director Vangie Gabaldón said. “Entrepreneurs in New Mexico face many challenges, including gaining access to credit. We recognize that building vibrant communities and addressing the issues of poverty in New Mexico takes a serious long-term commitment.”

The report lauds ACCION’s pioneering bank partnership program as an initiative that allows the organization to cost-effectively deliver microcredit statewide. These partnerships allow area banks to serve as ACCION field offices, with ACCION completing underwriting from its Albuquerque office and bank staff members closing loans on behalf of ACCION with entrepreneurs in areas outside Albuquerque.

“By tapping into the existing commercial and financial infrastructure, ACCION has designed an innovative strategy to achieve scale and efficiency in delivering its services to entrepreneurs throughout New Mexico,” ACCION New Mexico President and CEO Anne Haines Yatskowitz said. “Bank partnerships enable and strengthen ACCION’s reach and bolster its ability to serve rural communities.”

Since its 1994 inception, ACCION New Mexico has financed the start-up or growth of more than 1,996 businesses in New Mexico through 3,278 loans totaling more than $15.4 million. The organization serves entrepreneurs in more than 125 urban and rural New Mexico communities.

The recognition for the pair of New Mexico organizations is notable following the state’s lackluster performance in CFED’s 2004 report card. That report, released last December, found New Mexico’s economy trails most other states in a number of key areas and assigned the state an F in performance, a D in business vitality and a D in development capacity.

For more information on the Corporation for Enterprice Development (CFED), go to www.cfed.org.

Contact:
Leslie Hoffman
ACCION New Mexico Communications Manager
(505) 243-8844 ext. 238 or (505) 270-0285 (cell)