Challenge phases Main content User comments Inspiration's statistics and author info Related themes, inspirations and concepts Share inspiration Challenge activity feed Footer links
Login

The Challenge

1373 followers

How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline? Read the challenge brief

Congratulationsto all our contributors!
Mission #1
Explore Vibrancy
Share your definition of what vibrancy looks like where you live. Find out more...
Mission #2
Share Stories
Tell us about the cities and communities you know are currently struggling or in the process of revitalising. Find out more...
Mission #3
Get Active
Take some time to get active and explore your own community – then report back what you learned. Find out more...
Mission #4
Collect Insights
Interview someone living in a struggling city or region to learn more. Find out more...
Mission #5
Surprise Us
Got an Inspiration that doesn't fit the other Missions? Find out more...
terms and conditions

Learn more

Activity Feed

Tags

access to capital, entrepreneurship, microfinance, social lending

Inspiration
back to list

Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

Kiva Cities: American microfinance nurtures entrepreneurship and community development

Kiva Cities applies microfinance expertise to nurturing budding entrepreneurs in US cities in transition. Kiva partners financial lenders and community leaders to support emerging enterprises with funding and a path to mainstream financing options.
For many potential entrepreneurs, the financial barriers to starting a business are relatively low, perhaps only a few hundred dollars. However, without without access to mainstream financing, these barriers can be insurmountable. 

The Kiva City project, in partnership with local development organizations, community leaders, financial institutions, and individual lenders, provides local entrepreneurs with opportunities to access small infusions of capital to get their businesses off the ground. With business building and financial planning support, Kiva and affiliates also help small business owners move towards gaining access to traditional sources of loans and funding.

These loans not only inspire entrepreneurship, they also allow entrepreneurs to apply funding to community efforts to regain vibrancy. Kiva helped entrepreneur Delphia Simmons fund the Thrive Detroit Street Newspaper, which provides income and helps homeless and vulnerable members of Detroit  move towards self-sufficiency and re-engagement in the community. 

More at:
Kiva Detroit http://www.kiva.org/detroit
Thrive Detroit http://www.thrivedetroit.org/
Looks like another inspirer found this too- check out her post with additional stories about Kiva!
Mission #1 Explore Vibrancy Find out more...

Comments

Join the conversation and post a comment.

U of M D-Up's reply to Tyler Mikev's comment

U of M D-Up

U of M's profile photo delete comment
December 03, 2011, 06:16PM
Such a cool topic! It blows me away that only recently has this model been used en force to help American cities in decline
0 Applaud Report this comment

Meena Kadri

Meena's profile photo delete comment
November 23, 2011, 10:43PM
Like this, right? http://www.openideo.com/open/vibrant-cities/inspiration/giving-small-businesses-a-chance/ We can see why folks are seeing a lot to love on this Inspiration. Tip: to activate links in your post, hit the Update Entry button up there on the right, then follow the instructions here: http://bit.ly/oi_link
0 Applaud Report this comment

Anthony DeCaria

Anthony's profile photo delete comment
November 23, 2011, 04:21AM
Very cool. Shadow Klan could use some Kiva to get his record company up and running, among other ventures.
0 Applaud Report this comment
Meena Kadri's reply to Tyler Mikev's comment

Meena Kadri

Meena's profile photo delete comment
November 23, 2011, 05:50AM
For artists like Shadow Klan there's also platforms like Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/ It's changing the face of creative funding in the US!
0 Applaud Report this comment

Manage this entry

Status: Published

Update entry
Unpublish
U of M's profile photo
A visual representation of the connections between this and other concepts.

Building on this

Donors Choose Detroit Thumbnail : donors-choose-founder-charles-best Reclaimed in Detroit Reclaimed in Detroit's thumbnail Social Investment Social Investment's thumbnail Mass Collaboration: Us Now Thumbnail : 4489849

Related Themes

Enable Entrepreneurship

Inspirations this built upon

Giving Small Businesses a Chance Thumbnail : A screen-shot from the Kiva Cities webpage.
Report this item This item has been reported
close

Login

Forgot my password?

New user? Sign up!