Donna Stiglmeier

Last week, I attended the Microfinance Conference 2011 in New York. Being in a room with hundreds of people who are following their dream, taking and managing risks for that dream, and assisting others along this path (for many, a path out of poverty) was FABULOUS!  read more »

Learning takes time nationally...and breeds local results in Lynn!  read more »

In honor of the rapidly approaching tax deadline: A new hip hop song warning about the pitfalls of predatory lenders...and encouraging folks to earn it, keep it, save it!  read more »

April 7th's Globe article “Data Tie Stress of Poverty to Brain” was the most recent occurence of many - in only a handful of days - where this connection of economic stressors and its impact on individuals, families and communities was front and center - at home and at work - with family, friends, and colleagues. What was most striking to me - and gratefully - was the importance of communal responsibility (for good and for naught), in addition to the individual responsibility (for good and for naught) for our overall common good as a people. What do you think?  read more »

Given this economy, agencies are seeing an increase in enrollees in their financial education classes – especially people who are low income.

So, how do communities meet the increased demand due to these economic times?

At an over-capacity workshop for trainers of community-based financial education, well-respected and nationally known facilitator Inger Giuffrida attempted to answer this question this week, by offering practical tools for both designing and measuring programs that make a tangible difference in people’s lives.  read more »