Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua
Encyclopedia
Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN) is a nonprofit organization that organizes partnerships with individuals and organizations in Latin America and the U.S. to build sustainable economic opportunities that help people work their way out of poverty.
WCCN operates a microcredit
investment program that channels funds from U.S. investors to provide financing for low-income Latin American entrepreneurs and small farmers so they can grow their operations and work their way out of poverty. WCCN also promotes fair trade, women's empowerment, and housing improvement initiatives. It also organizes study tours and other people-to-people exchanges between the United States and Latin America.
Founded in 1982, WCCN was originally called the "Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua" and was active in the US-Nicaragua "sister city" movement, which promoted people-to-people projects and locally-based "municipal foreign policies" by individual U.S. cities as an alternative to the militaristic foreign policy of the U.S. government under President Ronald Reagan
. Its microcredit program began in 1992, and in 2008 it began to diversity its lending activities to countries beyond Nicaragua. It changed its name to Working Capital for Community Needs in 2010.
WCCN has worked in partnership with microcredit broker-dealers such as MicroPlace
but receives the majority of its investments from U.S. individuals, churches and impact investors
.
WCCN operates a microcredit
Microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
investment program that channels funds from U.S. investors to provide financing for low-income Latin American entrepreneurs and small farmers so they can grow their operations and work their way out of poverty. WCCN also promotes fair trade, women's empowerment, and housing improvement initiatives. It also organizes study tours and other people-to-people exchanges between the United States and Latin America.
Founded in 1982, WCCN was originally called the "Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua" and was active in the US-Nicaragua "sister city" movement, which promoted people-to-people projects and locally-based "municipal foreign policies" by individual U.S. cities as an alternative to the militaristic foreign policy of the U.S. government under President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Its microcredit program began in 1992, and in 2008 it began to diversity its lending activities to countries beyond Nicaragua. It changed its name to Working Capital for Community Needs in 2010.
WCCN has worked in partnership with microcredit broker-dealers such as MicroPlace
MicroPlace
MicroPlace, founded in 2006, is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA , MicroPlace is currently the only online introducing broker-dealer specializing in microfinance securities for retail investors. Started by Tracey Pettengill Turner, MicroPlace was bought out by eBay Inc...
but receives the majority of its investments from U.S. individuals, churches and impact investors
Impact investing
Impact investing refers to investments made based on the practice of assessing not only the financial return on investment, but also the social and environmental impacts of the investment that happen in the course of the operations of the business and the consumption of the product or service which...
.