Grameen America to partner with N.C. State Employees’ Credit Union to provide micro-credit to poor

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Loyal reader Sandy passed along this fascinating tidbit, which I have yet to see reported locally:

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and his bank, Grameen America, is teaming up with the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union.

Here’s what’s interesting about Yunus: He won the Nobel for giving loans to people with no money; more specifically, to women working in third-world countries.

Sounds like trouble, right? Like just what led us to our current financial meltdown. But the “micro” lending has empowered people economically.

Here’s the other interesting Asheville tie: A couple of years ago, Yunus visited Asheville and one of Asheville’s great economic success stories, Mountain BizWorks, which specializes in giving small loans, and training people, to start their own small businesses.

Here’s BizWorks Executive Director Greg Walker-Wilson with Yunus.

Back to the story. From the Huffington Post:

This keeps getting better and better. While everything is crashing around us financially, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke pledges his support to Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and his banks for the poor in the US: Grameen America. Grameen will apply to act as a savings bank and will be partners with the largest Credit Union in the country, the North Carolina State Employee’s Credit Program, to provide microcredit for the poor in the US.

Here’s a CNBC video about Yunus’ move.

Sandy, thanks for the great tip. I’ll be watching this closely!