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Ending Persistent Poverty in Rural America: The Role of CDFIs

NonProfit Quarterly

This article introduces a new series, titled Eradicating Rural Poverty: The Power of Cooperation. In 2014, six CDFIs located in regions of rural America beset by persistent poverty formed a coalition to remedy longstanding underinvestment. This article introduces our series Eradicating Rural Poverty: The Power of Cooperation.

Poverty 121
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How ‘Productizing’ Innovative Finance Hurts Development

Stanford Social Innovation Review

By Jonathan Ng & Rob Mills In recent years, the concept of innovative finance has become increasingly popular in the international development community, especially as a way to mobilize more funding to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet there is a limit to applying commercial finance thinking to the development sector.

Finance 111
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Impact Investing for the Missing Middle in Agri-Finance

Stanford Social Innovation Review

It directly limits future growth and also makes it harder for the cooperative to borrow sufficiently to finance its day-to-day activities or operating expenses. Is external financing available? In other words, 70 percent of the global needs for rural finance are currently unmet. But how and where? Affordable?

Finance 121
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HLTH 2022: Obstacles to Health Equity

NonProfit Quarterly

Entering HLTH (pronounced “health”), an annual conference focused on the business of health—from healthcare startups to government agencies and insurance companies—feels as overwhelming as healthcare itself. We’re not talking about our financing system. We’re not talking about the lack of funding for our public health system.

Health 85
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Making Policy Work for Rural Communities: The Value of Community Voice

NonProfit Quarterly

This article is the second in the series Eradicating Rural Poverty: The Power of Cooperation. Public funding programs often include conditions that exceed the capabilities of high-poverty areas, such as requiring matching funds that these areas do not have. A different approach that centers community voice is sorely needed.

Values 115
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Changing the Health System: A Community-Led Approach Rises in Rhode Island

NonProfit Quarterly

I was born in Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) and started working in public health there as a clinical psychologist. I was responsible for mental health in what was, at the time, one of the world’s poorest countries. There I was, talking to parents about lead poisoning, doing what we do so readily in public health: telling people what to do.

Health 114
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The Jackson Water Crisis, the Complexity of Environmental Racism

NonProfit Quarterly

Image credit: Jacob Wackerhausen on istock.com The ongoing water crisis in Jackson, MS, is about the lack of access to clean water and the way a community’s health and wellbeing are impacted when this vital resource is unavailable, but there are other crucial factors at play.