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Laying the Groundwork for Government-Led Poverty Reduction

Stanford Social Innovation Review

By Dianne Calvi & Taddeo Muriuki In September 2024, an article in The Economist posed a provocative question: Can evidence-based development programs, like those championed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, scale effectively to combat the growing challenges of extreme poverty? The stakes have never been higher.

Poverty 106
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What’s Next for Community Development Finance?

NonProfit Quarterly

How the CDFI Sector Came to Be: A Legislative History Community development finance is arguably as old as finance itselfafter all, the purpose of finance writ large is supposed to be community reinvestment. According to Jacokes, who worked for the US Senate Finance Committee then, four major challenges stood in the way.

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From Microfinance to Mutual Aid—Moving Resources to People, Not Banks

NonProfit Quarterly

In the 1970s, economist Muhammad Yunus pioneered the concept of microloans through the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a revolutionary idea that aimed to lift people out of poverty by offering small loans to those excluded from traditional banking. Yunuss premise was simple: People know better. This may seem like a fairy tale.

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Small Firms Are Still a Big Missed Opportunity in Development Philanthropy

Stanford Social Innovation Review

The problem is not lack of potential impact; SMEs represent nine out of 10 firms, the biggest employers worldwide, and without helping these firms grow, we cannot create jobs, lift people from poverty, empower women, or innovate solutions for the climate crisis. There are 3.4 There are 3.4 Not philanthropy’s problem.

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Strengthening communities by supporting the nonprofit workforce 

Candid

Below the ALICE Threshold” includes workers who live in poverty and those we call ALICE ® — A sset L imited, I ncome C onstrained, E mployed—who earn above the federal poverty level but still can’t afford the basics. Nonprofits working in the areas of health care as well as finance and insurance (e.g.,

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AI and Racial Justice: Navigating the Dual Impact on Marginalized Communities

NonProfit Quarterly

It reaches into healthcare, finance, justice, education, and public policy, promising to streamline and elevate. In finance, AI algorithms present yet another barrier, making decisions that affect financial opportunities, creditworthiness , and generational wealth.

Ethics 98
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How TIFs Impact Racial and Economic Justice at the Local Level

NonProfit Quarterly

Image credit: Sidral Mundet on Unsplash In Chicago, in 2023, there were 124 active tax increment financing (TIF) districts, which removed over $1.2 In fact, tax increment financing is one of the most common local economic development financing tools around. million people. Its not just Chicago.

Taxation 104