Jeremiah J. White, Jr., director of Philadelphia Development
Partnership, sits with five women who are dreaming of owning
successful enterprises one day. He sits at his office trying
to stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit by stressing for optimal
success and economic development in the city: "You have
the opportunity to come together, if you don't start, if nobody
is speaking out, no one will hear you."
Philadelphia
Development Partnership offers services to many organizations,
one of which is the Community Capital Works program (CCW).
They encourage the members of the Christian Business Legacy
Group (CBLG) to bring faith, understanding and camaraderie
to their bi-monthly meetings that fall under the CCW Program.
Launched in 1998, their loans range from $500 to $5000. CCW
is a business education program and its peer-lending concept
is unparalleled with any other entrepreneurial program because
the decision to loan out money is based on the character of
a person, not his or her credit history. A member requesting
for loan has to acquire the vote of the entire group before
the loan can be procured. If a member defaults, the entire
group's credit is cut off until the loan is repaid. In this
way they are accountable to one another, hence there is less
chance of default.
There
are 22 groups spread throughout the Philadelphia region and
in Chester. Each group acts as a governing board, with its
own by-laws and board of directors. One group may have written
in their constitution that each member will supply references
for the other. In the event of a member business not doing
well, other groups may decide to purchase that member's product
so they can stay afloat.
Peer-lending
groups offer a range of opportunities and information. They
give each other confidence when a member is unsure of herself
or her product. Brown, who runs a gift shop of handmade and
natural items out of her dining room called Impeccable
Taste, said, when she came to her first meeting of CBLG,
she was pleasantly surprised at the support she received.
"I brought some of my things to show them. I just
came and said this is this … . They were buying things
right out of the bag!"
Gracey,
former borrower and now the chairperson of CCW, "Like
Jeremiah said … We have the opportunity to be real agents
to make an impact and that's what we're about so I'm really
proud of that. I feel like it's a reward or fulfillment to
the reason we're together in the first place."
________________________________________
Extracted
from Philadelphia New Observer, February 14,
2001.
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