Eight students from the University of Mary Washington have created a microfinance institution to help poor women in Honduras.
The students initiated the microfinance institution, known as La Ceiba, as part of an economics class taught by assistant professor Shawn Humphrey.
Another student from the College of William and Mary also participated in the project.
The idea for the institution came after students who traveled to the village of Siete de Abril in Honduras discovered the difficulty poor villagers had in securing loans. Recently, the students presented 13 women loans of $150 each to start or augment small businesses. Microfinance organizations aim to assist underprivileged clients by offering access to financial services.
La Ceiba received funding from an undergraduate research grant from UMW, a Youth in Philanthropy grant from the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region and the Two Dollar Challenge fundraiser. The annual fundraising event, organized by Humphrey, encourages students to live on $2 a day to see how poverty-stricken people exist and to solicit funds for poor entrepreneurs in developing countries.
The group also hopes to raise $10,000 for the project with a fundraising effort called 2000/$5, in which the group is recruiting 2000 individuals to donate $5 each.
The students are working in cooperation with the nonprofit group Students Helping Honduras, which was organized in 2007 by UMW graduate Shin Fujiyama to help the poor in the village.
For more information on La Ceiba, visit www.laceibamfi.org or contact Humphrey at (540) 654-1487.