A letter from WCCN’s Executive Director
As you might remember, on November 24th, 2008, the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua changed its name to Working Capital for Community Needs, keeping the acronym WCCN. We believe that our new name better reflects our core work of providing working capital to micro-entrepreneurs and farmers in Latin America with no other sources of affordable credit.
In fact, WCCN’s main activity is to channel funds from our socially responsible investors and deliver them to small borrowers through our microfinance partner agencies in Latin America. Those microfinance agencies then lend that working capital we have raised to fund community needs. Our partner agencies use different lending methodologies, which can be individual or group-based.
Working capital is a commonly used financial term which reflects the amount of cash, or cash equivalents, that a person or a business has to operate. In general terms, it is fair to say that a person or a business that has working capital available have the potential to be more successful since they can expand and improve their operations. On the other hand, a person or business without working capital may lack the funds necessary for growth. That is why it is very important to facilitate the poor their access to working capital to expand their businesses and improve their own lives and those of their children. WCCN’s social impact evaluation of microfinance services in Nicaragua found that 78% of microfinance borrowers effectively use those small loans as working capital for their urban and rural businesses.
WCCN’s newsletter also has a new name, Grassroots Connections. Through this quarterly publication, WCCN aims to connect its grassroots efforts at both ends. On one side, we offer individuals and organizations in the U.S. the opportunity to connect and partner with people in Latin America through our microfinance, women’s empowerment, housing and fair-trade programs. On the other side, we offer grassroots organizations in Latin America that work on these topics the opportunity to connect and partner with committed individuals and organizations in the U.S. The stories that you will find here feed, in one way or another, those connections at the grassroots level.
As you have noticed, WCCN also has a new look. In addition to the above-mentioned changes, we also have a new logo and new colors that will identify us from now on. Let me quote the artist who designed our logo:
“This logo blends several levels of symbolism to represent WCCN’s work. First and foremost is the tree, whose various elements represent the components of WCCN’s work: the roots are investors and donors. The trunk is WCCN, the branches are WCCN’s partner organizations in Latin America, and the leaves represent the Latin American individuals we partner with, whose beautiful and positive growth is fed by all the other components of the tree.”
We are grateful for your interest and support. As we expand to other Latin American countries, we hope you will get even more excited about our work, or reenergize the connection you have had with WCCN. I would like to invite you to read our new newsletter and let us know how we can take our partnership with you to a more in-depth level.
In solidarity,
Carlos Arenas
WCCN Executive Director