In November of 2014 Louisville became the 9th Kiva City ahead of both NYC and San Francisco scheduled to launch later in 2015. In just one year the Louisville region has seen over $170,000 in 0% interest loans to small businesses through the Kiva Zip platform.
Central to all of the Kiva activity in a new Kiva City are the individuals who play the role of Kiva Fellow. Access Ventures is excited to announce that Louisville will receive yet another Kiva Fellow this June. Josie Raymond, a Louisville native, will start a 12-month term on June 1st. With the addition of a second Kiva Fellow, we expect to see well over 30 new loans throughout the region.
Josie is an 8th-generation Kentuckian on both sides of her family, and proud to return to her hometown of Louisville. Vexed by stories of educational inequity, she joined Teach For America and taught creative writing and reading at middle schools in Indianapolis. From there, she moved to Oakland, CA to lead the academic department of a nonprofit called College Track that prepares low-income high school students of color to be the first in their families to go to and graduate from college.
Access Ventures has been raising funds for this role since the launch of Kiva City Louisville. Funding a local kiva fellow for a 12 month term had never been done before Louisville in 2014. Josie will now be the 4th locally funded fellow in the nation. If you are interested in becoming a borrower on Kiva Zip, or contributing to our local kiva fellow fund via a tax deductible donation, please contact David Taliaferro.
Access Ventures is an impact-investment group that deploys holistic investments to see communities flourish. Our vision is to impact the world by helping all people, communities and businesses realize their full potential. We provide capital to the best solutions and organizations with significant potential for impact within the community. We create tailored and holistic investment strategies that meet a variety of needs with a layered and integrated capital approach predicated on our principle belief that all people matter. We step into challenging situations, wrestle with its complexities, and create holistic solutions that enable human flourishing.
