As a parent, I am concerned that our children are growing up in an era of profound social, technological, political and economic change, with shifts in power and influence and growing international interdependence and between the “Have’s” and the “Have-not’s”. We adults, as teen role models, feel disempowered rather than engaged and involved as the issues appear to be of such a large scale that they seem insurmountable. Many of our teens want to make a difference but do not know how… They have little awareness of the power they that they really have to get involved and affect change

Perhaps an answer would be to develop a program engage young adults, to be better citizens of America, by becoming more aware citizens of the world. This initiative might leverage US teen access to modest cash resources and to harness the power of micro-credit to bring about change. I think that these young adults would feel enormously empowered as a result of the tangible difference they make through their participation in such a microcredit program.

]]> http://give4global.com/leverage-us-teen-access-to-money-for-microcredit/feed/ 0 http://give4global.com/natalie-portman-on-microcredit/ http://give4global.com/natalie-portman-on-microcredit/#comments Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:29:46 +0000 admin http://give4global.com/?p=66

“Microcredit is about giving hope. When you’re talking about making loans to women whose income is less than $1 a day, you can easily make the leap to see what a microloan can make possible. The women I’ve met in Uganda and Guatemala are so resourceful, and it’s just amazing to see how, with their courage and diligence, they create small businesses with such tiny amounts of money. These women work so hard, and they manage to pay off their loans, and the first thing they do is educate and feed their kids. It’s amazing that the world is not investing more in this resource.”

Natalie Portman
Actress
FINCA International Ambassador of Hope
Spokesperson for the International Year of Microcredit 2005