Gen Y helping others help themselves
Category: Keeping Up With Gen Y
January 18, 2012 | BY Tamara Bell
Vanessa 
Carter is the Director of Campus Microfinance Alliance, a coalition of nearly a dozen student-run microfinance groups that have already lent more than $350,000 to disadvantaged entrepreneurs who need it most.
Now, they are expanding the program even further. The Alliance has launched a new campaign, “Lend for America,” a summer internship that provides hands-on lessons for college students to learn how to start microfinance organizations in their campus communities.
Vanessa joins Keeping Up with Gen Y to talk about how Gen Y’s confidence and open-mindedness in solving problems can positively impact job creation in their communities. She also explains the potential of microfinance loans to build those strong businesses needed to revitalize the economy.
MORE ABOUT VANESSA CARTER
Vanessa Carter, Director, Campus Microfinance Alliance
Vanessa Carter is the Director of Campus Microfinance Alliance, a coalition of nearly a dozen student-run microfinance groups that have already lent more than $350,000 to disadvantaged entrepreneurs who need it most.
Prior to joining Campus Microfinance Alliance, Vanessa worked with Credit Builders Alliance, where she managed services to help nonprofit loan funds offer credit reporting as a tool to build credit for consumers, as well as helped to build ThinkImpact, a social enterprise that connects students with rural villages in Kenya and South Africa to build social businesses.
Vanessa is a recipient of the Projects for Peace fellowship and spent the summer of 2008 establishing a community center in South Africa to improve access to entrepreneurial opportunities for women.
Vanessa graduated with a B.A. in International Relations and Government from Claremont McKenna College.
You can listen to the show below or you can download it as a podcast from our iTunes page. And you can find us on WomensRadio.
Tags: Campus Microfinance Alliance, entrepreneurs, featured, Gen Y, Lend for America, microfinance loans, small business, Vanessa Carter
About the Author
Tamara Bell: Tamara Bell is the editor of Y Gen Out Loud. She began her journalism career as a reporter in Dallas, Texas. A few years later, she moved into politics and government, working for both Democratic and Republican members of the Texas Legislature. When not working on Y Gen, Tamara is a lecturer in the Advertising Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Tamara has a B.A. in Journalism from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.
