FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 7, 2012
CONTACT: Chip Unruh (Reed), 202-224-4642
Andy Posner (Capital Good Fund), 401-339-5437

RI Non-Profit Wins $81,000 Community Development Grant

PROVIDENCE, RI – Capital Good Fund (CGF), a non-profit financial services organization based in Providence, will receive an $81,273 Community Development Financial Institutions Technical Assistance grant to help revitalize low-income communities in Providence and better serve all of Rhode Island.

“I am pleased Capital Good Fund has won this competitive grant to help revitalize communities in Rhode Island,” said Reed, a member of the Appropriations Committee. “Offering loans and financial coaching to communities and small business owners are smart ways to foster economic opportunity and community development.”

The Math of Social Change

The fight for social/environmental justice, regardless of the form the battle takes, is deeply imbued with emotion: we want to hear about the life changed, the forest preserved, the child educated, the disease eradicated, the war averted.  And to be sure, whether one donates to a non-profit, works for an organization that seeks to better the world or volunteers for a cause, one’s time, money, sweat and tears will almost always achieve a positive impact, however infinitesimal.

However, there is also a math to social change that cuts through emotion and gets at a simple question: does a particular intervention actually achieve the desired impact?  As the Executive Director of a non-profit, I have dedicated my entire life to bettering the world.  For the past four years I have worked 60+ hours a week to grow an organization that can tackle poverty in America.  After all this work, after thinking for so long about what product, service or combination of the two can really change lives, and after serving hundreds of people with loans, financial coaching, free tax preparation and various workshops, I have been forced to come to a painful conclusion: no matter how many people you serve, only a certain percentage of those served will truly benefit from the service.