User:Preshlistana/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Area: Tenderloin, San Francisco

Overview

The Tenderloin, spread over 40 blocks, is home to nearly 35,000 residents comprised of low-income families, children, artists, seniors, newly-arrived immigrants, ex-convicts, drug-dealers, mentally ill and the homeless.

This Wikepedia article does a great job of synthesizing the neighborhood's history. It begins with an introduction of its nightlife back in the 19th century. Theaters, restaurants, boxing gyms & gambling spaces are just some of the many forms of entertainment that the Tenderloin was notoriously known. But, its dynamic culture slowly changed after World War II, which opened up many vacant housing units.

By then, the low-cost vacant housing units attracted many Southeast Asian refugees. The increase of immigrant population added into the neighborhood's diversity, developing its melting pot culture. With its entertainment & immigration history, the Tenderloin attracted San Francisco's illegal drug trade, liquor stores, strip clubs, homelessness & crime.

Improvements

I want to expand on the "Crime" portion of this article. My internship has on-the-ground statistics on the current crime climate.

Sector: Microfinance focusing on KIVA

Overview

All existing Kiva programs (Kiva Zip, Kiva Labs, Kiva U & Kiva City Program) are well-explained in this article. It succinctly covers Kiva's history, impact through microfinance & the various communities they serve locally & globally. Some of their priorities include: empowering women to have access to capital, providing microloans to students seeking higher education and investing in green loans (solar panels, organic fertilizers, biofuels).

Improvements

I will edit the Kiva U section with a case example from Sacred Heart Cathedral. This was one of the first schools that Kiva partnered with to integrate their curriculum.

In the "Issues" portion of the article, I want to include opt-eds that questions & criticizes Kiva's model. From TwoSolitudes's article published in Daily Kos, they argue that Kiva's 0% interest rate along with the interest rates of their field partners do not actually help the Kiva borrowers. Many other articles also highlight this "middle-man" issue that I can include in my edits.

Scholarly Sources & Summaries

Area

1) The Tenderloin: Sex, Crime, and Resistance in the Heart of San Francisco by Randy Shaw

This book provides a rich history of the Tenderloin written by a resident. Randy Shaw has worked in the neighborhood for 35 years. His unique experience highlights the assumptions underlying the challenges faced by urban communities. With emerging businesses booming next to the neighborhood, it is crucial to understand & protect the dynamic culture of the Tenderloin.

2) Central Market/Tenderloin Strategy by SF Planning Commission

On May 2015, the SF Planning Commission published their strategy to make Central Market & Tenderloin a mixed-income neighborhood. This is an action guide for residents to get involved in emerging neighborhood projects. This is an action guide for key stakeholders including local politicians and Tenderloin nonprofits to find points of collaboration.

3) There's No Place like Home by Megan Sandel, Joshua Sharfstein & Randy Shaw

This study correlates children's health outcomes with affordable housing using data from the American Housing Survey, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, the National Housing Trust & more. It is organized into 5 negative public health consequences on children. And, they conclude with recommendations like: increasing Section 8 vouchers, protecting the existing affordable housing stock, and increasing low-income housing tax credit.

4) Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture by a City Lights Anthology

San Francisco is a growing city and the hotspot for new residents from all walks of life. This anthology focuses on the stories of immigrants, minorities, neighborhood-activists. Their narratives provides a different context behind the privatized public services and shows the perspectives of a "voiceless" community.

5) The Encyclopedia of Housing by Andrew Carswell

One of the biggest challenges that San Francisco faces is providing housing for all. This is one of the most expensive urban cities in the U.S. which has greatly contributed to the homeless problem. There's a high demand for housing but not enough supply. Andrew Carswell walks us through the web of intricacies tied to housing policies.

6) Redevelopment in the Central Market and the Tenderloin by Maria Atuesta, Alejandra de Dios Ponce de Leon, Marcy Monroe, & Rebecca Womack

This research study conducted by UC Berkeley graduate students looked into the change of small business & nonprofit landscape in the past 5 years. They specifically focused on recent redevelopment efforts and used quantitative & qualitative data.

Sector

1) Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus is dubbed as the father of microfinance. Banker to the Poor is his journey of drawing inspiration & executing on his microfinance vision in Bangladesh through Grameen Bank.

2) Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus

Creating a World Without Poverty is the sequel to Banker to the Poor focusing on the integration of social businesses in capitalistic markets. Yunus outlines the necessity of developing businesses in our 21st century that are aligned with a global impact.

3) Poverty Capital by Ananya Roy

Poverty Capital emphasizes on the people that "manage poverty". She uses microfinance to dive deeper on what exactly poverty is and how it is being solved. Roy analyzes the roles of markets as businesses & agents of changes.

4) Microfinance in the United States: The Working Capital Experience Ten Years by Jeffrey Ashe

Working Capital is the U.S.'s largest peer-group lending program that has existed for over 10 years. Jeffrey Ashe shows how participation in such programs develop "social and economic capital" in poor communities. Ashe presents qualitative analysis of the impact of group lending to the individual & their businesses.

5) Microfinance: A comprehensive review of the existing literature by Gary M. Woller

There are various scholarly sources on microfinance. Gary Woller provides a comprehensive review of 350+ articles that explore microfinance sustainability, management practices, regulation & policy, and impact assessment. His goal is to curate these resources for the finance community.

6) Replicating Microfinance in the United States by the Woodrow Wilson Center Press with Johns Hopkins University

Microfinance began in Bangladesh & expanded in numerous developing countries. The Woodrow Wilson Center Press with Johns Hopkins University explores how microfinance has evolved in the United States. It lays out a groundwork on how microlending can go beyond housing finance, community development finance, & consumer finance.

7) Regulation of Microfinance in the United States: following a Peruvian model by Matthew Pierce

Matthew Pierce illustrates the implementation of microfinance in the United States. All sustainable solutions require strong regulatory practices When it comes to regulation, he recommends exploring the Peruvian model to ensure microfinance success.

8) Microenterprise programs in US inner cities: economic development or social welfare? by Lisa Servon

This article presents 3 case studies of inner-city microenterprise programs and its positive impact on the individual, community, etc. Lisa Servon uses examples of people that have been completely cut out from the economic mainstream. Empowerment is a key component to her article as well as the importance of shifting policy to prioritize such initiative.

Summarizing & Synthesizing

Central Market/Tenderloin Strategy by SF Planning Commission

Right now, the Wikipedia article is not updated with this strategy. The culture of the Tenderloin is shifting especially with the new businesses making its way in the neighborhood. Now, this is a community that is facing problems of gentrification, and working in community with "outsiders". Instead of editing the "Crime" portion of this article, I want to make my own section about the Central Market/Tenderloin Strategy. My goal is to provide a current update of where the Tenderloin is headed to in the next few years.

Below is my working draft:

Central Market/Tenderloin Strategy (May 2015)

The Central Market/Tenderloin Strategy began in late 2011. This was pioneered by the Mayor's Investment in Neighborhood initiative (CMES), and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD). Their goal is to "coordinate public and private efforts and investment to revitalize the long-neglected stretch of Market Street between Fifth & Van Ness."

This plan is broken into 5 sections: 1) introduction & background, 2) strategy framework, 3) strategy approach-action zones, game changers & neighborhood-wide objectives, 4) neighborhood public realm projects, and 5) strategy implementation.

In section 2: strategy framework, the plan lays out a clear goal for the Tenderloin: "a diverse, healthy, mixed-income neighborhood that offers safety and well-being to all who live, work and visit Central Market and the Tenderloin." The intersection of economic opportunities and clean & safe shared spaces is part of this strategic framework.

Section 3: strategy approach-action zones lays out a map broken into 8 action zones. These zones are categorized into economic opportunity, clean & shared spaces, and low-income community. There is also a respective city subcommittee that is supporting the "game changers" of each action zone.

For example, Action Zone B (Jones & Eddy) includes the reopening of Boeddeker Park. This Park was notorious for being the hotspot of drug-dealing. Therefore, the city thought that it's best to shut down the Park. By 2015, it re-opened with a more structured scheduled hours and park programming. Now, this is a Park that welcomes roughly 100 park-goers on the daily. A recent survey conducted by the Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership says that 95% of their participants perceived this Park as safe.

Banker To The Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Muhammad Yunus

I still want to develop the "Issues" portion of the Kiva Wikipedia article. From this book, I plan to synthesize the challenges of microfinance in Bangladesh focusing on interest rate. My goal is to use this information to elaborate that microfinance is not a silver bullet solution to poverty. Like every "solution", there are pros and cons. However, I want to emphasize that despite the interest rate challenge, microfinance is still a tangible opportunity that is elevating poor people everywhere.

Below is my working draft:

Microfinance History

In 1983, the institution of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh through Muhammad Yunus began the practice of microfinance. Fundamentally, microfinance is the act of providing tiny loans to the “unbankable” with a focus on social collateral. According to the World Bank, 2.5 billion people do not have formal accounts at financial institutions. Many mainstream banks do not provide poor people with credit because they are considered un-trustable, uneducated and incapable of paying their loans. Traditionally, poor people, especially women, do not have access to credit. However, Grameen Bank bridges the gap between people without collateral and the bank.  

The practice of microfinance has rapidly influenced other countries to implement such change. By 1992, the Self-Help Group-Bank Linkage Programme (SHG-BLP) in India began to equip the poorest of the poor with credit. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) partnered with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), local non-government organizations (NGOs), other banks, and central and state governments, to oversee the creation and maintenance of SHGs.

Prior to the SHG-BLP, one of the NGOs tied to the Millennium Development Goals, MYARDA, piloted the SHG project. MYARDA founded a microfinance institution (MFI) to directly lend loans to SHGs. Through the funds granted by NABARD, the pilot program had 500 SHGs linked with banks by the early 1990s.

The groups that formed were connected by their economic and occupational homogeneities. Since many of the members were uneducated and illiterate, they were unaware of the process of taking loans, savings and budgeting, and paying interest. Microfinance does not only provide credit for the poor, but it also provides financial literacy. MYARDA took the initiative to train the members to organize meetings, set agendas, and keep track of minutes to ensure the success of the groups.

Critical issues against microfinance

With growing traction & implementation for microfinance also come the criticism. Below are some examples:

1. high interest rates contribute to the problem of poverty,
2. complicated paperwork prevents a borrower from receiving a microloan,
3. detracts from job creation which is a better solution to alleviating poverty and,
4. leaves some borrowers economically challenged in repaying the loan back

Ultimately, many claim that microfinance is not the solution to poverty. Instead it is a tool to alleviate poverty. Most countries implement microfinance by following Grameen Bank's model:

1. yearly loans get distributed to groups of poor people,
2. each group is required to pay weekly installments, and
3. loan interest rate is less than 20%.

Implementing Microfinance in the United States

Working Capital is one of the largest microenterprise programs in the United States. They began in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont in the early 1990s. Their goal is to eliminate the barriers of entry for low-income entrepreneurs to establish their businesses.

How they accomplish this goal is by developing small peer-lending groups of five. These groups create their own bylaws & elect their own officers. Then, they start with an initial loan of $500 and move up to $5,000. Working Capital provides them a network of financial experts, mediators & entrepreneurs to guide them in the loan acquisition & repayment process.

Even with the support of Working Capital, some groups fall behind due to poor group dynamics. For example, without a dedicated elected body directing their team to achieve loan deadlines, then people start falling off their commitments. For lending circles to effectively work, teams must be consistent with meeting their goals.

When implementing microfinance in the United States, it is important to think about the barriers of entry. Most businesses started by low-income entrepreneurs are in the service industry. This is a highly competitive industry ranging from food, retail, autoservices, etc. Aside from finances, these entrepreneurs need to be equipped with the grit to overcome competition.

Most microfinance enterprises in the U.S. include training programs. The challenge with these programs is the cost-benefit. For example, how can they accurately measure the benefit of these trainings to these entrepreneurs? Another challenge is that these programs are often not sustainable. Although the intent is good, it is difficult to keep them running.