Can you help us spread the word? Our Small Business program is working to contact refugees and asylees in the Philadelphia region who want to open a business.

We're working with the Women's Opportunities Resource Center to provide small business loans to qualified refugees and asylees.

The program is open to existing business owners as well as new entrepreneurs.

As you know, refugees and other special visa holders  often face extraordinary barriers to building their economic futures, including having survived trauma and persecution in their home countries.

In recognition of these barriers, the US Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has established the Microenterprise Development Program for new and existing refugee-run businesses.

The microenterprise program is open to:

• Refugees and asylees
• Afghan or Iraqi holders of Special Immigrant Visas
• Cuban or Haitian entrants 
• Certain Amerasians
• T-visa holders 

Emphasis is on people who have received their refugee/asylee/other eligible status in the last 5 years.  

 

If you have a client or past client who may be eligible for this loan program, please contact the Welcoming Center today (or encourage your client to contact us directly).

 

Staff members Herman Nyamunga and Natalie Cramer can be contacted at (215) 557-2626 or by the individual phone numbers and e-mail addresses listed at right.

 

Thank you in advance for helping us to spread the word about this valuable program.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Amanda Bergson-Shilcock

Director of Outreach 

Natalie Cramer