By Ashton Jeffers

LiftFund, initially named ACCION Texas, is a non-profit organization that provides small businesses and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities with small business loans and financial resources for managing microloans. Beginning with the efforts of Janie Barrera in 1994, LiftFund, then ACCION Texas, took the lessons of microlending in Latin American countries to the Southwest where financial resources could be accessed by individuals who face challenges of having loans through commercial sources.

LiftFund’s goal was to provide loans to support moderate-to-low-income individuals and families who typically do not meet the loan criteria required by traditional banks. [1] As the largest microlending organization in the United States, LiftFund’s story ties into the impact that CDFIs have within not just the Latino community in the South, but across the United States.