IRC's Center for Economic Opportunity

CEO’s origins can be traced back to the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) efforts to help newly- arrived refugees and other low-income families climb the economic ladder. Lack of credit and access to consumer financing was immediately apparent as a significant barrier to prosperity for IRC’s clients – and not only for refugees, but for low-income immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Finding partnerships with existing lenders that could reliably, consistently, and affordably extend financing to its clients proved elusive, and so IRC began to offer loans directly – and did so in tandem with their anti-poverty social service efforts. By 2016, the IRC had made more than 3,000 loans totaling $3 million -- primarily to low-income refugee and immigrant borrowers -- while maintaining a 94% repayment rate on its portfolio. More importantly, borrowers were able to build credit, buy cars, start businesses and pay for training that could lead to higher-wage, higher-skilled work. CEO was founded by IRC to bring CEO’s unique model and approach to a larger scale. IRC began lending in 2003 – and CEO’s model today is directly informed by IRC’s 15+ years of experience and iterative improvements, mistakes and breakthroughs. CEO is designed to offer modest loans at affordable rates from within trusted community locations – this formula has worked within IRC’s setting, and we are eager to explore applying the model in different contexts, with different partners and for other populations.