Shirley Brooks has spent the last 10 years fulfilling the mission of Accion Texas, INC., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Community Development Financial Institution, (CDFI), lending institution in the field of micro-finance. As well satisfying her own dream of helping literally hundreds of deserving individuals, small business owner find the courage to build their entrepreneurial dreams through one-on-one consulting and counseling, as well as speaking at professional community outreach events that focus on empowering, and aspiring business owners to pursue their dreams. ACCION Texas-Louisiana is an award-winning nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide credit and loans to small and start-up businesses that have limited or no access to credit from commercial sources. Created in 1994, ACCION Texas Inc. has grown to hold the nation’s largest micro lending portfolio, disbursing over $125 Million since conception. The nonprofit agency provides small loans and management training to micro enterprises of all kinds — from startups to established businesses — and operates in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee as well as Texas.ACCION’s mission is to help entrepreneurs, strengthen their businesses, stabilize and increase their incomes, create employment, and contribute to the economic revitalization of their communities.ACCION is advancing the field of microenterprise with an ambitious program of planned growth, designed to bring its loans and services to thousands of microentrepreneurs throughout is growing footprint. ACCION provides individual business loans from $500 to $250,000 for existing as well as start-up businesses. ACCION also provides business lines of credit from $250,000 for established businesses with two years of financial history.