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News Events

  • FIELD's 2008 publication Revitalizing Rural Economies Through Entrepreneurship Development Systems was cited by Deborah M. Markley, director of research at the RUPRI Center for Rural Entrepreneurship, as part of testimony she delivered to a subcommittee of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee on March 31, 2009. FIELD's report shares key lessons learned through the W. K. Kellogg Foundation-funded demonstration of Entrepreneurial Development Systems implemented in six rural locations across the country. Read FIELD's report.
  • FIELD Director Elaine Edgcomb shared lessons from a W. K. Kellogg Foundation-funded initiative to revitalize rural economies through Entrepreneurial Development Systems (EDSs) at a November 2008 conference sponsored by the University of Missouri-Columbia's McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Her presentation described the goals of the project, the six participating EDS collaboratives, and the challenges and accomplishments experienced over the three years of the project. View her PowerPoint for an overview of the project. Download her speech.
  • FIELD Senior Consultant Joyce Klein discussed asset-building strategies offered by microenterprise programs at the Asset Learning Conference sponsored in fall 2008 by CFED. Included was a summary of current research on the asset-building effects of microenterprise. View presentation.
  • FIELD Director Elaine Edgcomb described the current state of the domestic microenterprise industry and where there are opportunities for growth during a "Summit on Microfinance in the U.S.," keynoted by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and hosted by ACCION Texas, Nov. 6-7, 2007. Read her speech.


  • FIELD's Director Elaine Edgcomb testified before the House Committee on Small Business about the importance of two SBA programs to the microenterprise industry on June 14, 2007. Read testimony.


  • This speech, delivered by FIELD Director Elaine Edgcomb at the annual conference of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity in May 2006, took an in-depth look at how the the microenterprise industry was using a set of FIELD's recommendations to try to achieve long-term growth and stability. Read speech.

Press Releases

In the News

  • FIELD launches 2011 U.S. Microenterprise Census
    April 20, 2011

  • Newly released FIELD white paper discusses for-profit microlending landcape in the U.S.
    April 5, 2011

  • FIELD Director, Elaine Edgcomb, featured in the Huffington Post discussing the implications of federal budget cuts to microenterprise programming
    March 30, 2011

  • Aspen Institute Receives Grant from Bank of America for MicroTracker, a Data Collection System for Microenterprise Industry
    March 8, 2011

  • "Budget Cuts Threaten America's Smallest Businesses ," Huffington Post, March 29, 2011. Read article


  • "Credit Crunch Gives 'Microlending' a Boost," Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2010. Read article


  • "Rising Tide Capital Uses MicroTest for the First Time," Rising Tide Capital, June-July 2010. Read article


  • "Hot off the Presses," @The Aspen Institute, July/August 2010. Read article


  • "Microfinance Groups Think Big," Wall Street Journal, July 5, 2010. Read article


  • "Domestic Microfinance Steps into the Credit Breach," Business Week, June 4, 2010. Read article


  • "Research Round Up: Where The Jobs Are," Small Business Trends, May 6, 2010. Read article


  • "Microfinance Makes Itself Felt Through Crisis," The Microenterprise Journal, January 18, 2010. Read article


  • "Can tapping into the informal economy improve the lives of the urban poor?," The American Prospect, January 18, 2010. Read article


  • "Microlenders Making a Big Difference," San Diego Union Tribune, January 19, 2010. Read article


  • "Microfinance on Campus Shows Promise," Microbusiness News Briefs, December 7, 2009. Read article


  • "The Freelance Economy," Forbes Magazine, November 16, 2009. Read article


  • "Baby steps and big gains; Urban College program guides day-care entrepreneurs toward expansion, success," The Boston Globe, August 18, 2009. Read article


  • "How microlending helps communities," San Francisco Chronicle, May 29, 2009. Read article


  • "NEF to Join Citi Foundation-funded Project; Funds Will Support Summer Internship," Oakland Independent, March 26, 2009. Read article


  • "Micro loans on rise in Portland area," The Portland Oregonian, February 26, 2009. Read article


  • "Recession ups US demand for Third-World type loans," Associated Press, February 16, 2009. Read article


  • "Encouraging Entrepreneurship: A Microenterprise Development Policy Agenda," Community Investments, Published by the Community Development Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Winter 2008. Read article


  • "Entrepreneurs find funding in small doses; In tough times, microlending helps small businesses get capital they need," MSNBC.com, December 8, 2008. Read article


  • "'We're the guardians of the middle class'," The Guardian, May 12, 2008. Read article


  • "Yale students serve as bankers for struggling entrepreneurs," Associated Press, May 8, 2008. Read article


  • "Lending Plan Won Prize, But Will It Work Here?" The New York Times, April 1, 2008. Read article


  • "Bernanke coming to S.A. to put spotlight on microlending," mysanantonio.com, Oct. 28, 2007. Read article


  • "Microenterprise Development in the U.S.: Past, present and future," Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Community Dividend, Issue 2, 2007. Read article


  • "Big Boost for Small Business," The Aspen Idea Magazine, Summer 2007. Read article


  • "Temperature Check: What's the Status of the Microenterprise Field?" AEO Exchange, Issue 24, October-December 2006. Read article


  • Entrepreneurship: The Foundation for Economic Renewal in the GulfCoast Region, Conference Proceedings, April 10-11, 2006. Conference sponsors: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, The Public Forum Institute, The Urban Entrepreneur Partnership. Read article


  • "Microenterprise: Growing Businesses, Assets and Markets," Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Banking and Community Perspectives, Issue 2, 2005. Read article


  • Community Development Finance Research Conference: A Summary, Dec. 9-10, 2004. Conference sponsors: Federal Reserve banks of Philadelphia and New York, with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Read article


  • "Probing the Hidden Economy," The Aspen Idea Magazine, Winter 2004/2005. Read article