What We Do

HELP MICROBUSINESS ENTREPRENEURS

With a grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement in 1992, ECDC established a Microenterprise Development Program to promote economic self-sufficiency by providing loans, technical assistance, and business counseling to refugees interested in starting small businesses in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. It quickly became evident that a wider group of people had entrepreneurial aspirations as well, and ECDC's program expanded its client base in 1994 and began serving low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs, focusing on minority- and women-owned businesses. In 2001, what began as a program became a fully operational subsidiary, the ECDC Enterprise Development Group (ECDC EDG). www.entdevgroup.org

The ECDC EDG offers training and pre-loan business assistance, disburses loans up to $35,000, provides post-loan technical assistance, and services its loan portfolio. The ECDC EDG serves as a Small Business Administration's Intermediary Lender in Washington, DC; in Maryland (Montgomery County and Prince George's County); and in Virginia (Arlington County and Fairfax County and the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church). In addition, the ECDC EDG has been certified by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund as both a Community Development Entity (CDE) and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). To learn more click on ECDC EDG's website www.entdevgroup.org