Have you ever heard of a money pool? Until now, we hadn’t either.
A money pool is a technique that people worldwide living in poverty (or close to it) have used for centuries to save for large expenses. Here’s the way it works: Each member of the pool contributes the same amount of cash each month. Then, they each take turns receiving the lump sum.
Francisco Cervera, a resident of Phoenix, saw the effectiveness of a money pool when funds were tight and he needed a computer for school. His mother saved for it by contributing to a money pool in San Diego that she ran (she was responsible for not only reminding people to pay, but collecting their contributions, too).
While money pools are a good idea since they provide access to savings for people who can’t use banks, Cervera thought they could be improved. So as an adult, he started eMoneyPool with his brother Luis. The online tool formalizes the money pool and provides guarantees for participants in case anyone misses a payment.
New users to eMoneyPool are limited to $100 contributions, and each savings group consists of five participants. The website verifies users’ identities, and even works to establish a credit history for them through their transactions — helping them work towards being able to use a more traditional financial institution in the future. “We are creating a bridge for our users to lending institutions, but we are doing it in a way that is comfortable and familiar to them, with money pools,” said Cervera told Pop! Tech.
“Saving money by yourself is a nice idea. But when you are living at the poverty level, everything is drawing on your cash,” said Cervera. “Money pools change the idea of saving because you are saving as a team…It changes the desire to save from a want to a need. People think, ‘Now I have to put that money away because the group is counting on me.'”
MORE:Seattle Readies ‘Financial Empowerment Centers’ for Low-Income Residents
Tag: Arizona
Salute the Non-Profit That Helps Vets Continue to Serve When They Return Home
When she returned to the United States from Iraq, former Army sergeant Rachel Gutierrez struggled with depression and PTSD. Luckily, she found assistance and is now feeling better, thanks to The Mission Continues, a St. Louis-based non-profit organization that mobilizes veterans to help other veterans.
The Mission Continues organizes platoons of veterans and active duty servicemen and women to work together to solve problems in their communities. For example, there’s a Phoenix platoon that focuses on chronic veteran homelessness, while the Washington, D.C. platoon works to fight hunger among children. The Orlando, Florida platoon mentors at-risk youth.
Gutierrez is the leader of the 1st Platoon Phoenix. Tina Rosenberg of the New York Times highlighted a late-night mission Gutierrez led to find veterans sleeping on the street in Phoenix and register them for services last October. The volunteers located 75 veterans, of which 40 agreed to apply for housing. At Christmas, the service platoon follow-up with the vets, visiting their new apartments and bringing holiday gifts.
Former Navy Seal Eric Greitens founded The Mission Continues in 2007, offering vets a stipend in exchange for them spending 20 hours a week on a six-month service mission. Last year, he expanded the organization’s programs to the service platoon model when he realized it could help more people and involve more vets.
Serving with The Mission Continues has had a major impact on Gutierrez’s quality of life. “So many of us have problems with PTSD and such. This makes us realize that regardless of what’s going on, we are strong enough to still serve others and motivate others with our stories and compassion.”
MORE: This Documentarian is Filming Incredible Vets and Helping Them at the Same Time
How to Get Teens Interested in Saving the World
Young Americans have the passion and energy to help people across the world, but don’t always have the resources. That’s where New Global Citizens, a Tempe, Ariz.-based non-profit steps in. New Global Citizens provides information about global problems to teenagers and lesson plans for teachers that show how to make complex issues accessible to their classes. The group’s lesson plans break down issues such as global hunger, epidemics, and gender inequality. NGC also connects young people with volunteer opportunities, and through its after school programs, supports teenagers in starting their own movements and fundraisers.
NGC has supported students holding bake sales or talent shows to raise money for A Ban Against Neglect, which helps impoverished mothers in Ghana, and Sustainable Resources Ltd., which completes infrastructure projects in developing countries.
When she was in high school, Stephanie Arzate of Avondale, Ariz. participated in an NGC afterschool program to raise money for the Afghan Institute of Learning, which provides education to women in Afghanistan. Later Arzate went to Georgetown to study for a planned career in the Foreign Service, and had the chance to meet that organization’s executive director. “I didn’t need to tell her more than my name and where I went to high school,” Arzate told Larisa Epatko of the PBS NewsHour. “She immediately hugged me and thanked me and my high school team for the money we raised.”
MORE: He’s Only 16, But His Generosity is Already Worthy of a Movie
This Business Is Putting the Words ‘Thank You for Your Service’ Into Action
The Vetraplex, a Cottonwood, Arizona-based contracting company, has a unique motto: “Putting the words ‘thank you for your service’ in action.” The company hires and trains veterans to perform such work as painting, welding, and carpentry. The Vetraplex also offers discounts to veterans and active military personnel for its services.
“When we first started this, the six original veterans hired were unemployed, and half of us had been or were homeless,” James Bruno, an Army veteran and the company’s vice president, told Tamara Sone of The Daily Courant. “The first month that we opened as landscaping, construction and handymen, we got so busy we couldn’t keep up.”
The Vetraplex is now offering to sell franchises so that its model of training and employing veterans can be expanded throughout Arizona.
MORE: This Paralyzed Veteran Can Hunt and Fish Again, Thanks to the Generosity of His Community
Giving Homeless Vets a Helping Hand—and a New Uniform
Before he became the Executive Director of Arizona State Parks, Bryan Martyn served in the Air Force and Army as a special operations helicopter pilot. Saddened when he learned about the high rates of homelessness and suicide among veterans, Martyn decided to do something about it. So he initiated a new program in the Arizona State Parks to provide jobs to homeless veterans. He told Kyle Benedict of NAZ Today that his aim was to “give them a uniform, give them a job, give them a place to be and a purpose, pay them a fair wage and provide housing.”
One of the veterans helped by the program is Carlos Garcia, who served as a combat engineer in the Army for 14 years. He now works as a Park Ranger Specialist and lives on Dead Horse Ranch State Park in a FEMA trailer, which he describes as “pretty comfortable.” He works 8 to 5, earning $12 an hour, and enjoys the outdoor work so much that he hopes to move up from this temporary job into a permanent position with the parks department.
Martyn told Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic that he has funding to provide the first group of five veterans a 40-hour-a-week job for nine months, but that he hopes the vets might get on their feet even sooner. We hope so too.
MORE: This Paralyzed Vet Can Hunt and Fish Again, Thanks To the Generosity of His Community
How a Simple Rule Change Will Make It Easier for Native Americans to Go to College
The Arizona Board of Regents just made it easier for Native American students to attend college in state. A new residency policy lets enrolled members of any sovereign federally recognized tribe whose reservation land lies at least partially in Arizona to be eligible for in-state tuition at the state’s public universities.
The change is a significant shift from the old rule, which required students to show proof of residence on tribal lands to qualify for in-state tuition. That often turned out to be an arduous process, given that many Navajo families who live on the reservation have mailing addresses elsewhere, because, say, there’s no local post office where they reside. The new policy will require students to prove tribal membership instead of physical residence, which can be done by providing a certificate from the tribe’s Office of Vital Records.
The Board of Regents is hoping that starting in the spring, when the new policy takes effect, tribal members who are currently attending school out of state or thinking about doing so will be persuaded to come back home.
One Woman’s Mission to Give Veterans a Trip to ‘Nature’s Cathedral’
78-year-old Pennsylvania resident Margery Hermann wanted to do something to help returning veterans, so she decided to combine her love of rafting with her charitable mission. In 2012, she founded Canyon Heroes, which organizes rafting trips for veterans down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Hermann believes a seven-day trip into what she calls “Nature’s Cathedral” can provide a healing experience for men and women who’ve served their country. After two successful runs so far, several veterans said the river journey has helped them in ways years of therapy did not.
The Streetcar Returns! And It’s Rescuing Tucson From the Recession
Streetcars were once a common feature in American cities. New York once had an expansive network that seamlessly linked its two largest boroughs. They were, however, largely abandoned after World War II as communities were designed around automobiles. However, in the wake of an energy crisis, the streetcar is experiencing a kind of renaissance. According to the Associated Press, Tucson is one of several cities planning to launch streetcar service to promote economic development. The city just finished a four-mile-long streetcar track that will run between the University of Arizona campus and downtown. “Roughly 150 businesses have opened their doors along the route in the last five years, and the once-dormant area is in the middle of a $230 million construction boom, according to the Downtown Tucson Partnership. The group estimates that 2,000 jobs have been created or relocated to the area,” according to Pew States. Michael Keith, CEO of the downtown group, says, “The fact that Tucson could reinvent itself in the middle of the worst recession to hit the state since 1928 is astonishing.”