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Program Summary:
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The Association for Enterprise
Opportunity (AEO) is a national association of organizations committed to
microenterprise development. It provides its members with a forum,
information, assistance, and a voice to promote enterprise opportunity
for people and communities with limited access to economic
resources. Its services include
pass-through grants and loans, training/technical assistance, consulting,
policy and advocacy work, communications, research, and strategic
partnerships and alliances.
Started by national group of practitioners and funders
in 1991, AEO is is supported to a large extent
by foundations and corporations, along with membership dues and other
sources of income. Among AEO's
collaborators are DHL, eBay Foundation, Citigroup
Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Hewlett-Packard Company, Prudential
Foundation, Covad Communications Group, Field,
Aspen Institute, and J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation.
AEO provides
assistance to member organizations and programs that are involved with microenterprise development. It often works in partnership with funders who usually have a particular group of 4-8
organizations that will receive assistance. Awardees typically use the financial
assistance they receive for training, loans to clients, and related
purposes. Grants or loans
sometimes are based on a region of geography, minority status, income
levels, gender, or other criteria.
A 4-5 day national conference
and membership meeting with comprehensive training is offered
annually. Additionally, a
regional, 2-day training institute is offered 3-4 times per year;
typically serving 200 people for each and targeted to their specific
areas and needs. Scholarships are
usually available to representatives of member organizations to attend
the national and regional events.
AEO also provides leadership scholarships, especially for minority
women involved in microenterprise development,
and gives awards annually organizations that have established innovative
programs or technology to increase program scale. Information and research on a wide
range of topics related to the microenterprise
development field are compiled from national resources and institutes and
made available to members and the public.
AEO also publishes a newsletter, manages listservs,
and operates peer networking groups.
Members participate on various committees of the association to
help change and grow the field.
AEO operates a number
of targeted programs. For example,
the Prudential Young Entrepreneur Program assists emerging entrepreneurs
aged 18-30, and the Microenterprise Standards and Accreditation Project
(MSAP), under the AEO MSAP/Research Committee, is working to define
standards of acceptable operation for microenterprise
organizations and to measure compliance with them.
Internal and external
evaluation of programs are conducted regularly, including reviews of milestones
in the strategic plan, and reviews of training activities, and surveys of
those who have used association services.
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