JustHope
Creating global partnerships that combat extreme poverty and nurture sustainable community.
Creating jobs and opportunities for economic development is the primary way that JustHope lives into our mission of "combating extreme poverty." We believe that every person has a right to work, and our experience shows that meaningful work not only helps people meet basic needs, it increases one's sense of dignity.
JustHope’s Social Enterprise programs focus on creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation that cultivates inclusive and diversified economies in our partner communities. We do this primarily through supporting small business ventures and through microcredit lending banks.
In response to a meeting with a group of women in Chacraseca regarding their situation and concerns, JustHope started its first microbank project in July, 2009. That first cycle of lending gave 12 women the opportunity to start their own small business. Loans of $50 - 250 were made for businesses as diverse as small stores, growing pigs, selling tortillas, and farming small plots of land.
The store is expanding! After two years in operation, the residents of Chacraseca are celebrating the Ferreteria as one of the best things that has happened in their community.
"I can ride my horse to get what I need!"
"It's wonderful, now I don't have to go the León to buy nails!"
"I think I can repair my house now!"
Stitching Hope is a women's fabric art and sewing cooperative in Chacraseca, Nicaragua. In 2011, a group of creative women, in partnership with JustHope and the founding partner, Federated Church of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, began developing the enterprise.
With help from SpiritBank and DoubleShot Coffee, this project raised the funds needed to start a microbank in La Flor, a small, coffee-farming community in the mountains of central Nicaragua. Access to the loans made available by this new microbank enable small-scale coffee farmers to prepare their coffee fields for the coming season without having to engage a loan shark (which is often the only option for small farmers).
JustHope has been visiting the potters' village, San Juan de Oriente, for several years. Over these years, a friendship and partnersip was formed with the Lopez family potters, Cándida, Fanor, Isaias, and Leandro.
A group of 270 farmers from the furthest sectors in Chacraseca sent representatives to us with an urgent request to help them buy a new tractor.
At that time their only option for getting their fields ready to plant was to rent a tractor from someone in a nearby community, which is expensive, and they have to wait in a long line, often meaning they can't get their crops planted in time for the short spring growing season.
La Flor means "the flower" and the beauty of the area is true to the name. La Flor is a small community of farming and coffee-picking families, all of whom live on less than $2 per day. Situated at the top of a mountain in Nicaragua’s cloud forest, there is no vehicle access, making life in La Flor a challenge.