Happy New Year!
At Credit Do, we are mapping out our 2017 goals while taking a moment to reflect on 2016; it was an expansive, eye-opening, and energizing year.
Here are our top 5 moments from 2016:
1. WE GRADUATED. Credit Do saw our very first high school graduates from the Cornelia Connelly Center on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Of the 18 students that participated in our pilot Smarter Barter program, all 18 are now attending college! Three cheers for the faculty and staff! We are proud that their financial education began with Credit Do’s Smarter Barter program. Their education-only savings ranged from $75 - $500 per student in the very first accounts established through our amazing partnership with the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union.
2. WE LEARNED a lot. We were honored to be selected into the 7th Cohort of the Points of Light CivicX Accelerator Program bringing us together with some of the nation’s most innovative DOers & Thinkers dedicated to making lasting change in in the areas of digital and financial inclusion. Along with 11 other social impact businesses we were trained to see ourselves through the lens of an investor, sharpening our business model while competing for $50k dollars.
3. WE WON: We advanced and were recognized at the CivicX graduation demo night by over 100 national funders as the ‘Most Innovative Solution in Financial & Digital Inclusion’. A step forward in committing to the goals ahead. Total elation. Building off this momentum, we were selected as featured innovators for both Social Innovation Summit Showcases in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
4. WE LOST: WE FAILED FORWARD. As we continue to put ourselves in the ring it’s important to get back up and learn the why's and how we lost. We made it to semifinalist accelerator rounds and were not ultimately selected. But still, energized from the process. That brings us back to item number #2 - WE LEARNED. Again and again.
5. WE’RE GRATEFUL to our guides - our valued experts in the field of financial inclusion: community pros, stakeholders and mentors - for their multi-pronged support during this process.