NYC Event FYI: WAM-NY Microfinance Discussion Series on The Impact of Remittance Prod

[Community Development Banking List]

Original message from: jenniferthom70@yahoo.com


"WAM-NY Microfinance Discussion Series: The
Impact of Remittance Products"


WAM NY is pleased to invite
you to a dialogue about remittances and their impact on
microfinance. A bibliography and recent research on the
topic will be
shared with participants.


When: Thursday April 24th from 6:30pm to 8:30pm



Where: New York Life Insurance Company, Graybar
Building, 420 Lexington 15th Floor (training room), New
York, NY 10170



Cost: Free for WAM NY members, $10 for Non-Members



Speakers:

Jennifer Ching, Director New
York Office, Appleseed (www.appleseednetwork.org
<http://www.appleseednetwork.org/> )


Katleen Felix, Project Manager
Remittance Enhancement Program, Fonkoze (www.fonkoze.org
<http://www.fonkoze.org/> ) and Co-Chair of WAM
NY



Please email your RSVP to Amrote
Abdella at amrote@thp.org
Cell: (240)-535-0556. You must
RSVP by April 23rd, 5pm.

If you have already RSVP please disregard this
email.


About the speakers:




Jennifer Ching, Director,
Appleseed New York Office

Jennifer Ching is the current
Director of Appleseed's New York office. Prior to
joining Appleseed, she
was an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &
Garrison in its New York
City office, where her pro bono representation included
litigation and advocacy
on behalf of Guantánamo detainees. Between 2002 and 2004,
Jennifer was a Fellow
in the John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest and
Constitutional Law,
where she litigated cases in areas such as the death
penalty, immigrants' rights
and civil rights. As a Skadden Fellow, Jennifer founded the
Immigrant Workers'
Rights Project as part of the American Civil Liberties
Union of New Jersey. She
has taught at Rutgers School of Law and has served on the
board of a number of
community organizations in the metropolitan area. Jennifer
received her law
degree from New York University School of Law and her
undergraduate degree from
Harvard University.


Appleseed is spearheading a
landmark program to bring Mexican and Latin American
immigrants into the United
States mainstream financial system, helping them avoid
predatory and other
high-cost financial services, and enabling them to save,
access credit and build
wealth. Immigrants without bank accounts are at a double
disadvantage.
Approximately two-thirds cash their paychecks in
check-cashing stores that
charge high fees. Furthermore, without a bank account, they
are restricted in
their ability to build assets and credit histories that
would allow them to buy
a home, start a business or pursue an education.


Appleseed is attacking this
problem on several fronts. They have developed a series of
financial
education materials that give immigrants the tools to make
better financial
decisions. They are also partnering with major banks and
other financial
institutions to establish a “Fair Exchange” brand,
similar to Fair Trade coffee,
which provides up-front pricing disclosures on
international remittance
transfers. Under the current system, there is no consistent
and easily
accessible means of determining the cost of such
transactions before they are
made, meaning that consumers are often hit with unexpected
and expensive fees.



To find out more about Appleseed
work in this area click on the following links:

http://www.appleseednetwork.org/Curr...1/Default.aspx


<http://www.appleseednetwork.org/Curr.../Default.aspx>





Katleen Felix, Project Manager
and Consultant in Microfinance, Fonkoze and Co-Chair WAM NY



Katleen Felix is a Project
Manager of the Remittance Enhancement Project for Fonkoze.
She is in charge of
procurement of new technologies, relations with Haitian
Diaspora, training and
capacity building of Haitian Hometown Associations,
developing financial
literacy for new immigrants, project reporting, and donor
relations. She is
Co-Chair of the steering committee of Women Advancing
Microfinance NY (WAM NY)
and member of the Financial Women’s Association
Microfinance Committee.
She has over ten years of experience in corporate
financial management and
15 years in leadership and volunteer roles in
not-for-profit organizations and
pro-bono financial consultation work. Katleen holds a
bachelor and master degree
in Finance & International business from HEC Montreal.
She holds a master in
International Business and Finance of HEC Montreal. For the
past years she as
been involved in various projects involving migrant’s
populations, has been part
of research groups on Remittances and Collectives
Remittances.


Fonkoze Haiti's largest MFI have
been offering remittance services for the past 6 years to
Haiti. The MFI have
made innovative partnerships with various Money Transfers
Companies in the US
and in the Dominican Republic to better reach the Haitian
Diaspora to reach more
then 35 rural locations in Haiti. Recently Fonkoze has
partnered with the
Central National Bank of Enid (CNB)
<http://www.cnb-ok.com/> to create a low-cost
stored-value card that offers the Haitian
Diaspora and others in the United States a convenient way
to manage their own
finances and an inexpensive way to increase remittances
income and investment in
Haiti.

To find out more about Fonkoze
work in this area click on the following links:
http://www.fonkoze.org/sendmoney.htm
<http://www.fonkoze.org/sendmoney.htm> and
www.FonkozePrepaidCard.com
<http://www.fonkozeprepaidcard.com/>


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