Americas Quarterly - Winter 2009

ACTIVISM

tionship with her original funder continues. Donna Karan New York (DKNY) is one of SUR’s top buyers, along with Ralph Lauren and, most recently, Pottery Barn. With success came the April 2008 opening of a gallery in New York’s Little Italy and

Natural driftwood

recognition of their social contribu-
dipped in green
tions. In November, SUR was the gold and silver.
small business winner of the U.S.
Secretary of State’s 2008 Award for
Corporate Excellence.

The biggest challenge for the future is economic—not only the global economic situation but also teaching the artists about econo-

mies of scale. SUR has ambitious it’ll be thousands.” That would plans. “Things are changing fast,” be good news for the the artisans says Echavarría. “Right now we pro- SURevolution works with every day. vide hundreds of jobs. In ten years, Visit www.surevolution.com

IMMIGRA TION

Finance 101

Across the U.S., the Mexican immigrant community faces countless daily challenges. One of the most pressing is the lack of access to financial services and advice. Just half the nation’s Hispanic population has a bank account and less than 10 percent hold stocks, bonds or mutual funds.

Now, foreign-born workers in New York City have some additional help. Qualitas of Life Foundation was established in November 2007 as a bridge between the unbanked immigrant community and financial service organizations. The goal of Qualitas is simple: “We want to have an impact on the life of immigrants,” explains Qualitas Director Adrián

In East Harlem, New York, Guadalupe and her son, Miguel, play a board game that teaches budgeting, saving and investment.

Franco—a former educational consultant who was working with immigrants when he met Qualitas-founder Marcela Rovzar.

Qualitas bucks the trend of community organizations that tend to operate alone. Instead, Qualitas’ educational programs draw on the expertise available in the world’s financial capital to educate Spanish-speaking immigrants, primarily from Mexico, so that they can break out of their financial isolation.

Participants establish a personal financial goal and then draw up a detailed plan to achieve it with the help of professional advisers. Using this as a guide, they work their way through a series of classes, all taught in Spanish at locations around the city. Workshops are held during the day and free childcare is provided. Nearly 70 percent of the attendees are women. In the next few months, 170 people will have made it through the basic, intermediate and advanced-level classes.

Success stories include the case of Ramiro and Augustina Reyes—first-generation Mexican immigrants. After attending a Qualitas class, they learned that their 18-year-old son had been a victim of identity theft and successfuly reversed all erroneous charges. Fighting fraud and victimization is an important part of the overall mission “to bring dreams back to immigrant families.”