Continuing my theme related to the flexibility of our Spartan Global Development Fund (SGDF) members during this year of turmoil (See entry #2020-1), this blog post includes my SGDF students’ statement on Black Lives Matter. It expresses our respect for others no matter what their race, ethnicity, or background.  This is deeply important to SGDF internally and in our interactions with others around the world.
 
SGDF funds microloans around the world for  people of diverse races and backgrounds.   Our direct loans totaling over $30,000 have gone to indigenous citizens in Nicaragua and Guatemala.   Additionally, SGDF and members of our KIVA lending team have made at least 2,947 loans totaling $78,525 to small businesses in 82 countries.  (See https://www.kiva.org/team/spartanglobal/impact. ) Moving forward, we will continue to strive to be as inclusive and diverse as possible in all of our activities.
 
Here is the thoughtful statement compiled by my  SGDF students.  I am proud of them for their previous work and  for their commitment to the plans described below.

Friends,
Spartan Global is an economic development organization. This is our simplest definition. Its implication is that inequality not only exists in the world but that inequalities are often rooted in injustice, thus warranting action to rectify them. To be a member of Spartan Global, a student must accept this premise.  

We are a cosmopolitan association. We do most of our work in other nations. However, moral consistency requires that we view injustices in the United States through a similar lens. For centuries, the United States has been riddled with institutional patterns of violence against the Black community. The protests following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police officers are an unprecedented reaction to these injustices.
 
Spartan Global values diversity in opinion, race, ethnicity, and background. We will never discriminate against a partner or member based on such characteristics. However, there is such a thing as evil. What happened to George Floyd was evil, no political allegiance or neutral stance alters that fact. The actions taken by protesters in order to combat this evil are unequivocally justified and they have our total support.

Spartan Global will take action to educate its members and community about the importance of diversity as well as racial injustices that plague America. We will strive to improve our members’ awareness of these issues in order to create a more effective team. We are searching for an MSU professor who specializes in racial issues and Black history in America to give a guest lecture to Spartan Global’s members in the fall. We will also be revamping our New Member Program to include educational material on the topic of racial injustices Black Americans experience every day.
 
Spartan Global’s goals are to create lasting relationships, enable sustainable development, and do our part to foster a more equitable world through micro-finance. It is time for us to focus on what is happening in our own backyard. To continue doing business as usual and ignore these issues would be to undermine our mission. This statement is our promise to never settle and to always push our members and Spartan Global community to be more aware, educated, and compassionate. We will be composing letters to our local, state, and national government representatives illustrating the changes we want to see in our community, state, and nation.
 
These changes have been focused on our internal dynamics as an organization, however, we are in the process of developing external projects that will pursue our updated commitments. There will be updates when we are ready to unveil these long-term efforts. Until then, please educate yourself, your family, and your friends through the following resources.

​Keep fighting for what is right.
 
In solidarity,
The SGDF team
Links:

• Blacklivesmatters.carrd.co This link provides links for several other resources, such as petitions, phone numbers for the Minneapolis District Attorney and Mayor, donation links, links to educational resources, Black mental health resources, voting resources, information for protestors, among many other things.
•  www.Blacklivesmatter.com Black Lives Matter website
•  https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jacob-frey-justice-for-george-floyd Petition for Justice 
•  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd GoFundMe for the George Floyd Memorial Fund
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t3xIBIgSwJDEaa37jJRyKG8XAMFvlBtTLFdo7jjTK5U/mobilebasic A list of Black-Owned Restaurants and More in the Lansing Area
• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/map-protests-rallies-george-floyd-spread-across-country-n1220976  A map showing protests  around the country
• https://www.aclu.org/ Donate to the American Civil Liberties Union. 
• https://bailfunds.github.io/ A list of bail funds for cities across the country, including Detroit

​Books:

• White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

​During the Covid-19 pandemic, Spartan Global Development Fund (SGDF) students at Michigan State University have found ways to be creative and flexible in their service to others.  (See www.spartanglobalfund.org.) Spartan Global works to expand awareness and support for microfinance while building lasting partnerships in the quest for permanent solutions to global poverty. We aim to educate, inspire, and enable tomorrow’s agents of global change by raising funds locally to offer interest-free microloans to aspiring entrepreneurs throughout developing regions of the world.
 
We founded SGDF in 2009 by making contributions to four different microloans through the KIVA.org online lending platform (See https://www.spartanglobalfund.org/.)  Kiva works with field partners around the world, who administer loans on-site.  In 2011 SGDF expanded its activities by forming a companion 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  The 501(c)(3) enables us to make loans through our own field partners.  Between these two channels (KIVA and loans using our own field partners), we have made over $110,000 in loans.   As Covid-19 came upon us, we adapted our practices to meet the needs of many of microloan recipients.  

This came about because I led a study abroad program to Guatemala during spring break this year. The program complements SGDF, allowing MSU students to learn about the Guatemalan economy, the need for sustainable development, Fair Trade, direct trade, and microfinance.    While there, we met with entrepreneurs in small businesses who have received microloans through SGDF.   We returned to the U.S. on March 9, 2020, only days before borders were locked down because of the pandemic
 
After we returned, we learned of the hardships facing our microloan recipients. Borders between municipalities were locked down to prevent the spread of Covid-19.  Citizens were under a strict 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew. And, with major food shortages and a stifled economy (meaning no income for many people), families resorted to hanging a white cloth from their doors to indicate that they had no food. (See https://www.theguardian.com/global-During the Covid-19 pandemic, Spartan Global Development Fund students at Michigan State University have found ways to be creative and flexible in their service to others.  (See www.spartanglobalfund.org.)   

Therefore, my students shifted their efforts from fund-raising for microloans to a campaign to make sure that our Guatemalan loan recipients and their families had food.  As of October 2020, we have raised over $7,600 for basic food supplies, the majority of which were delivered by August, although fundraising proceeds to meet continuing needs.  (See https://www.spartanglobalfund.org/donate to donate or for the current total.)  The deliveries, costing about $50 US dollars, provide staples such as rice, oil, corn, and beans.  That feeds a family of four for about two weeks.  We also delivered small amounts of cash–$100–to some of our Guatemalan loan recipients to enable them to continue to meet basic necessities.

The photos above, taken at the time of the food deliveries,  show members of the largest cooperative with which we work:  San Antonio de Chacayá community on Lake Antigua, Guatemala.  We have a special connection to the farmers and their families because they hosted our education abroad students in March. 

Leonzo Vasquez, President of the Chacayá cooperative, responded to the food delivery as follows:  “En nombre de los productores, muchas gracias por esa gran ayuda que nos mandaron en espacial a usted y Alós estudiantes mil gracias. “ (In the name of the producers, many thanks for this great help that you sent, especially to you and the students.  A thousand thanks.)  The farmers of the cooperative added a touch of sweet humor, too, teasing that their Michigan State friends are trying to turn them into Italians.  Why?  For a recent set of deliveries, beans were not available at the markets, so our on-the-ground partners substituted pasta and cornmeal.

As we became immersed in our fall 2020 semester, SGDF students renewed their focus on micro-finance education (here) and micro-lending around the world (with a focus on Guatemala).  Yet, I am proud of them for stepping aside from "business as usual" over these past few months to respond with kindness and compassion toward "our folks" in Guatemala. 

​Copyright ©2020, by Paulette L. Stenzel, Professor Emeritus, Michigan State University
 

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