Categories
Issues and Actions

How Do You Make Art When You Can’t Afford Housing?

I am sure I was not the only one who was a bit shocked to see the infographic that demonstrated that NOWHERE IN THE USA IS IT POSSIBLE TO AFFORD A TWO BEDROOM APARTMENT ON A FORTY HOUR PER WEEK MINIMUM WAGE JOB. How can you have a family when you can not afford to care for them? The creation of art has become a luxury in America. No wonder we are a nation of money-movers when students leave college with a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Categories
The Next Good Idea

Student Microloans

The LA Times recently ran this story on Vittana

“a nonprofit tapping the microcredit market to fund loans for low-income college students in developing nations — a need that has been largely unmet by traditional banks.

Vittana, named after a Telugu word for “seed,” pools funds from Internet users all over the world and then partners with local microfinance banks in countries such as Nicaragua and Vietnam to provide loans to students when typical banks won’t.

Vittana is started by 27-year-old Southern California native Kushal Chakrabarti.  They are “building a world where everyone can go to college”.