Founded in 1983, the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) was developed as a non-profit, community-based organization to address the gaps in resources to refugees and asylum-seekers from Ethiopia. By 1991, ECDC became the first ethnic community-based organization authorized by the U.S. Department of State to resettle refugees through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Over the years, the organization’s work grew into additional resettlement branches across the country, as well as a separate 501(c)(3) known as Enterprise Development Group (EDG), a Small Business Administration (SBA) intermediary and certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) dedicated to helping refugees, immigrants and low-income individuals achieve America’s promise of opportunity by providing them access to technical and financial support to start their own business.

In the last 20 years of providing financing to immigrant-owned businesses, EDG has deployed over 3,400 loans worth more than $52 million. EDG was awarded a Virginia Small Business Resiliency Fund (VSBRF) grant through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to provide additional business counseling and microloans to their market, as well as restructuring existing loans, and has far exceeded the total value of microloans ($1.63 million) committed to the project ($1.5 million).

EDG is one of many entities across the Commonwealth working to create greater economic opportunity to low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged people, businesses, and communities through equitable access to capital. Subscribe to the Virginia Main Street (VMS) blog today to get monthly updates on CDFIs and entities like them, and the critical work they do to transform Virginia’s economy.

To learn more about EDG and its impact on northern Virginia and the D.C. Metro area, as well as testimonials from small businesses supported by their financial products, visit their website!

Click here to find a CDFI or organization like them serving your area!