The Sundance Channel has created a series of short videos profiling individuals it terms “cultural pioneers” across various fields. Our own Jacqueline Novogratz is among them. New videos are to be posted each week, so we encourage you to check them out.

Here’s an interesting article about a Bellagio conference focused on urban slumdwellers. The conference pointed to the need — and potential — for low-income housing support, especially around affordable and accessible credit. Acumen Fund has been working with Kashf and Saiban in Pakistan, as well as with Jamii Bora in Kenya, which are all leaders in building systems around affordable housing for the poor. We are finding that capital, however, is not the only constraint to housing improvement and ownership, but it is certainly part of the solution. What excited me most about this article was the growing realization that low-income people share similar aspirations to the rich, want to be included in the opportunities of a global world and are willing to pay what they can afford for basic services like housing. This movement of delivering affordable services so that people can make their own decisions and choices is beginning to grow — and we are proud to be a part of it.

It is hard to believe that we are onto recruiting our third class of Acumen Fund Fellows! The first class has graduated with tremendous success, and the second class has just started the training period today, actively preparing for the work of supporting Acumen Fund investments.

We have just opened the application process for the 2009 class of fellows. We’ve moved up the process to better coincide with recruiting calendars for schools in the U.S. as well as in the geographies where we work, so you can apply online until noon EST on October 24. We are looking for dedicated individuals with the moral imagination, the practical skills and the leadership potential to effect real change.

Information about the program and the process, as well as bios of current and past fellows, can be found on our website. Also, expect to see frequent posts about their experiences on this blog!

One of our team members reminded me that she was interviewing at Acumen Fund on September 11, 2001. Like all of us, I remember that day well, remember watching the towers fall next door to the offices into which we were moving. So many New Yorkers - and people around the world - lost friends and family members, and most with personal losses have been undergoing a rebirth for the past six years - people are healing and the buildings are being reconstructed. On the other hand, the world has moved toward greater fear and less understanding. The human losses from that day were tiny compared to the losses of the Pakistan earthquake and the Tsunami, but the impact on fear itself and on policy around terrorism have had long and continuing reverberations.

I often think of the Masai tribe who donated cows to New York as gift to help the city mourn, a symbol of their connectedness with this urban center so distant in so many ways. The work we do at Acumen Fund is focused on that essential connectedness. Though our language is one of financial viability, sustainability and scale, it is based on the philosophy that every human being deserves access to affordable, accessible critical goods and services like water and healthcare, housing and energy. Our work is based on human dignity, which is maybe the most important quality that all of us need and crave - and the only thing that will trump fear. 

In New York, the team is having lunch together to remember 9/11, but know we’re thinking about all of the members of our community, wherever you may be today. And in this spirit, may we grow stronger as a team, have the patience to teach one another about our cultures, dig deeper into the issues of problems of poverty and grow more fearless in our interactions with people who seem different due to class, ideology, religion or race. Because we temporarily lost our office and felt so close to Ground Zero for so long, 9/11 will always be part of our history. It also catalyzed our work in Pakistan, and we have all benefited greatly and learned so much from that move. So thanks to everyone for giving all you give, and here’s to creating a better future together.

This International Herald Tribune article talks about the use of innovative technologies for reaching the poor with banking services, even in remote rural areas. Jamii Bora, an Acumen Fund investee, is highlighted as a leading microfinance institution in this field. We are proud to be working with them.