Brown CCURB Awards CGF $5,000 to conduct research on new loan product
Monday, June 08, 2009
The Community Carbon Use Reduction at Brown program, CCURB, has awarded CGF $5,000 to research the feasibility of providing ‘green credit builder loans’ in Providence, Rhode Island. These loans will finance the cost of small-scale energy efficiency upgrades in households, such as programmable thermostats, that reduce energy consumption and costs. The loans will also enable the borrower to build her or her credit history while creating a more comfortable home or apartment that benefits from lower energy costs. The CCURB program consists of “$300,000 to support of projects lead by students, staff and faculty designed to reduce carbon emissions in the greater Providence area.” CGF’s green credit builder loan model will enable CCURB’s funds to be recycled into countless project cycles, thereby maximizing benefit to the community and the environment while also ensuring that students will have more projects to work on—providing them with valuable skills and experiences so that they can become leaders on social and environmental issues. CGF is the first microlender in the country to develop the green credit builder loan product, and we are excited to demonstrate its power and work with other organizations to take our idea to scale.
