Common Ground Coffeehouse, 2008-2009

THE COMMON GROUND MICROCREDIT FUND
Since its founding, one of Common Ground’s missions has to not only present great music from a diversity of artists in different genres, and to build a relaxed family-friendly community, but to also raise awareness of organizations that are doing some amazing things to make the world a better place. Common has raised over $17,000 for local, regional, national and global charities, environmental groups, social service agencies, and economic justice organizations. On the local front, we’ve provided donations to Midnight Run, The Beczak Environmental Center, The Sharing Community, Concerned Families of Westchester, and the Westchester Martin Luther King Institute for Nonviolence.

In Fall 2005, Common Ground established the Common Ground Microcredit Fund, through which it has made direct donations and low interest microcredit loans to organizations in Westchester, hurricane-stricken Louisiana, and also the developing world. In the past two years alone, Common Ground has provided:

$5,000 to Southern Mutual Help Association in New Iberia, Louisiana to assist families still recovering from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina;

$1500 to Midnight Run for its continuing work in bringing dignity and human connection to New York City’s homeless;

$1,000 to help fund a Women’s Grain Bank project in the village of Tonkassare, Niger;

$1,000 to Oikocredit International for microcredit loans to low-income entrepreneurs in Latin America,

$500 to assist Afya Foundation of America in its efforts to collect medical supplies from major New York City hospitals and other organizations and deliver them to communities in Africa and the Caribbean.

$500 to Just Food, the New York organization that works to bring a healthy, sustainable food system to underserved populations in New York City.

In the coming weeks, you’ll find more information about the groups that we will be funding through the Common Ground Microcredit Fund during the 2008-2009 Concert Season. In the meantime, please browse our list of links at the right. You’ll not only find links to artists who have played at Common Ground, but also links to some great organizations and resources you might find helpful in your own efforts to bring some positive change.