USD to Host 6th Annual San Diego Microfinance Summit

The 2014 San Diego Microfinance Summit at the University of San Diego on Tuesday, April 8 will bring together leaders, social entrepreneurs and students to show how lending small amounts of money can alleviate poverty and promote economic growth here in San Diego and around the world. The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in USD’s Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

Larry Reed, the Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, will be the keynote speaker. The event will also highlight speakers from innovative organizations such as Kiva, GiveDirectly, Edify and Puddle. Panels and presentations throughout the day will center on discussions about new ways to expand the reach and impact of microfinance by bringing vital financing to under-served markets. Paula Cordeiro, dean of USD’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences, will moderate an afternoon panel on Education with Reed and Chris Crane, president of Edify, a humanitarian organization he founded to support schools in Africa and Latin America.

The Microfinance Summit is sponsored in part by the USD Center for Peace and Commerce and the Ahlers Center for International Business.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.