National interest in microenterprise as a strategy for poverty alleviation and economic development is growing rapidly in both the public and private sectors of the United States. Based on cumulative experience in Latin America and the United States, ACCION and its network of six U.S. associates have developed a model combining the social aim of improving the lives of the marginalized self-employed with the financial aim of reaching institutional self-sufficiency. This document explores the three goals (impact, scale and self- sufficiency) that form the core of the ACCION U.S. model and assesses the evolution of the microenterprise field in the United States.

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