IRC's Center for Economic Opportunity
Joshua Geary is a communications professional with extensive experience in executing strategic communications for organizations that primarily serve immigrants and refugees. Currently serving as Communications Manager at IRC's Center for Economic Opportunity since July 2020, Joshua has previously held roles including Communications Coordinator and Communications VISTA. Notable accomplishments include authoring comprehensive communications strategies, redesigning websites to enhance user experience, and developing diverse collateral to engage various audiences. Joshua's background includes positions at Mental Health America of Greenville County, Tanner Friedman, and Central Michigan University, where skills in marketing, public relations, and community engagement were further cultivated. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Integrative Public Relations, Public Affairs, and Leadership from Central Michigan University.
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IRC's Center for Economic Opportunity
CEO’s origins can be traced back to the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) efforts to help newly- arrived refugees and other low-income families climb the economic ladder. Lack of credit and access to consumer financing was immediately apparent as a significant barrier to prosperity for IRC’s clients – and not only for refugees, but for low-income immigrants and non-immigrants alike. Finding partnerships with existing lenders that could reliably, consistently, and affordably extend financing to its clients proved elusive, and so IRC began to offer loans directly – and did so in tandem with their anti-poverty social service efforts. By 2016, the IRC had made more than 3,000 loans totaling $3 million -- primarily to low-income refugee and immigrant borrowers -- while maintaining a 94% repayment rate on its portfolio. More importantly, borrowers were able to build credit, buy cars, start businesses and pay for training that could lead to higher-wage, higher-skilled work. CEO was founded by IRC to bring CEO’s unique model and approach to a larger scale. IRC began lending in 2003 – and CEO’s model today is directly informed by IRC’s 15+ years of experience and iterative improvements, mistakes and breakthroughs. CEO is designed to offer modest loans at affordable rates from within trusted community locations – this formula has worked within IRC’s setting, and we are eager to explore applying the model in different contexts, with different partners and for other populations.