Immigrants put on path to prosperity

This program is helping immigrants learn about our financial systems. It helps them learn about bank accounts, loans and ways to prosper here. DP

By Waveney Ann Moore, Times Staff Writer

tampabay.com: Ann Haendel was sitting on a plane leaving India when she came up with the idea. Fifteen pounds below her normal weight and ill, Haendel knew that her regular volunteer stints overseas would have to come to an end. But how else to be part of the lives of the people she regularly traveled thousands of miles to assist?

Then she remembered an Ithaca, N.Y., program she'd read about that offered no-interest loans to immigrants and refugees. It seemed just the thing to offer in the Tampa Bay area.

A year and a half later, Project Prosper was launched.

Last week, a small group of immigrants met in a classroom at the Tomlinson Adult Learning Center for a Project Prosper financial literacy class. Over the past weeks, the students in the school's English for Speakers of Other Languages have been learning about checking accounts, budgeting, saving, credit reports and protecting themselves against identity theft and fraud

Volunteers Michael Walters, a retired lawyer and a Project Prosper board member, joined with Robin Warren, a retired banker and lawyer, to teach the lively class.

David Metellus, 23, who moved from Haiti almost two years ago, asked how to establish credit.

"I'm going to open an account and I want to know everything,'' he said later, adding that he will need to borrow money to pursue his dream of being a doctor.

Spaska Borisova from Bulgaria talked about the importance of being able to understand the American system.

"Our system in Bulgaria is different,'' said the 38-year-old St. Petersburg resident.

Besides financial literacy, Project Prosper provides small no-interest loans of up to $1,500 to eligible applicants in South or mid-Pinellas County who have lived in the United States for eight years or less. Borrowers also are required to save a certain amount of money, equivalent to 10 percent of their monthly payments, each month.
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