Grameen Bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for reducing poverty in Bangladesh and around the world. The Bank provides loans to low-income individuals to help them launch or expand their small business activities. A U.S. version – Grameen America – has been growing since 2008 in New York and other major U.S. cities. Many other microlending groups have failed in this country, but Grameen has succeeded in part due to its unique methods, which include requiring borrowers to join small groups that meet weekly to provide mutual support and witness each other repaying their loans. This also means GA staff have regular access to the members. In New York, the members are largely recent Latina immigrants. They are entrepreneurial, committed to self-advancement and driven to create better lives for their families.

Poor health is a problem for low-income women around the world, but specific needs vary according to local circumstances. In the U.S., doctors and hospitals are plentiful but largely inaccessible to low-income immigrants. Because of costs, convenience and sometimes legal concerns, low-income patients in general get most of their care in emergency rooms and after their illnesses are advanced. As a result, productivity is lost, money is wasted and lives are cut short, including those of generations of children doomed to ill health by no fault of their own.