Small Business and Program Outcomes

MercyCorps NW

Ramiro Diaz, Style Cleaners

We are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build strong small business that benefit their local communities and economies.


Mercy Corps Northwest believes in helping businesses benefit their owners and communities by helping businesses not only start, but also stay. Two years after receiving MCNW services, 91% of our clients remain in business, according to 2008 survey results.

To prosper, a business also has to increase income over time to support the owner and even hire employees.  Of those in business 18 months after receiving MCNW services, median household income increases by an average of 37%. 

Mercy Corps Northwest also benefits the local economy by increasing the household income of local entrepreneurs and their business survival rate.  Stable, new businesses add new products, jobs, revenue, and services to our community.  On average, each MCNW small business owner creates 1.7 jobs

“Mercy Corps Northwest gave me a loan at the worst economic times. If they hadn’t given me a loan, who knows where I would be? Packing Pearls would probably just be an idea, a product stuck on a shelf somewhere.”

- Joanna Guzetta, Four Seasons Container Gardens

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Financial and Business Training
Our Loan Program
Our IDA Program (Individual Development Accounts)
Reentry & Transition Services

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Financial and Business Training

Through our Business Foundations Course and our business seminars we provide financial and business training to both current and aspiring entrepreneurs.

  • 809 people have completed our 6 week Business Foundations Course since 2007
  • 706 people have participated in 79 seminars since we started offering them.
  • Based on end-of-class surveys, students make real progress during class on their business. 25% of our students register their business with the state, 68% create a monthly personal budget and 89% say they have gained the confidence needed to move forward with their business.

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    Our Loan Program

    The MCNW loan program provides needed capital to micro-entrepreneurs who cannot obtain traditional bank loans in Washington and Oregon.  We move beyond banks in our funding and support services.

  • We lent $407,635 in microloans to local small businesses in 2009

  • Our microloans in 2009 ranged in size from $750 - $50,000, and our average loan
        size was $8,673


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    Our IDA Program (Individual Development Account)

    The MCNW IDA program combines financial education, saving and asset building for individuals and their start-up or current small businesses.

  • More than 500 clients have successfully graduated from the MCNW IDA Program
  • More than $1.7 million saved and invested, including matched funds


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    Reentry and Transition Services


    We have a number of reentry projects that focus on education, advocacy, and resource coordination for formerly incarcerated individuals.

    Our Reentry Transition Center (Open since Sept. 2009) is a place where formerly incarcerated individuals can find help in accessing the services and information they need to rebuild their lives after incarceration. 

  • 748 individuals have received immediate reentry assistance, including referals to other transition programs,
        emergency transitional housing, emergency supplies and clothing, and job placement assistance

  • 67 individuals have received housing assistance
  • Over 137 individuals have received employment related assistance and found jobs


    • Lifelong Information For Entrepreneurs (LIFE) is an educational program that addresses self-employment and microenterprise development after release for women prisoners at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

  • 92 women have graduated from our LIFE program to date




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