Building Brighter Futures
The 1980s and 1990s
EDG is a non-profit, community-based organization that has served the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area since 1983. The Council offers educational, skills building and social service programs to help refugees and immigrants build lives of self-sufficiency to become productive members of the community.
ECDC’s Micro-Enterprise Development Program was originally founded in 1992 as the result of a grant from the U.S. DHHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The Micro-Enterprise Development Program expanded in 1994 with a grant from the Small Business Administration (SBA)to serve all low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs.
The Early-2000s
In 2001, ECDC’s Micro-Enterprise Development Program officially transformed into the organization that we know today: the Enterprise Development Group (EDG), a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) non-profit subsidiary of ECDC.
Today … and Tomorrow
While EDG’s approach has evolved slightly over the years, the driving force behind our overall mission remains the same: to serve as a bridge to improve the lives of refugees, immigrants and low-income individuals by providing access to small business loans and essential economic development programs that can help dramatically transform lives.
EDG strives to help individuals gain access to new opportunities that stimulate community economic development and enables them to compete in an increasingly sophisticated, global economy.
An intermediary of the SBA and a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI),
EDG provides a significant number of small business loans for low to moderate income individuals and the immigrant community in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Our main offices are located in Arlington, Virginia.
Discover The Future
Providing affordable financial lending programs to the low-to moderate income consumers to start or expand a business.
