I'm president and founder of SosteNica: the Sustainable Development Fund of Nicaragua. Twenty + years ago my wife and I founded a Sister City link between New Haven, CT and Leon, Nicaragua. We eventually moved to Nicaragua in 1990 where we lived for almost five years. While there, I came to understand the meaning of the IMF's "Structural Adjustment" policies, especially as they impacted the poor. Credit in Nicaragua became a tool, if not a weapon, for determining who would, and who would not, have access to opportunity. By privatizing all of the banks in the country, Nicaragua after 1990 guaranteed that those with the most resources would be the ones who would continue to enjoy the benefits of credit. I decided that there had to be a better way, and founded SosteNica (visit: www.sostenica.org for more information).

In the meantime, I've become versed in sustainable agriculture, teaching "Earth Literacy" at a 200 year old Quaker boarding school (Westtown) outside of Philadelphia. The lessons learned and taught at Westtown apply to our efforts in Nicaragua, where we have pioneered a program of rural micro-credit combined with training in Sustainable Agriculture.