financial inclusion, using the year 2020 as a focal point for action. 1990s In 1991 Accion brought its microlending model to the United States by piloting a program in Brooklyn, New York. Accion aimed to help those who didn't meet requirements for traditional financing (such as bank loans) because their requested amount was too small or because they had limited or damaged credit. Accion has since worked to further adapt its lending model to the social and economic needs of communities across the United States. Accion now serves small businesses nationwide through four independent community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and a national office that invests in shared knowledge, innovation, and impact to benefit the entire network. Since 1991, the members of Accion in the U.S. have provided more than 60,000 loans to small business owners and disbursed more than $500 million in capital. Additionally, Accion provides business advising and training services – both in person and through online educational resources – to tens of thousands of entrepreneurs each year. In 1995, Accion created an equity investment vehicle for microfinance, the Accion Gateway Fund to provide new microfinance institutions with the resources they needed to expand. 1980s Over the next decade, Accion helped start microfinance programs in 14 countries in Latin America. Accion and its partners developed a lending method that met the needs of microenterprises. The ability to cover costs, augmented by Accion's new loan guarantee fund, the Bridge Fund, enabled Accion's partners to connect with the local banking sector and dramatically increase the number of microentrepreneurs they reached. Between 1989 and 1995, Accion's Latin American Networked loan disbursements multiplied more than 20 times. Convinced that microfinance had the potential to transform the economic landscape of Latin America, Accion recognized that microfinance institutions (MFIs) would need access to a much larger pool of capital. To help them achieve this, Accion helped create BancoSol, the first commercial bank in the world dedicated solely to microenterprise. Founded in Bolivia in 1992, its clients are typically market vendors, sandal makers, and seamstresses. In 1994, Accion helped BancoSol sell certificates of deposit in the U.S. financial market. 1970s By the early 1970s, Accion began to focus on addressing a major cause of poverty in Latin American cities: lack of economic opportunity. In 1973, Accion staff in Recife, Brazil, began to focus their efforts on helping informal businesses. An Accion organization in Recife called UNO