African Development Center

rates of self-employment and home ownership among “new Minnesotans” contributes to the revitalization of neglected neighborhoods and links mainstream businesses with the state’s estimated $6 billion ethnic economy. According to a report by The Minneapolis Foundation, 13 percent of Minnesota’s foreign born residents in the 2000 Census were from Africa – a higher percentage than in any other US state. Most Africans have come to Minnesota over the past generation as refugees fleeing civil strife in Somalia, Liberia and the Sudan. Other relatively large African populations recently arrived include Nigerians, Ethiopians, and Eritreans. This influx will likely continue. Minnesota offers immigrants an established African population, a strong economy, a good quality of life, educational opportunities, and unskilled jobs that don’t require fluency or literacy in English. In an era of budget cuts at every level of government, mainstream community development corporations lack the funds to expand their services to meet the complex needs of African immigrants. They also lack the motivation to seek out non-traditional clients: Minnesota’s down-payment assistance funds already cannot keep up with existing demand. ADC was created to fill these gaps, and we have achieved spectacular early success. Both in providing services and building capacity, our hard-working staff and diverse board have transformed ADC from a one-person, half-time operation five years ago to a highly-networked corporation serving Minnesota with innovative financial products and services.