With the help of Aaron and Kathryn, the International Council for Refugees and Immigrants (ICRI, located in Omaha, Nebraska) succeeded in their second attempt to win a $250,000 micro-enterprise grant through the Department of Health and Human Services (Office of Administration of Children and Families/ Office Refugee Resettlement). This grant will allow ICRI to address – in a holistic way – the challenges refugees (as defined in the Office of Refugee Resettlement) in Indiana face when starting a micro-enterprise. Starting a new venture is hard enough for someone with a stable income/ home/ job, etc. Imagine fleeing for your life from your birth country and resettling in a foreign land – and the difficulties you would face as you attempt to start or restart a business (let alone, just live). Maybe you operated a restaurant, which you founded, for years; suddenly you are in a new place without a permanent home and with no knowledge of the financial systems in your new country. Refugees/ former business owners are often forced to immediately take low-wage jobs to pay for life’s basic necessities and thus their dream of starting or re-starting a business is lost – as are the jobs, services and value they add to local economies. Now, ICRI will be better equipped to assist these ambitious folks, helping them to overcome obstacles (like building credit and accessing commercial financing), so they can achieve their goals, and further enrich the lives of all of us, as a result. Congrats to Dekow and IICRI!