AARP Purpose Prize Winner Arturo A. Noriega

Centro Community Partners Provides Economic Opportunities for Women of Color

Close to 40 percent of the nation’s 30 million small-business owners are women and 6.4 million are women of color, yet women receive only 16 percent of conventional small-business loans and

only 4.4 percent of all dollars lent. In 2010, I founded Centro Community Partners to provide low-income women of color and minorities from underserved communities with entrepreneurial

education, training, access to capital and mentorship — everything they need to become successful business owners. Centro has served more than 4,500 entrepreneurs in four languages and

facilitated access to more than $1.4 million in microloans. 

African American and Latinx women have been among the fastest-growing entrepreneurial groups for the last several years. With Centro’s guidance, resources and emotional support, many of them

are able to successfully start their own businesses.

My parents, immigrants from Peru, tried to become entrepreneurs in California and were denied both credit and access. Their struggle inspired me to want to create change, which led me to

study economics, get an MBA, and work and study in 30 countries all over the world. However, when the financial recession happened in 2008, I was laid off.