Jennifer Lopez becomes ambassador for Professor Yunus’ Grameen America

Superstar singer Jennifer Lopez, who has built a considerable empire across film, television, beauty, fashion and philanthropy, has linked up with Grameen America to serve as a national ambassador.

The role will see Lopez serving several functions, including helping Grameen America with its mission of empowering 600,000 Latina entrepreneurs across 50 U.S. cities with $14 billion in business capital and six million hours of financial education and training by 2030.

To kick off her role as National Ambassador, Lopez will motivate, promote, and inspire Latina businesswomen, helping them understand the pathway to financial independence and literacy through joining the Grameen America microloan program, according to Grameen America.

Lopez will mentor the organization's existing Latina business owners, educating them on the importance of credit and asset-building and developing a savings program to promote financial resilience.

Founded in 2008 by Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, Grameen America is a nonprofit microfinance organization dedicated to helping women who live in poverty build small businesses. The org offers microloans, training and support to transform communities and fight poverty in the United States. To date, Grameen has served more than 150,000 women in 23 U.S. cities, distributed $2.6 billion in loans and helped create and maintain 157,000 jobs.

In a statement, Lopez said the initiative will "change the fabric of America."

"Being Latino in this country has always been a matter of pride for me. I am humbled and beyond grateful to partner with Grameen America," said Lopez. "We're building pathways to employment and leadership opportunities. There's so much strength in this community and we're harnessing that. This partnership will create equality, inclusivity and opportunity for Latina women in business."

Andrea Jung, president and CEO of Grameen America, called Lopez a "trailblazer" who has given visibility and advocacy to ensure Latinas are educated, empowered and healthy. "Together we will shape entrepreneurship as a viable pathway to success for Latina women who have historically lacked access to the formal financial markets and are often marginalized from economic opportunity."

Grameen America provides access to business capital, credit- and asset-building, financial education, and peer support to enable women living below the federal poverty level to boost their income and create jobs in their communities.

The fastest-growing microfinance organization has announced they are partnering to advance financial empowerment for Latina businesswomen historically excluded from the financial mainstream.

The new partnership seeks to advance both Lopez's latest philanthropic project, Limitless Labs, which aims to support Latina-owned small businesses, as well as Grameen America's goal to empower 600,000 Latina entrepreneurs across 50 U.S. cities with $14 billion in life-changing business capital and 6 million hours of financial education and training by 2030.

Limitless Labs, the home for all of Lopez's philanthropic and values-driven work, aims to uplift, educate and provide essential resources to underserved communities like the one in The Bronx where Lopez grew up. Additional areas of focus include youth empowerment, civic engagement, and empowering women with the confidence to live limitlessly.

– AP/UNB