Our Story

ASSETS creates economic opportunity and cultivates entrepreneurial leadership to alleviate poverty and build vibrant, sustainable communities. For 30 years, ASSETS has been committed to transforming our communities through business.

ASSETS was founded in 1993. It was launched as part of a bigger initiative for North American microenterprise development through MEDA (Mennonite Economic Development Associates.)

For the first two decades, ASSETS programs were focused on business training programs and mentoring for low and moderate income persons in Lancaster County. This focus continues to be a core part of the ASSETS mission, and in recent years, programs have expanded to include programming around women’s leadership, microlending and social enterprise training and incubator programs.

The ASSETS vision is to see our communities in Lancaster and Central Pennsylvania transformed by business; by increasing business ownership among women and people of color and increasing the number of social enterprises seeking to address social and/or environmental challenges through their business models.