Interview with Jessica Horn of ACCIÓN Chicago

By Carolyn Kloecker, Span 232 student

This past week I completed an assignment for my Business Communications class (SPCM 211) which was to interview someone in a field that I am interested in working for in the future. I asked her many questions about the organization, and lots of information can be found on their website www.accionchicago.org. This organization is a Community Partner with Spanish & Illinois, and has an extensive connection with the Spanish-speaking community in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few of the questions and answers from Jessica:

Is ACCIÓN a fairly new organization? How did it begin?
ACCIÓN Chicago started in 1994, but the parent organization, ACCIÓN was started in 1961. It is the largest micro-lending organization, and it began in Venezuela, and took root in the U.S. in 1991.

How do loan officers communicate with clients?

Mostly by phone, as people call in to the office to get a loan for their small business. The website is also a main form of communication, which has the loan application online and many documents for clients.

Is communication mostly in English or Spanish within the office? and with clients?

About 20% of the clients are Spanish-speaking, and the bilingual employees in the office have a larger percentage of their clientel who speak Spanish. Communication in the office is mostly in English, but there are a lot of community activities that ACCIÓN Chicago does where Spanish is used.

What is your typical day like in the office?

Everyone does different work. The Loan Officers (like Ms. Horn) are very mobile, and are working outside of the office almost 25% of the time. The day depends on how many people are applying for loans. At this time, with the economy taking a turn, there is a significant amount of business and there may be lots of paperwork to do in the office. The CEO and VP are also more mobile than the rest of the staff, because they attend more community events and work on development of the company through banks that are connected with ACCIÓN Chicago.