 A small grant from USAID in 1990 allowed Patterson and Velasco to add microfinance to their offerings, while similar support from the Bolivian government enabled them to maintain their health and human development services.At that time, the microfinance movement was burgeoning and industry leaders told them to eliminate the health and human development components and focus solely on microfinance, but the advice went unheeded.The communities continued to embraced their grassroots initiatives and in 1996 they replicated their program in Nicaragua.