HFLA of Northeast Ohio

The mission of HFLA of Northeast Ohio is to provide interest-free loans to address the financial challenges of residents of Northeast Ohio who lack access to traditional lending sources.

HFLA began in 1904 with Charles Ettinger, Morris Black, and others who saw the need of providing interest-free loans to the growing immigrant community. They pooled together $501 of their own money to help European Refugees settle in America and lead productive lives. 115 years later the need for non-sectarian interest-free lending remains relevant. Today, HFLA continues to make a large impact in Northeast Ohio through education, personal and small business loans. The organization is set up as a revolving loan fund; money that is paid back monthly is then lent out to other people in the community – recycling dollars in the community, multiplying the impact of each donation tenfold in less than a generation.