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The Dartmouth
July 14, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Blatt '79 draws on music, alumni network for microfinance

05.17.11.arts.Beth
05.17.11.arts.Beth

The seemingly disparate worlds of song and financial services came together on Monday night in a benefit concert organized by Hope Sings a "for-benefit" organization founded by Beth Blatt '79 that uses music to support microfinance efforts. The event, which was held in Collis Common Ground, featured performances by three Dartmouth a cappella groups to raise money for Grameen American.

The aim of microfinance firms, is to promote entrepreneurship to the working poor especially women by giving sustainable, small loans to individuals or small groups, according to Blatt.

Artists who are part of Hope Sings write and record songs that tell the story of "real women" in developing countries, raising awareness and funds for microfinance partner organizations such as Kiva, ACCION, MicroPlace and the Foundation for International Community Assistance, Blatt said.

Blatt, who comes from a background in writing musicals, founded Hope Sings out of a desire to do something with a global impact, she said. Blatt now works on more activist-oriented songwriting, such as the song "Rise" about Doa Blanca, a woman living outside of Guatemala City who, with a loan from FINCA, was able to buy an oven, send her children to school, employ neighbors and eventually pay back her loan, Blatt said.

"The song undertakes the metaphor of her baking the bread and what happens to her children and everybody around her in the community as they rise because of these loans," Blatt said.

Hope Sings has forged many of its alliances with microfinance partners through Darmtouth alumni connections, according to Blatt.

"I was able to work with FINCA through the alumni office, who gave me the numbers to the organization's founders," Blatt said.

Robert W. Hatch '60 Tu'62 currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for FINCA. His brother, John Hatch, co-founded the organization.

A former member of the Woodswind a cappella group, now known as the Decibelles, Blatt worked with Bailey Hoar '13, the Decibelles's musical director and daughter of Blatt's friend Eve Hoar '79, to organize the benefit at Dartmouth. Blatt also spoke at the event on Monday.

"Hope Sings uses artists as ambassadors, with the idea that by having people perform songs, the word about microfinance can get out," Blatt said.

Hope Sings's latest effort was "One Woman," the theme song for UN Women, the United Nations entity that was founded in 2010 and commenced operations in 2011. The Decibelles performed a brand-new arrangement of "Hope," written by Bailey Hoar, at the benefit event on Monday. The sheet music is available on the Hope Sings website for purchase to raise money for the organization, according to Hoar.

"I would love to get all the Dartmouth a cappella groups singing and adding the Hope Sings' song to their repertoire," Hoar said.

The Decibelles were joined by the Brovertones and the Cords as well as Anna Pudimat '11, who gave a short speech about her experience working for a microfinance non-profit organization in Ghana last year.

The money raised by yesterday's benefit will go to Grameen America, an offshoot of Grameen Bank, a microfinance bank in Bangladesh founded by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, according to Campbell Sechrest '14, who founded Dartmouth's Grameen chapter.

Grameen America has lent out $9 million since 2008 to over 4,000 borrowers in the United States, with a 99 percent repayment rate on these microloans, according to Mahala Pagan '14, a member of Dartmouth's Grameen chapter.

"[Microfinance] loans are not a handout but a hand up, giving people dignity and independence with a sense for responsibility," Blatt said.

**The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the theme song for UN Women is titled "Hope," when in fact it is called "One Woman."*