Amy Shir

Meet Amy (she/her) 

Amy Shir is a nationally recognized social enterprise entrepreneur and financial empowerment consultant.  Amy is currently assisting the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society “HIAS,” the world’s oldest refugee resettlement agency, with economic inclusion work nationwide.  Previously, Amy launched two successful wealth-building projects in Louisville – Working Your Way Home and Working Your Way to Wheels, in collaboration with several community partners including FMS, The Louisville Urban League, The Housing Partnership, and the City’s Financial Empowerment Center.  In 2017, Amy launched LHOME — Louisville’s first locally headquartered nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution.  Amy launched the CDFI (incubated by Jewish Family and Career Services), got it certified by the CDFI Fund at U.S. Treasury, and raised and deployed several million dollars, primarily to low-income Black and Brown small business owners and homeowners.  Ms. Shir has spent her career promoting wealth building for low income individuals and families across the United States.   

Amy has served on multiple boards and on the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank Community Development Advisory Committee.  She holds an MPA from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and a BA from Wesleyan University.  

Amy’s Project 

Amy Shir wants young Jewish adults in Louisville to know the legacy of Kentucky Jewish activist Suzy Post (1933-2019), and to continue her work of Tikkun Olam – The Jewish concept of “repairing the world.”   Suzy Post’s lifelong efforts focused locally on social, racial and economic justice – from the 1950’s until her death.  Amy’s fellowship will include partnering with local Jewish organizations to facilitate small group conversations about the causes Suzy Post worked for including school desegregation, Title IX prohibiting sex discrimination in education, sheltering soldiers going AWOL during the Vietnam War, fighting for reproductive freedom, and forming the Metropolitan Housing Coalition to promote affordable housing.  In sharing Suzy’s passion for justice with young Jewish adults, Amy hopes to engage their own interests in social justice and help build meaningful avenues for positive action.  Amy plans to invite young Jewish adults engaged in social justice to speak to these groups and serve as role models.