Bank gives NeighborImpact $25,000 for ‘micro-loans’
The company known for its iconic stagecoach and a history of coming through for its customers has come through again for Oregon communities.
At a Community Support Celebration it hosted Wednesday in downtown Portland, Wells Fargo presented grants totaling $450,000 to eight nonprofit groups. The funds will ultimately benefit people in need in many Central Oregon communities, as well as in Eugene, Medford, Portland and Salem.
The grant recipients were:
1) Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East received $100,000 for its Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a five-year commitment to northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood. Habitat will use these funds to help make critical repairs to 30 homes in partnership with low-income Cully home-owners. Habitat will also build 21 new homes in partnership with local families who will then purchase the homes. Habitat will also purchase and rehabilitate three foreclosed homes that will be sold to families who qualify for Habitat’s Homeownership Program.
2) Human Solutions in Portland received $100,000 for the Rockwood and East Multnomah County area. The group will use the grant to help build 19 affordable apartments and fully rehabilitate 26 existing, dilapidated units. The new building will include a dental clinic to serve homeless and other low-income people.
3) Central City Concern (CCC) in Portland received $50,000. It will use half the grant to help hire a new employment specialist. This person will help between 30 and 100 job seekers find employment each year. CCC will use the other half of the funds to support its marketing and promotion of bed bug-resistant frames and mattresses. It uses them in its own buildings and also sells them nationally to other affordable housing organizations.
4) Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber in Portland received $50,000. It will use the funds to support its outreach efforts in the Latino community to identify those interested in starting or expanding a business. The Chamber will conduct a business needs assessment and provide comprehensive technical assistance, one-on-one, to implement a plan based on each firm’s needs. It will also assist in accessing financing, including loans and lines of credit.
5) ACCESS in Medford received $50,000. It will work with two other nonprofits (Thrive and Rogue Farm Corps) to address the need for an increased customer base and additional avenues of sale for locally produced foods. They will also help train the next generation of farmers to produce the community’s food and expand the local food economy.
6) Easter Seals of Oregon in Portland received $50,000 to support its program in Salem that helps homeless veterans in Marion and Polk Counties find and keep lasting employment. The program includes job skills training and job placement. It addresses the full range of physical, mental, social, employment and life skills that veterans need to succeed.
7) Neighborlmpact in Central Oregon received $25,000. It will use the grant to provide micro loans to low-income entrepreneurs, particularly those involved in childcare, who are challenged in finding capital through traditional business lending sources. The local business owner must reside and do business in the rural towns of Prineville, Redmond, Sisters, Madras, Culver, Metolius, Warm Springs and La Pine. These are some of the most rural of areas served by Neighborlmpact and where capital is not available for many entrepreneurs.
8) St. Vincent de Paul in Eugene received $25,000 to support its six projects that serve military veterans and their families. These projects provide housing, medical, legal, job readiness, employment and financial literacy services. Some of the veterans they serve are homeless; some suffer from substance abuse and mental illness.
“Our stagecoaches often provided the only secure and fast link between early frontier towns. Today , it represents speed, teamwork, reliability and the same entrepreneurial spirit that has been at the core of this company since Henry Wells and William Fargo founded it in 1852,” said Oregon Regional President Tracy Curtis of Portland.
“The stagecoach then – and the stagecoach today – is a symbol of our heritage of Wells Fargo coming through for our customers and communities in Oregon and across the country,” Curtis said. “One way we have come through for our customers for 162 years is our corporate philanthropy. Today ‘s celebration continues that legacy of providing a helping hand to our neighbors.”
About Wells Fargo
Serving Oregonians since 1852, Wells Fargo was ranked the most generous bank in Oregon and the second most philanthropic company in America last year. It gave $275.5 million and 1.69 million volunteer hours to 18,500 nonprofits around the country in 2013. The community-based company provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores; 12,000 ATMs; and the Internet (wellsfargo.com). More information about Wells Fargo’s community support efforts are posted at wellsfargo.com.
