On September 17, 2019, Wells Fargo & Company announced $600,000 in donations to local nonprofits to support housing, education and neighborhood revitalization for Los Angeles County residents.
“The NeighborhoodLIFT program is another example of our commitment to Los Angeles and our efforts to bring forward housing affordability solutions to communities across the U.S.,” said David Galasso, Wells Fargo lead region president Greater California. “The program will help hardworking families and individuals get on the path to successfully becoming homeowners.”
The grants are funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and follows Wells Fargo’s announcement in June 2019 of an evolution in the company’s philanthropic strategy, which includes a $1 billion commitment over the next six years to address the U.S. housing affordability crisis.
NeighborhoodLIFT local initiative grants will be awarded to the following local nonprofits:
- Destination Crenshaw — $25,000 for the construction a 1.3-mile-long outdoor art and cultural experience along the Crenshaw/LAX Line. The art will be organized around four themes — improvisation, firsts, dreams and togetherness — and will celebrate the history and culture of Black Los Angeles while revitalizing the neighborhood and ultimately fostering a new economic center.
- Downtown Women’s Center — $100,000 to support the mission of the Downtown Women’s Center, which is to end women’s homelessness in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment and advocacy. The grant will go support the Enhanced Bridge Housing Program, a 25-bed center that addresses the needs of women who are currently unhoused and living in Skid Row, providing safe accommodations, meals, showers and continuity of care for unhoused women who are in the process of pursuing housing.
- GRYD Foundation — $200,000 to create community programming that helps Los Angeles overcome the obstacles posed by street gang violence and socio-economic disparities. The programming aims to turn the 32 program sites into safe hubs to engage community members in positive physical, artistic and cultural activities while also connecting them to vital health, wellness and professional development resources.
- Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative — $50,000 to support the Wilmington Town Square Park, aiming to beautify and revitalize the park into a vibrant town square to benefit the entire community.
- Los Angeles Parks Foundation — $50,000 to enhance one of the oldest green spaces in the city, Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights, through the redesign of an outdoor fitness zone to bring new and free exercise equipment to a heavily used part of the park.
- San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity — $25,000 to support the Home Repair Program, a multifaceted initiative responding to high housing costs in LA County including advocacy, increased new home construction and a full-time home repair program ensuring that seniors, veterans and other low-income earners are able to successfully stay in their homes.
- Union Rescue Mission — $50,000 to support Workforce Development & Social Enterprise Initiatives, which equip single mothers who were previously experiencing homelessness and now living at Hope Gardens Family Center (a transitional housing program in Sylmar) with the confidence and skills to secure employment and start building a stronger financial future for themselves and their children.
Wells Fargo also donated $100,000 “LIFT the Block” grants to Century Housing and Pacoima Beautiful
As part of the Los Angeles NeighborhoodLIFT program, Wells Fargo will also donate a total of $100,000 in “LIFT the Block” grants to Century Housing and Pacoima Beautiful.
Century Housing will receive $50,000 to support small business facade improvements on Main Street in the City of San Pedro. Pacoima Beautiful will receive $50,000 to plant edible gardens along residential right of ways.
The sidewalk gardens will provide native herbs and fresh produce for the Mercado Pacoima Farmers Market, and landscaping will mitigate flooding by capturing storm water and employing solar-powered irrigation.
More than 600 homeowners have been created in Los Angeles through LIFT programs
The Los Angeles NeighborhoodLIFT program local initiative grants are part of a $24.8 million philanthropic investment by Wells Fargo — first announced in 2012 and expanded in 2019 to boost local homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods.
A collaboration with NeighborWorks® America and Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County, the NeighborhoodLIFT program has created more than 600 Los Angeles area homeowners by offering homebuyer education plus down payment assistance grants.
In the wake of the housing crisis, Wells Fargo came together with NeighborWorks America to develop the NeighborhoodLIFT program in 2012. It has been introduced in 74 communities across the U.S. and is the single largest corporate philanthropic effort in Wells Fargo’s history, with a $475 million investment.
LIFT programs have created nearly 22,000 homeowners by offering homebuyer education plus home down payments assistance grants. A video about the NeighborhoodLIFT program is posted on Wells Fargo Stories.
All photos courtesy of Pacoima Beautiful.