Chase today announces $1.1 million in grants to Detroit nonprofits that can help revitalize the city by strengthening neighborhoods, encouraging small businesses to thrive and providing workforce training for unemployed residents and youth.
The two largest grants—$245,000 to Southwest Solutions and $230,000 to Vanguard Community Development Corporation—will help neighborhoods in Detroit and foreclosure counseling efforts here and around the state.
“Chase concentrates its grants in two neighborhoods so we can really make a difference in Detroit,” said Sarah McClelland, president of Chase in Michigan. “We focus on critical issues like neighborhood stabilization and jobs and work closely with effective non-profit groups that can do the most good.”
With Chase funding, Southwest Solutions will lead a statewide effort to improve access and training for state-approved foreclosure mitigation counseling agencies. Some funding will support homebuyer counseling and financial literacy training for North End and Southwest Detroit families.
Additionally, Southwest Solutions will expand capacity of its Center for Working Families in Southwest Detroit, which helps low-income families stabilize their finances and offers workforce development coaching.
Through another grant, its counseling division will create a veterans’ memorial garden adjacent to its Piquette Square Veterans Center in the North End.
"The Chase grant will support our programs that help families improve their economic futures," said Tim Thorland, executive director of Southwest Housing Solutions. "As a result, 550 families facing foreclosure will keep their homes, and hundreds more will improve their finances, credit standing, and employment, educational and home-buying prospects. The garden will serve as a recreational space for the 150 formerly homeless veterans that reside at Piquette, as well as a reminder of the collaborative commitment to address the needs of homeless veterans."
Vanguard CDC will use the Chase grant to expand its capacity. It will hire a deputy executive director, enabling the organization to add more beautification and maintenance projects in Detroit’s North End and employ local youth to work on the projects next summer.
Other major grants go to:
- Goodwill Industries, providing workforce training for unemployed and never-employed young men and women ($150,000)
- Community Legal Resources, offering technical and legal assistance, education and outreach to help stabilize Detroit neighborhoods and a mini-grant program to encourage neighborhood groups to address crime, blight, beautification and management of vacant homes and property ($125,000)
- Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation, hiring a project manager to oversee rehabilitation and sale of up to eight homes, educating homebuyers and providing landscaping service for public areas and around vacant lots and homes in the Boston-Edison area ($110,000)
- WARM Training Center, aiding North End and Southwest Detroit residents with weatherization and home repair training and materials and neighborhood small businesses with energy audits and upgrades ($100,000)
- Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, providing internships for up to a dozen Detroit youth both during the summer and school year ($85,000)
- Center for Empowerment and Economic Development, supporting small business development in the North End and Southwest Detroit neighborhoods ($65,000)
- Focus: Hope, supporting its Eleanor Josaitis Fund ($50,000)
About the JPMorgan Chase Foundation
JPMorgan Chase donates more than $150 million annually to charitable organizations globally in support of public education, affordable housing and community revitalization efforts. More information is available at www.jpmorganchase.com/giving.
About Chase
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking brand of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), which operates 307 branches and 540 ATMs in Michigan. More information about Chase is available at www.chase.com.