Strengthening Our Communities award of $50,000 will support statewide financing programs
Florida Community Loan Fund has received $50,000 from Fifth Third Foundation's Strengthening Our Communities fund. This award will help FCLF provide affordable housing through its lending programs that bring capital to Florida's low-income communities. In 2018, the SOC fund awarded a total of $3 million dollars; bringing the program’s two-year total to $5.5 million. The SOC fund allows opportunities to positively affect communities through strategic philanthropic partnerships that align with the Fifth Third Bank community impact focus area priorities and Community Reinvestment Act objectives. Focus areas of the SOC are home ownership, affordable housing, small business development, and financial stability for families and individuals.
“The Fifth Third Foundation’s Strengthening Our Communities grant will support our community development financing programs and will help lead $15 million in direct financing by Florida Community Loan Fund,” said Ignacio Esteban, FCLF CEO. “Our financing creates opportunities for low-income Floridians including decent, safe and affordable housing. We thank Fifth Third for supporting our vision that every person in every community in Florida has an opportunity to live with dignity.”
FCLF is pleased to partner with Fifth Third Foundation to build strong and resourceful neighborhoods for our state’s low-income families. The Strengthening our Communities grant will support FCLF’s statewide community development lending efforts and help reach our 2019 fiscal year strategic goals in affordable housing financing and increasing capital deployment. As Florida’s most respected statewide community lender, Florida Community Loan Fund takes pride in helping underserved and underfunded communities. For over twenty years, our financing and expertise have supported growth and added value into our neighborhoods; and we continue to develop new resources and explore unique avenues to infuse more capital and build strong Florida communities.
“The Strengthening Our Community grants are impactful. Regardless of the neighborhood where one lives or works, every community is an ever-evolving, all-encompassing entity, created by the people who call those neighborhoods home,” said Heidi Jark, managing director, Fifth Third Foundation. “We are intentional about building communities because we know that as their residents become empowered, their entire surroundings will flourish.”
Learn more in the Fifth Third Foundation press release here.
