LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – An organization helping to rebuild homes destroyed in the Valley fire is among the recipients of grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
Mendo Lake Credit Union announced that three of its partners will receive grants from Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, including Hope Crisis Response Network/Hope City Homes, West Company of Fort Bragg and Santa Cruz Community Ventures.
Federal Home Loan Bank recently awarded $1.5 million in grants through its Access to Housing and Economic Assistance for Development, or AHEAD, Program.
MLCU sponsored a number of applications for the 2016 AHEAD funding and learned that the programs selected are getting $79,000 of the $1.5 million total award.
MLCU Chief Executive Officer and President Richard Cooper said the credit union is extremely pleased to have MLCU-sponsored applications among those selected for the AHEAD funding.
“(It is) another record for a small institution like MLCU; $79,000 of $1.5 million is pretty amazing for an institution of our size and scope,” said Cooper.
Hope Crisis Response Network/Hope City Homes in Lake County is receiving $25,000. It will use the funds to support its home building program for Lake County residents who lost homes in last year’s Valley Fire.
West Company of Fort Bragg will use its share of the funds to expand its Financial Capability for Rural Microbusiness program, while Santa Cruz Community Ventures – a division of MLCU’s partner CDFI Credit Union, Santa Cruz Community Credit Union – will use its funds for its Youth Financial Capability Program.
“As MLCU continues to grow in size and scope, our goal is to play an ever increasing role in making our area a better place to live and work,” Cooper added while thanking MLCU’s partners for helping “with that dream.”
The Federal Home Loan Bank reviewed 197 applications before selecting 51 AHEAD grant winners this year. Grant amounts range from $20,000 to $50,000.
The bank explained in its announcement that the AHEAD Program “enables bank members to give a critical boost to local programs and projects that target pressing community development needs by creating or preserving jobs, supporting a nonprofit’s organizational and capacity-building activities, or delivering social services, training and education, and other needed services and programs. The focus of the AHEAD Program is to support innovative economic development and job training or job creation initiatives that benefit low-and moderate-income communities.”