No images? Click here Funders’ Collaborative Awards $35,000 to Arizona NonprofitsWe're excited to share that the Arizona Community Reinvestment Collaborative, a coalition of funders administered by LISC Phoenix, has awarded their 2024 competitive grants. Read about the work of their grantees in the press release below. For more information about the Collaborative and to become a member, visit azcommunityreinvestment.org. To find out about future grant opportunities from the LISC or the Collaborative, subscribe to updates here. Funders’ Collaborative Awards $35,000 to Arizona NonprofitsPHOENIX (Aug. 28, 2024) – The Arizona Community Reinvestment Collaborative announced its 2024 grant awards to six Arizona nonprofit organizations, totaling $35,000 in funding. This year’s grant recipients have made a strong impact within their local communities, with a focus on serving indigenous communities or small businesses. A $30,000 grant was awarded to the Bambi Fund for their Mohave House project. Mohave House is a community development program that aims to develop abandoned historic buildings into affordable commercial spaces for small businesses owned and operated by people from historically excluded communities, including BIPOC and people who have experienced incarceration or detention. This pilot development project, located in Census Track 1149 in Downtown Phoenix, is intended to provide at least two to three affordable commercial spaces for start-up small businesses on a pop-up, temporary, or long-term basis – providing access to business development and growth that is often impossible for their community members. “We look forward to utilizing support from the ACRC to develop and implement a community needs survey in our identified Census Tract and surrounding areas,” said Whitney Meilan Yang, founder and director of the Bambi Fund. “We want to learn from the local community residents about what kinds of commercial services and resources they would like to see in their neighborhood. Although this neighborhood is just a couple of miles from developed commercial zones, the immediate surrounding neighborhoods have been neglected and are under-resourced. We are excited to support local entrepreneurs by building a community-driven space for all.” In addition, five finalists for the grant received mini-grants of $1,000 each:
The grant funding pool is made possible by members of the Collaborative. The active members of the Collaborative include Bank of America, Bankers Trust, Bell Bank, BOK Financial, Comerica Bank, Enterprise Bank & Trust, JPMorganChase, National Bank of Arizona, PNC Bank, TrustBank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and Alliance Bank of Arizona. “It’s exciting to support these emerging organizations with this kind of one-time funding,” said David Crummey, chair of ACRC and vice president, Community Development Banking at PNC Bank. “Investments like this seed the promise – and the work -- of strengthening the communities where we live and serve with responsiveness, collaboration and compassion.” About The Arizona Community Reinvestment Collaborative The Arizona Community Reinvestment Collaborative is a coalition founded to support initiatives of neighborhood-based organizations that benefit low- to moderate-income residents and small businesses. ACRC brings community members, community groups, non-profits, financial institutions, and government agencies together to collaborate to create greater impact by pooling financial resources, sharing knowledge of nonprofit providers and community needs, and engaging new members to contribute to community development throughout Arizona. ACRC was founded in 2008 in response to the foreclosure crisis. In 2018, the Collaborative relaunched with the administrative support of LISC Phoenix. |