Capital One and Capital One Foundation Announce $5 Million in Grants to Help Nation’s Leading Housing Organizations Expand Services for Those in Need
Funding will help hundreds of community groups expand capacity to provide homeownership education and counseling and other critical services
MCLEAN, Va., April 24, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Capital One Financial Corporation and the Capital One Foundation today announced $5 million in grants to help nonprofit housing organizations in several major U.S. cities provide critical education and counseling services for homeowners and affordable housing residents in need.
Capital One’s Financial Corporation and Foundation are launching this nationwide effort with eight leading housing organizations:
- NeighborWorks America
- National Council of La Raza
- National Urban League
- National Coalition Asian Pacific American Community Development
- Volunteers of America
- Housing Partnership Network
- Corporation for Supportive Housing
- National Rural Housing Coalition
Collectively, these partnerships will expand the capacity of nearly 200 community organizations to provide services to thousands of people in U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Newark, N.J., New Orleans and Houston.
"We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Capital One, as it enhances our ability to keep nonprofit community development professionals equipped with the best tools and education needed to build strong communities," said Eileen Fitzgerald, chief executive officer of NeighborWorks America. "We know through both research and our work in the community that homeownership counseling -- which provides information on seeking, financing, maintaining, owning, or renting a home -- helps people find housing options that are more sustainable. That, in turn, is critical in helping people achieve the stability they need to secure education, jobs, and raise a family.”
New peer-reviewed research from NeighborWorks America found that homebuyers who received the organization’s pre-purchase housing counseling and education were nearly one-third less likely to fall behind on their mortgages, than consumers who didn’t receive it.
“We recognize that our communities are stronger when people have housing that is both affordable and sustainable for them over the long haul,” said Mariadele Priest, vice president of Community Development Banking at Capital One. “We are committed to helping more people access safe, affordable places to live – whether it is through our lending and investing for affordable rental developments or through our support of leading nonprofits providing critical housing services for people in need.”
Capital One is also working with community advocacy organizations to address new issues that have the potential to impact quality of living for individuals who require supportive housing, such as the updates to the Affordable Care Act which greatly affect service-provider operations.
“We are grateful for Capital One’s support as we work to adapt our behavioral health practices to the financial, technological and programmatic requirements of managed care and related health reforms,” said Mike King, national president and CEO of Volunteers of America. “As a result, our affiliates across the country will be able to sustain and refine behavioral health offerings, and the related supportive housing and other community-based services which are so fundamental to individuals with significant mental health and substance use disorders.”
Funding for this effort is composed of $2 million from the Capital One Foundation for national and local housing grants and $3 million from Capital One Financial Corporation.
Capital One recognizes the need for quality, safe affordable housing and the role that housing plays in neighborhood revitalization and economic recovery. In addition to expanding support for U.S. housing organizations helping those in need, Capital One last year provided $1.3 billion in loans and investments creating 9,200 affordable places to live in communities in need across the U.S. According to the National Association of Homebuilders, every 100 affordable housing units built not only creates 122 jobs in the first year, but also creates 30 jobs on an ongoing basis, demonstrating a direct link between affordable housing and economic opportunity, from creating jobs through construction to generating local business from the sale of housing supplies.
About Capital One Foundation
Capital One Foundation provides funding to support programs for safe and affordable housing, financial literacy, workforce and economic development, school improvement, and early childhood education. With a focus on programming and non-profit development that drives education-centered community revitalization, and using a test-and-learn approach, the Foundation identifies best practices and proven successful metrics and models that can be translated across geographic scope and then shared with the broader community. The Foundation’s grant-making serves national and local organizations that inform or implement best practices in the Foundation’s focus areas or operate programs in the designated geographic focus areas which include various parts of Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, New York and New Jersey.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company with more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A. offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities - good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families - benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.
Contact: Shelley Solheim, 917-589-6203
