Working side-by-side with community economic development leaders across North Carolina, the Initiative is supporting place-based lending that advances local priorities. We invest in projects that create jobs and provide affordable housing and services for those most in need. The stories that follow provide a snapshot of the impact of our work and our investments.
Gap Funding Restores Housing for Disaster Victims: First Baptist Homes, Lumberton
In 2016, flooding from Hurricane Matthew forced countless individuals to relocate to temporary housing, some of them for months. Robeson County’s First Baptist Homes, home to senior citizens living on fixed incomes, was particularly hard hit. Read more about the journey back home for First Baptist residents.
An Arts Nonprofit Invests in its Neighborhood: The Scrap Exchange
When Durham-based Scrap Exchange purchased the abandoned movie theater at the Shoppes at Lakewood in 2013, Executive Director Ann May Woodward envisioned working hand-in-hand with the neighborhood to revitalize the shopping center that was on its way to abandonment. With the 2016 purchase of 89,000 square-feet of the adjacent shopping center, she set that vision into motion. Read more about how the Scrap Exchange is working to create a hive of culture in Durham’s Lakewood neighborhood.
Addressing the Senior Affordable Housing Gap: Laurel Street Residential
Through its Loftin at Montcross project, Laurel Street Residential is working to address an acute affordable housing shortage for seniors in Gaston County. Read more about this project, located just west of Charlotte in Belmont.