Page 4
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
February 8, 2017
Maxine Fitzpatrick of Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives
(2nd from left) accepts a Wells Fargo Housing Foundation grant for
the non-profit organization she leads to build 22 affordable homes
for low income and displaced residents of north and northeast
Portland. Also pictured (from left) are Wells Fargo executives An-
drew Tweedie, Tracy Curtis and Cobi Lewis.
Major Support for
Affordable Homes
Wells Fargo
grant to help
displaced
families
Twenty-two low-income fam-
ilies displaced by gentrification
will be able to purchase a home in
their former neighborhood, thanks
in part to a $100,000 grant from
the Wells Fargo Housing Founda-
tion to Portland Community Rein-
vestment Initiatives (PCRI).
The nonprofit group will use
the monies to help build 22 new
homes in north and inner northeast
Portland for purchase by the fam-
ilies. Construction on the homes
is expected to start later this year,
with all 22 homes completed and
sold to qualifying families by the
end of 2018. PCRI is estimating
the total construction budget will
be close to $6 million.
“Helping a family become a
homeowner is one of the most
effective ways to help them over-
come displacement from their
historic neighborhoods,” said
PCRI Executive Director Maxine
Fitzpatrick. “This grant is an im-
portant tool to make homes avail-
able and affordable for families
who want to return and stay in the
neighborhoods they once called
home.”
The Wells Fargo grant will
make homeownership more af-
fordable by helping offset PCRI’s
development costs for new homes
built on land it owns. The com-
pleted homes will be prioritized
for sale to households who have
been involuntarily displaced or are
at risk of displacement from north
and inner northeast Portland.
Families purchasing the homes
will also receive support from
PCRI’s HUD-certified homeown-
ership education and financial ed-
ucation programs.
The 22 homes are part of a larg-
er PCRI initiative: Pathway 1000.
The initiative aims to develop
1,000 new homes during the next
10 years, prioritized for residents
involuntarily displaced or at risk
of displacement from north and
inner northeast Portland.
“This grant is part of our
commitment to the community
to support the creation of more
affordable housing, which is so
desperately needed in Portland,”
said Wells Fargo Oregon Re-
gional President Tracy Curtis of
Portland. “We work in tandem
with PCRI and other commu-
nity-based nonprofits to ensure
stability and opportunity for local
families.”
The $100,000 grant to PCRI
was one of 56 neighborhood
revitalization grants totaling $6
million that Wells Fargo Hous-
ing Foundation gave to nonprof-
its in 20 states and the District
of Columbia through its Priority
Markets Program. Since 2009
the program has provided grants
totaling more than $42 million to
nonprofits in 125 communities.
Since 1992, PCRI has pre-
served and expanded affordable
housing options for low-income
families in Portland. More infor-
mation: www.pcrihome.org.