Wells Fargo's NeighborhoodLIFT Program

Wells Fargo's NeighborhoodLIFT Program
June 21, 2017

El Paso Mayor Leeser joins Wells Fargo to distribute $500,000 in Local Initiatives grants to four El Paso nonprofits

EL PASO, TEXAS June 21, 2017 – Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced a total of $500,000 in donations to four local nonprofits to help revitalize El Paso neighborhoods through the Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT® program.

Identified in collaboration with City of El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser, the Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT local initiative grants for will provide support for economic and workforce development, health and wellness and housing rehabilitation.

“The best part about these local nonprofits is that they are creating jobs and providing sustainable housing for El Pasoans,” said Mayor Leeser. “From job training to home repairs, these grants will foster economic opportunity to improve the quality of life for our communities and residents. I salute Wells Fargo for their commitment to helping neighborhoods and families.”

The grants are funded through Wells Fargo’s NeighborhoodLIFT program that was launched in December 2016 for El Paso-area homebuyers with a $4.5 million commitment by Wells Fargo to boost local homeownership and revitalize neighborhoods. To date, NeighborhoodLIFT has created about two dozen homeowners in El Paso by offering homebuyer education plus matching down payment assistance grants up to $7,500.

More than 300 down payment assistance grants are still available and interested homebuyers may contact NeighborWorks America’s local network member, Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation, or Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in El Paso for information about eligibility requirements.

“Wells Fargo cares about communities and we are making these investments to continue the revitalization effort to strengthen El Paso,” said Christine Gallegos, El Paso district manager for Wells Fargo’s Community Bank. “These nonprofits are actively leading efforts to help create jobs, promote wellness, encourage higher education, provide sustainable housing and much more. This commitment is another example of the many efforts we are making to build better communities.”

About NeighborhoodLIFT

NeighborhoodLIFT® program is the single largest corporate philanthropic effort of its kind in Wells Fargo’s history. In collaboration with NeighborWorks America, the Wells Fargo LIFT program has helped create more than 13,700 homeowners in 52 communities since 2012. A video about NeighborhoodLIFT programs is posted on Wells Fargo Stories.

The $125,000 Wells Fargo NeighborhodLIFT grant will enable Project ARRIBA in its LIFTing EL Pasoans project to accomplish the following over a twelve-month period: ninety (90) BSN participants will be served, of which seventy (70) participants will be enrolled in long-term training at UTEP. The remaining twenty (20) will be recent program graduates who will receive job placement assistance. Project ARRIBA’s innovative approach will lead to 90% of participants persisting in training and twenty-two (22) program graduates at the completion of the grant. And most importantly, a minimum of twenty (20) participants will enter employment earning on average $45,000/year.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $2.0 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,500 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 273,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Project ARRIBA’s Impact:

Jessica is one of 1,273 Project ARRIBA graduates that are empowered with the education and skills needed to move from a low-wage jobs and into a family-sustaining, living-wage careers. Program graduates, like Jessica, no longer depend on government welfare programs but instead are earning over $48,000/year and adding $710.2 million dollars in income to the local economy. They are estimated to pay an additional $171.31 million in taxes over the remainder of their work years due to their higher earning potential (“The Economic Impact of Project ARRIBA on El Paso, Texas”, report performed by the Institute for Policy and Economic Development at the University of Texas at El Paso, 2015). Equally important, their children begin to see and set goals to attend college following their parent’s example.

Project ARRIBA’s Approach:

Project ARRBIA’s workforce development model employs an innovative intensive case management approach and wrap-around support services to mitigate socioeconomic barriers for students in training. This support increases academic retention and graduation rates. Case management is comprehensive and participant centered and provides a valuable service to the training provider needing help graduating an at-risk student population. This approach allows participants to focus their efforts on school with minimal interruption. Through intensive case management, Project ARRIBA guides, motivates, and empowers at-risk students with the ability to navigate the educational setting and the selected career. Case managers work with participants to successfully access training and services, monitoring participants’ progress and effectiveness, and providing counseling and accountability. Project ARRIBA maintains a student to case manager ratio of no more than 60:1. Furthermore, the program provides wrap-around support services that include, but not limited to, assistance with tuition, course textbooks, school materials, childcare, emergency rent/utilities, public transportation, licensing exams, tutoring support, and other services as needed. As a result, Project ARRIBA has achieved a three-year persistence rate of over 80% and more than 60% of participants complete their long-term training in three years.

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