M&T Bank is awarding $100,000 to nine not-for-profit organizations in Connecticut, including several in Fairfield County. The grants are being made to organizations that encourage housing opportunities, create affordable housing for low-to-moderate income families, generate neighborhood redevelopment and spearhead economic development initiatives.
“M&T Bank has made it a priority to work with Connecticut”™s nonprofit organizations,” said Michael Weinstock, the Norwalk-based market president for Connecticut at M&T, which is headquartered in Buffalo. “Affordable housing is an area of focus for the bank in communities we serve.”
The first grant was $20,000 to the Stamford-based Housing Development Fund to help facilitate its mission of developing affordable housing and assisting first-time homebuyers with free counseling and unique lending products.
Other county-based groups receiving funding include the Fairfield County Funders Collaborative for Affordable Housing, which supports nonprofit developers committed to increasing the availability and variety of quality accessible housing options in the county; the Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust, which focuses on lead remediation and providing comprehensive homeownership for low-and moderate-income families; and Stamford”™s New Neighborhoods, which seeks to create sustainable communities by developing, redeveloping, and preserving quality housing that strengthens low- and moderate-income families.
In addition, awards were made to Bridgeport-based Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County; the Women”™s Business Development Council, headquartered in Stamford; and The WorkPlace, the Bridgeport-headquartered job development and training center.
M&T is also providing funding to the Connecticut Housing Investment Fund, based in Hartford, and the Connecticut Housing Coalition, headquartered in Wethersfield.
