Citi and the Citi Foundation plan to provide funding to local housing organizations in 12 communities across the country in the form of planning grants intended to enable the organizations to provide technical assistance to help revitalize low- and middle-income communities that are among the hardest hit by residential housing foreclosures.
The planning grants are being provided through the Citi Foundation Neighborhood Stabilization Planning Grants program. The Citi and Citi Foundation grants will also provide the organizations with funding for technical assistance to help communities apply for and secure portions of the $3.9 billion of federal funding that will soon be available through the recently enacted Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.
Citi notes that it is the first financial institution to announce a support plan that provides private resources designed to help local communities access these federal funds. The total funding package from Citi is valued at more than $1 million, including planning grants of up to $100,000 per community.
Source: Citi