Parsippany-Based Housing Nonprofit Wins Bank of America Grant

Parsippany's Community Hope is one of 22 New Jersey organizations getting a share of about $615,000 in Bank of America grants going to state nonprofits focused on housing issues.

The grants are part of a larger BoA program that will spend $22 million among 650 national and local community nonprofits in 34 states. The groups being awarded have a similar focus: providing low- and moderate-income households with services. Those services, however, are quite diverse, ranging from building and rehabbing of affordable housing to homeowner counseling and foreclosure prevention programs.  

“Building capacity for nonprofit partners is a critical step as we continue to address the impacts of the housing crisis, here in New Jersey and across the country,” said Bob Doherty, Bank of America's New Jersey president. “Having partnered with these grant recipients in the past, we know firsthand how effective they can be.”

New Jersey Citizen Action Executive Director Phyllis Salowe-Kaye said the grants will fill a real need for people hit hard by the economic downturn, including the veterans and developmentally disabled people served by Community Hope.

“Support from partners like Bank of America enables New Jersey Citizen Action to provide critical financial education programming,” she said. “This grant will help promote neighborhood stabilization through homeownership preparation, foreclosure prevention and financial education and provide other assistance to those who need it most.”

Julia Bey Ahmet, Community Hope's executive director, said her organization received $20,000 from Bank of America for its 450 Expansion Campaign. 

"We recently launched our 450 Campaign' to reach more vulnerable individuals in need of our services," Ahmet said. "The campaign will expand our capacity from serving 300 individuals a day to 450."

The expansion includes:

• expanding the VETS Program, which serves homeless veterans in Newark
• developing a 63-unit veterans' affordable housing and supported-living village
• offering more financial assistance and services for low-income veteran families
• developing six supportive housing projects to ensure affordable housing plus services for people in recovery from mental illness
• creating three new residences providing intensive support to help patients leaving the adjacent Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital take their first step back to community and family life