DALLAS, July 16, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A Northwest Arkansas group that rehabilitates homes for seniors, single parents, and disabled persons, has received a $350,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas), through Metropolitan National Bank in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Rebuilding Together of Northwest Arkansas, an affiliate of the national Rebuilding Together program, will use the funds for its Rebuilding Together Year Round Program, which will provide emergency repairs, improvements to home accessibility, and other enhancements to 75 homes.
FHLB Dallas, Metropolitan Bank, and Rebuilding Together of Northwest Arkansas will join one of the families that has benefited from the grant at 11 a.m. (CDT) on July 30.
"One of the benefits of being a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is the access to the Affordable Housing Program. We just love it here at Metropolitan National Bank," said Virgil Miller, Senior Vice President for Community Development at Metropolitan National Bank. "Every time we go out, we identify organizations that fit the profile as candidates for AHP grants. With Rebuilding Together of Northwest Arkansas, we saw the need for their clients, and that these funds would help their clients be able to stay in their homes in a safe, sound, secure environment."
Jan Skopecek, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together of Northwest Arkansas, says the AHP grant will help enormously, especially with residents that live outside the city limits where community development block grants and similar funding can't be used.
"The moment we get to our city limits, our ability to develop funding sources to assist those clients out in the counties is severely limited," Ms. Skopecek said. "We're often limited in what we're able to do, or our revitalization of a client's home has to be spread out over a long period of time. These funds are going to enable us to be able to deal with the whole problem at one time."
Each year, FHLB Dallas returns 10 percent of its profits to the communities served by member institutions in the form of AHP grants issued through its member financial institutions. So far in 2009, the Bank has awarded $5.4 million in AHP grants to 25 affordable housing projects through its five-state District, including nearly $662,000 in Arkansas, which will result in the creation or renovation of 99 affordable housing units in the state.
For more information about FHLB Dallas programs, or to attend the grant award celebration on July 30, please contact the Corporate Communications Department at 214.441.8445.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 12 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $68.7 billion as of March 31, 2009, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to more than 900 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit the FHLB Dallas web site at fhlb.com.
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