The Wells Fargo Foundation is rare in its capacity to empower communities across the larger United States by serving historically divested populations and advancing racial equality. More rare, however, is the Foundation’s commitment to strategically supporting the organizations already in place to advance that mission.
LISC LA is one of those organizations, and this month we celebrate the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation. Their unprecedented commitment to community development and COVID-19 relief efforts culminated in a donation of over $480,000 last year. This grant allowed LISC LA to expand our capacity to do good, and to provide emergency relief efforts when they were most needed during the pandemic.
The Wells Fargo Foundation has always been a leader in corporate community giving. In 2020 alone, Wells Fargo unveiled a $400 million Open for Business Fund, which supported small businesses during the pandemic. The same year, the Foundation leveraged $175 million to address food, financial, and housing insecurity, and provided over 300 grants for small businesses across the nation. Their support of LISC LA further cements their reputation as a strategic and forward thinking presence in the field of community development, and we are honored to have them as a partner in that field.
During the most difficult months of the pandemic, Los Angeles was an epicenter for the virus – in 2020, over half of the households in LA were experiencing financial difficulties, and a disproportionate number of Black and Latino households reported serious financial problems. The Wells Fargo Foundation’s decision to support LISC LA was one based in strategy and statistics – as an organization, LISC LA had the expertise necessary to serve the city of Los Angeles and activate new systems of support and emergency aid.
The Wells Fargo Foundation’s support of our operations, programming, and COVID-19 Relief Fund provided LISC LA with the renewed capacity to serve Angelos on a more expansive and impactful level than ever before – and for that, we are incredibly grateful.
“Wells Fargo is proud to support LISC LA and the COVD-19 Relief Fund. We share similar values of supporting small businesses and working to ensure underserved communities have access to the necessary resources to recover and build a path to financial success,” said Justine D. Gonzalez, Vice President & Community Relations Senior Consultant at Wells Fargo Foundation. “LISC LA always steps up to lead in new and ambitious ways, and this past year was no different. We are grateful to work with LISC LA as we strive to build a more equitable Los Angeles.”
As a result of the Foundation’s generous donations to our organization, we were able to deploy over $100 million in grants to micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses, and local non-profits as the administrator of the COVID-19 Relief Fund, which was created in collaboration with private and public partners, including the County of Los Angeles.
2020 was an undeniably difficult year. However, with the support of donors like the Wells Fargo Foundation, LISC LA was able to be part of the solution – not only in providing immediate relief, but in creating opportunities for resilience and equitable growth long after the pandemic is over.