FOLSOM, Calif. – (January 30, 2023) – SAFE Credit Union awarded Sacramento Cottage Housing Inc. a $5,000 grant to fund new educational courses for its formerly homeless clients to learn important life and financial skills.
The grant was awarded through the credit union’s Community Sustainability Grant Program, which provides funds to Sacramento region nonprofits with programs that support education, healthcare, and veterans. To engage the community and our members in our corporate giving initiatives, SAFE invited the community in December to determine the two grant recipients offering education programs that address inequities. Voters chose Sacramento Cottage Housing Inc. and the Construction Industry Education Foundation to each receive $5,000 grants.
“The grant that SAFE is giving is such a gift and blessing for Cottage Housing,” says Sacramento Cottage Housing Program Director Cynthia Hunt. “It is another tool that we can use to engage our residents on an everyday basis to address the causal factors that led to their homelessness so we can watch them bloom like the flowers in our garden.”
Based in Sacramento, Cottage Housing works to lift unhoused people into independence and self-sufficiency. They provide shelter, security and programs to families and individuals to help them focus on personal and professional development to gain confidence. At the heart of their program are two communities: Serna Village and Quinn Cottages.
Part of their program includes Life Skill Development classes that provide applicable lessons on parenting, healthy eating, budgeting, and employment skills. SAFE’s grant will go to create a new course on independent living skills and a second course of the residents’ choosing.
The courses are designed to provide knowledge and skills needed for the residents to move forward on a more solid financial footing.
“I think financial freedom for our participants is giving them all the tools they need so they can live a life where they won’t have debt, can make purchases and know how they’re spending their money,” Hunt says. “And to be able to do the things they want and to teach those tools to their children.”
The grant to Cottage Housing was one of eight totaling $95,000 awarded to nonprofits from SAFE in 2022.
“Our Community Sustainability Grant Program provides funding to programs that seek to make our communities economically stronger by giving people the tools and resources they need to live fulfiling, healthy lives,” says SAFE Community Impact Manager Amanda Merz. “Cottage Housing is providing essential work to address the causal roots of homelessness in our community through programs that truly work. SAFE is honored to help fund new courses that will directly help residents gain the confidence and knowledge they need to lead lives full of promise and hope.”
Learn more about SAFE’s Community Sustainability Grant Program.
To connect with SAFE Credit Union Community Impact Manager Amanda Merz, please contact AVP, Communications and Public Relations Carole Ferguson at [email protected] or 916-836-6318.
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About SAFE
SAFE Credit Union has made members an integral part of its vision since 1940. Over the years the credit union has kept the focus on what really matters, putting members first, a formula that has seen SAFE grow into a leading financial institution in Northern California with $4.5 billion in assets and about 247,000 members. SAFE crafts every cutting-edge product and sterling service with members’ needs foremost in mind. In addition to banking services conveniently available through online, chat, mobile, or phone options, SAFE offers in-person services for members and small businesses at service centers across the Greater Sacramento region. SAFE is a not-for-profit, state-chartered credit union with membership open to businesses and individuals living or working in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Sutter, Butte, Nevada, Solano, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Yuba, Amador, and Alameda counties. Insured by NCUA. www.safecu.org