Community Reinvestment Project

Community Reinvestment Project: Department of Commerce

 

In 2024, United Way of Snohomish County and six other United Ways in the Pacific Northwest received grants from the Community Outreach Fund through the Community Reinvestment Project (CRP), managed by the Washington State Department of Commerce.

These funds aim to address the unequal impact of the war on drugs, particularly on Black, Indigenous, and Latine communities. These groups have been disproportionately affected and often have high involvement with the justice system.

Our outreach focuses on strengthening Black-, Indigenous-, and Latine-led community initiatives. Specifically, we aim to:

  • Provide financial literacy and mentoring support to By/For organizations.
  • Support asset-building initiatives.
  • Plan and implement a statewide Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.
  • Oversee and manage an Individual Development Accounts (IDA) program.

 

So far, we have awarded the following grants: 
 

Connect Casino Road – Awarded $15,000 to offer a nine-week business accelerator for small business owners, focusing on financial planning and marketing. The structured course is designed for existing small businesses or entrepreneurs who are wanting to start their own business. Business Accelerator is offered as one class per week with the same cohort plus one introduction/orientation session. Sessions are offered in English and Spanish! The target population is low-income families, BIPOC, Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and immigrants. Of these 75% are Black, Indigenous and/or Latine. 

Black Healing Fund – Awarded $10,000 to purchase a pickup truck to expand outreach and resource delivery for underserved Black families in Snohomish County, enhancing service delivery and community engagement. 

Millennia Ministries – Awarded $6000 to supported financial literacy and personal development programs for BIPOC youth and African American women to help strengthen personal empowerment and financial education. Funds will go towards compensating facilitators and instructors as they teach and mentor BIPOC youth in money saving strategies to increase wealth, clean credit while using incentives to encourage participation and some of the finances will help to continue to offer Millenia Ministries program of two 6 month cohorts for the women enrolled, conducting the graduation class at the end of the cohorts, as well as offering our yearly conference for 100 African American women. 

For more information about the CRP efforts, contact Susan Gustafson, Director of Programs, at susan.gustafson@uwsc.org.