Washington Trust Contributes $20,000 to West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation

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Jun 04, 2024, 10:00 ET

WESTERLY, R.I., June 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Washington Trust ("the Bank") today announced the Washington Trust Charitable Foundation has awarded $20,000 to West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation to support the Match Savings Incentive Program ("MSIP") and the Get Your House In Order Program ("GYHIOP").

West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation (WEHDC) received a $20,000 grant from the Washington Trust Charitable Foundation to support several programs. From L to R: Rolando Lora, Executive Vice President, Chief Retail Lending Officer and Director of Community Lending at Washington Trust; Dariel Blanco, Deputy Director at WEHDC, Edward O. "Ned" Handy III, Chairman & CEO at Washington Trust; Candace Harper, Executive Director at WEHDC; and Julius Searight, Sankofa Program Manager at WEHDC.

The MSIP is designed to assist individuals with low-to-moderate income on their path toward asset ownership through a financial empowerment course. Participants in the program engage in Financial Capability Workshops to review topics such as: budgeting and savings; debt management; credit building; and the home buying process. Washington Trust previously supported MSIP with a $15,000 grant over the 2022-23 period.

The GYHIO program is a nationwide program for culturally specific financial education for African Americans that delivers a four-week financial literacy course to review topics such as: generational and psychological relationships with money; budgeting and savings strategies; investing; credit; identity theft; insurance; and more.

"Washington Trust is committed to helping our community members build a strong financial foundation on their path to homeownership and self-sufficiency," said Rolando Lora, Washington Trust Executive Vice President, Chief Retail Lending Officer, and Director of Community Lending. "We are thrilled to continue to support West Elmwood Housing Development's mission to promote the development of healthy, sustainable communities through housing services in Providence."

"Our mission is to bring opportunities to build a healthy, sustainable West End neighborhood by investing in and embracing resident empowerment to support the enhancement of economic mobility and equity for our community," said Candace Harper, Executive Director of West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation. "These resources from Washington Trust will assist us with providing access to these excellent programs to support our community members as they work towards meeting their financial goals."

The grant is part of more than $584,000 of total giving granted by the Washington Trust Charitable Foundation to 60+ organizations throughout the Bank's footprint (through May 31, 2024), $122,000 of which was directed to support safe and affordable housing and homeownership programs.

ABOUT WASHINGTON TRUST^®Founded in 1800, Washington Trust is recognized as the oldest community bank in the nation, the largest state-chartered bank headquartered in Rhode Island and one of the Northeast's premier financial services companies. Washington Trust values its role as a community bank and is committed to helping the people, businesses, and organizations of New England improve their financial lives. The Bank offers a wide range of commercial banking, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth management services through its offices in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts and a full suite of convenient digital tools. Washington Trust is a member of the FDIC and an equal housing lender. Washington Trust is a subsidiary of Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc., a publicly-owned holding company which trades onNASDAQ: WASH. For more information, visit the Bank's website at www.washtrust.com or the Corporation's website at ir.washtrust.com.