Citi Foundation Makes $2M Grant to Habitat for Humanity’s Affordable Housing Projects

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorAtlanta–The Citi Foundation, which has supported Habitat for Humanity International projects for nine years, recently made a $2 million grant to the organization that will go toward supporting the construction of affordable housing in the United States.The grant from Citi will provide more than 50 Habitat affiliates across the country with partial to full-project sponsorships. Each grant ranges in size from $15,000 to $125,000 and will go toward multifamily as well as single-family projects. In New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., the Habitat for Humanity projects are mainly multifamily.“This is part of a longstanding relationship with Citi,” Mark Crozet, senior vice president of development, Habitat for Humanity International, tells MHN. “From a purely cash injection perspective, Citi is very important to us. Most of our other investors are small but Citi grants are large and help us a great deal.”Moreover, in celebration of Habitat’s 25th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project held recently in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Citi committed $375,000 and dedicated 40 employee volunteers to the project during the week-long event for families affected by the 2005 hurricanes. Since 2001, Citi has been a sponsor of eight Carter Work Projects, contributing more than $3 million to build houses in partnership with low-income families in Georgia, Alabama, Michigan and California and internationally in South Korea, South Africa, Mexico and India.“We take tremendous pride in creating opportunities for affordable housing and helping make communities better because we are there,” says Kevin Kessinger, Citi Chief Operations and Technology Officer.The Citi Foundation has donated more than $29 million to Habitat for Humanity to assist in providing low-income families earning 30 to 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI), with safe and decent housing since 1999. This funding has supported the construction of more than 350 homes, impacting more than 1,400 individuals.“Citi’s generosity through the years has helped provide hundreds of families with safe, decent and affordable housing, changing lives and communities around the world,” says Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat.(Photo caption: CEO Jonathan Reckford and Citi Chief Operations and Technology Officer Kevin Kessinger in Biloxi, Miss., at the 25th annual Carter Work Project)