The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Wells Fargo today announced the 2018 CommunityWINS^® grant program, aimed at accelerating neighborhood revitalization, economic development and job creation in municipalities across the country.

USCM and Wells Fargo first announced the CommunityWINS grant program in 2015, with a three-year, $3 million commitment by Wells Fargo. Including 2018, the public-private collaboration will extend another three years through 2020 with an additional $3 million commitment by Wells Fargo, bringing the combined total to $6 million over six years.

The CommunityWINS grant program is administered by USCM and funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation.

“We are pleased to expand this impactful program through 2020,” said Tom Cochran, U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and executive director. “The CommunityWINS program demonstrates how the private and public sectors can work together to address local economic challenges and create positive change. Our organization and Wells Fargo share similar goals and commitments to help communities across the country succeed, and we look forward to teaming up with additional cities and nonprofits to spur economic recovery in 2018 and beyond.”

Through a competitive application process, USCM will determine eligibility and administer grant funds to eligible nonprofits in six cities, two awards per population category, to support neighborhood revitalization, economic development and job creation initiatives.

“Together, USCM and Wells Fargo are empowering communities to make improvements in local municipalities,” said Martin Sundquist, executive director of the Wells Fargo Housing Foundation. “Since the 2015 launch of CommunityWINS, we have seen our goals of accelerating neighborhood revitalization, economic development and job creation come to life and strengthen cities as a result. We are thrilled to announce our continued $3 million, three-year commitment and look forward to seeing our communities benefit.”

USCM member cities can nominate up to three eligible nonprofit initiatives or programs that address one of the following issues:

• Neighborhood stabilization – projects designed to stimulate growth and stability while assisting in the removal of blight and the rebuilding of neighborhoods.
• Economic development – projects designed to promote business development.
• Job creation – projects designed to aid in local job creation or assist in job training.

Grant requirements, application details, application checklists and the online application forms are available now at www.usmayors.org/communitywins/. Applications must be submitted by March 16, 2018.

In 2017, CommunityWINS grants were presented to six nonprofits: Main Street Launch (San Francisco); Farm Fresh (Providence, R.I.); Community Action Partnership of Lancaster County (Lancaster, Pa.); 3Star Community Corporation (Atlanta); MAKE Santa Fe (Santa Fe, N.M.); and Ithaca Downtown Business Improvement District (Ithaca, N.Y.).

The CommunityWINS grant program collaboration between the USCM and Wells Fargo follows a national alliance formed in 2011 to address foreclosure prevention, property disposition, homeownership promotion and community development. The alliance was forged to address housing challenges through strategies developed by Wells Fargo.

About USCM

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/usmayors, or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/usmayors.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,300 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortune’s 2017 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.