HAP Inc. receives $50,000 from TD Charitable Foundation to support affordable housing

Date: 11/30/2009

Springfield HAP Inc. of Springfield has received a $50,000 grant from the TD Charitable Foundation's annual "Housing for Everyone" grant competition. The funding will be used to support affordable housing initiatives in Western Massachusetts.

Now in its fifth year, the "Housing for Everyone" grant competition offers housing non-profits a chance to win funds for projects that help to stabilize the housing environment in communities where TD Bank does business. Grants ranged from $10,000 to $100,000. HAP was one of 56 winners selected for funding out of nearly 500 applicants.

Peter Gagliardi, Executive Directior of HAP Inc., commented, "HAPHousing is thrilled to be a winner of this year's Housing for Everyone Grant Competition through the TD Charitable Foundation. This award will enable HAP to expand its work in the Old Hill neighborhood of Springfield that has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. With this award, HAPHousing will increase its collaboration with neighborhood residents in revitalizing the neighborhood and transforming vacant and abandoned houses into homes for low to moderate income families. "

HAP's mission is to enable people to achieve a better future by providing affordable housing opportunities, education and support, and to promote vibrant, diverse communities throughout Hampden and Hampshire counties. The funding from the "Housing for Everyone" competition will directly support HAP's HAPHousing program, which proposes to undertake a comprehensive post-foreclosure strategy, the Neighborhood Impact Project: Effecting Change One House at a Time. The goal is to transform a target section of the Old Hill neighborhood, considered the most distressed section of the neighborhood, by directing every tool HAPHousing and its partners have at their disposal to achieve stabilization, revitalization and ultimately transformation.

HAP was the top winner for Massachusetts for the 2009 "Housing for Everyone" grant competition.

Through the "Housing for Everyone" program, the TD Charitable Foundation donated a total $2 million in 2009, and has invested nearly $5.3 million in affordable housing to date.