RICHMOND, Va. -- A major donation from the Truist Foundation aims to help Richmond break the cycle of poverty by partnering with a non-profit organization, LIFT.
“At Truist, our purpose is to inspire and build better lives and communities. That is critical to everything we do,” Bill Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Truist Financial, said at a news conference in City Hall Friday.
The bank announced a $500,000 grant funding a new partnership between Richmond’s Office of Community Wealth Building and LIFT.
“At LIFT we recognize that poverty, like wealth, is handed down from generation to generation. Our mission is to end that cycle with an anti-racist approach,” said LIFT’s CEO Michelle Rhone-Collins.
LIFT will help Richmond increase and scale economic mobility efforts by providing more outreach and services in areas such as money management, education planning and career coaching for marginalized or underserved families.
“We believe that change can start when a company like ours understands the deeply-rooted, unique challenges facing our community,” said Truist Foundation President Lynette Bell. “We know that change has to happen systemically in order to eradicate barriers and partnerships like this are so critical to that full success.”
Mayor Levar Stoney commented on the mass shooting in Richmond this week and said while there is hurt and suffering in our community, this “perfect partnership” gives the city reasons to be hopeful.
“As we know that to be effective, we have to serve the whole person and the whole family,” said Stoney. “Both LIFT and the Office of Community Wealth Building see families not as something to be fixed, or a case to be managed, but as worthy and capable individuals and people with unlimited potential.”
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