Bank of America names 2025 Neighborhood Builders grant recipients

Bank of America has awarded two local nonprofits with major grants to help support their missions of advancing economic opportunity and supporting Charlotte’s unhoused population.

Nonprofits Prospera and Supporting Housing Communities have been named Bank of America’s 2025 Neighborhood Builders. Neighborhood Builders is a longstanding philanthropic effort to help strengthen leadership skills for nonprofit leaders across the country.

Since 2004, Bank of America has invested more than $346 million in grants to thousands of nonprofits, according to their website. Of those grants, 36 nonprofits from Charlotte have been selected, with Bank of America investing nearly $9 million.

“Our local nonprofits are crucial to addressing local challenges in Charlotte,” Kieth Cockrell, president of Bank of America Charlotte, said in a statement. “Through flexible funding and comprehensive leadership training, the Neighborhood Builders program helps nonprofits address critical needs and promote economic opportunity for the individuals and families in our communities.”

Both Prospera and Supporting Housing Communities were awarded $200,000 in grants to use over two years.

Prospera is a multi-state nonprofit that’s been active in North Carolina for the last nine years, said Jose Alvarez, Prospera North Carolina’s vice president. The organization helps individuals, largely Latino entrepreneurs, start small businesses and start-ups.

The funding will allow Prospera to help serve the community through free in-person training and consulting appointments.

“We feel honored and humbled at the fact that we’ve been here for less than 10 years and being awarded this it is truly special,” Alvarez said in an interview with The Charlotte Observer. “Bank of America has really raised the standard and the bar for us so that we can continue servicing in the venues that we serve in an impactful and professional manner.”

Supporting Housing Communities provides affordable housing and services to individuals experiencing homelessness in Charlotte. These funds will help the organization continue to provide housing at McCreesh Place — Charlotte’s first permanent supportive housing complex — and in privately-owned rentals across the city.

“Our neighbors deserve the stability and dignity that come with having a safe place to call home,” Laura Caldwell, CEO of Supportive Housing Communities, said in a statement. “This funding strengthens our ability to stand alongside families and individuals who have faced the toughest circumstances and help them rebuild their lives. We are grateful for partners who believe in this work and who share our commitment to making homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring in Charlotte.”