Fifth Third Bank announced plans today to invest $20 million in the Near East Side over the next three years.
The bank will work with Partners Achieving Community Transformation (PACT) and the national nonprofit organization Enterprise Community Partners to distribute the funds via loans, grants and small business support.
PACT has been active in the neighborhood for over ten years, starting as a joint venture of the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, the City of Columbus and Ohio State University. The organization spearheaded the development of a plan for the area in 2013, and has since supported programming designed to implement the recommendations of that plan.
PACT will use the Fifth Third funds to pursue the following goals, according to the new initiative’s website:
- Develop a Black-owned bank and grocery store
- Support public art creation across the neighborhood
- Provide down-payment support for middle-income and ladder-up housing opportunities that build generational wealth
- Expand health, dental and optometry services
- Create financial education, literacy and savings programs for area youth
More information on the specific programs and how they might be implemented was not immediately available.
PACT currently controls over a dozen parcels in the neighborhood, including the former Pilgrim Elementary site at 440 Taylor Ave., as well as a three-story building nearby, at the corner of Taylor and Mount Vernon Avenue. The group reached out to the neighborhood for ideas on what to do with the properties in 2016 but has yet to redevelop either one.
The Near East Side is one of nine majority-Black communities across the country that are part of the Fifth Third initiative, which it is calling its Neighborhood Investment Program.
For more information, see 53neighborhoodinvest.org or eastpact.org.