LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A national grant aims to close the racial wealth gap across several large cities, including Little Rock.
The city received $75,000, and officials said plans are already in place for its use.
"We strive to grow as a city," Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said. "We want to not only grow economically, from a business standpoint, we want our residents to grow economically... We're grateful that we had this autonomy with this grant to allow what we've done in the past what we're presently doing, but hopefully, it's improved for the future."
The Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund focuses on helping foster financial stability in Little Rock, Buffalo, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia. Through special programs, it partners with local governments and community leaders.
One way the $75,000 will be used in Little Rock is by supporting initiatives like the 100-home initiative, which aims to provide affordable housing to low—and moderate-income families.
It's already seeing success, with the construction of one affordable house finishing just weeks ago, on April 3.
Assistant Director of Housing and Neighborhoods Brian Contino said that day the goal of providing these houses is to offer generational wealth.
"This really does help open up home ownership to residents and allow people to have their own property, be able to call something home, and have that pride of ownership that we're able to provide to the residents," Contino said. "Then they can start building equity and kind of start creating that generational talk about owning homes."
Scott said their wish is for aspiring homeowners to understand their finances and be financially literate so that they can deploy discipline and a plan of action to achieve their goals in life.
"We want to increase infill development within the City of Little Rock to grow our population," Scott said. "We know it helps close wealth gaps within our city to ensure we're growing our economic base."