Capital One and the Capital One Foundation have announced grants totaling $5 million to nonprofit housing organizations working to provide education and counseling services to homeowners and affordable housing residents in need.

Awarded through partnerships with NeighborWorks America, the National Council of La Raza, the National Urban League, the National Coalition Asian Pacific American Community Development, Volunteers of America, the Housing Partnership Network, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the National Rural Housing Coalition, the funds will be used to expand the capacity of nearly two hundred community organizations in Newark, New Orleans, Houston, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities.

"We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Capital One, as it enhances our ability to keep nonprofit community development professionals equipped with the best tools and education needed to build strong communities," said NeighborWorks America CEO Eileen Fitzgerald. "We know through both research and our work in the community that homeownership counseling — which provides information on seeking, financing, maintaining, owning, or renting a home — helps people find housing options that are more sustainable. That, in turn, is critical in helping people achieve the stability they need to secure education [and] jobs and raise a family."

The grants — $2 million from the Capital One Foundation for national and local housing grants and $3 million from Capital One — also will help community advocacy organizations address new issues that have the potential to affect quality of life for individuals who require supportive housing services, including updates to the Affordable Care Act.

"We are grateful for Capital One's support as we work to adapt our behavioral health practices to the financial, technological, and programmatic requirements of managed care and related health reforms," said Mike King, national president and CEO of Volunteers of America. "As a result, our affiliates across the country will be able to sustain and refine behavioral health offerings and the related supportive housing and other community-based services, which are so fundamental to individuals with significant mental health and substance use disorders."