First Tennessee Bank Creates $50 Million Community Fund
Memphis-based First Tennessee Bank has created a $50 million community fund to support organizations serving low- to moderate-income people and neighborhoods, the Commercial Appeal reports.
The Community Development Fund will award $3 million annually to nonprofit and for-profit groups in the bank's service area, which includes Chattanooga; Knoxville; and Nashville, Tennessee; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. Recipients of the fund's inaugural grants include Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis, which was awarded $150,000 for a construction project in that city's Uptown neighborhood; the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, which will receive $100,000; and Memphis-based United Housing, which was awarded $100,000 to promote home ownership, provide financial counseling, and offer small home improvement loans at a low interest rate. Grants awarded by the fund will be in addition to the $5 million in grants awarded each year by the First Tennessee Foundation, the bank's philanthropic arm.
"Our goal is to provide financial empowerment tools and support our low- and moderate-income neighbors and neighborhoods so the entire community grows stronger together," said Bryan Jordan, chair and CEO of the bank's parent company, First Horizon National Corp. "When all segments of our communities are strong, First Tennessee Bank will be more successful.''
