MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ford Motor Company Fund has announced a $1-million capital grants program to support non-profit organizations in West Tennessee.
The money will help improve communities around Blue Oval City.
West Tennessee is home to Ford’s new $5.6 billion dollar electric vehicle and battery plant. This means non-profits in the following counties are eligible.
- Shelby
- Haywood
- Fayette
- Tipton
- Lauderdale
- Madison
The money is intended to be used for physical infrastructures like playgrounds, community centers, and much more. Marianne Dunavant with Ford said this is all a part of The Ford Fund investing in communities around their plants.
“We want to make an impact on the people who will live next to us so we want to show them that we actually care about the community as well,” Dunavant said.
CodeCrew is a Memphis nonprofit that teaches kids and adults how to write computer software. Executive Director Meka Egwuekwe says his team will apply for the Ford Capital improvement grant which could reward his organization anywhere between $25,000 and $100,000.
If selected, this would be an excellent opportunity for CodeCrew to add new and more updated equipment.
“Not only expand what we are doing with respect to kids having the equipment they need to make high-quality video games, but it also allows us to be able to do some things around electronics that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to so we are hopeful that our friends at Ford will select CodeCrew,” Egwuekwe said.
The company’s investment in the community could also pay off in a big way down the line, not only for the area they are located but also for Ford.
“We want to bring people from poverty to prosperity and so we think we can start by investing into communities and later we can offer those jobs that will help take care of their families,” said Dunavant.
“To build these automobiles you must use robotics, advanced robotics, and the more of those skills that we can build here in Memphis the more successful ford will be and the more successful our community will be,” Egwuekwe said.
A spokesman with Blue Oval was on WREG’s Live at 9 Tuesday morning with more information on how it works and how you can apply. Learn more here.