Our bank and our employees are always helping their communities. Here’s a roundup of some of the ways we’ve made a positive difference lately.

NSB, Milwaukee offer grants to low-income home buyers

Flanked by Tim Klont of Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Senior Vice President of Lending Michael Kellman speaks at a news conference announcing the housing initiative, held in the lobby of our Martin Luther King Drive branch. Kellman said the initiative is in line with the bank’s mission of helping people buy homes and strengthening the communities and neighborhoods in which it operates.

As you may have heard, North Shore Bank has joined forces with the City of Milwaukee to offer “rehab grants” to 25 low-income home buyers who purchase tax-foreclosed homes. The home buyers will use the funds to make needed repairs on the homes. The money for the grants comes from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. As a member of FHLBC, North Shore Bank was eligible to partner with a public agency and then apply for Affordable Housing Program funds to be used for community projects. FHLBC awarded North Shore Bank and Milwaukee $266,250 in funds to be distributed.

Barrett poses for a photo with MLK Drive’s Branch Manager Francisca Rodriguez, Teller Yolanda Weathersby, Personal Banker Demetrius Nash, Universal Banker Anjelica Findley and Teller Supervisor Kiyah Thurmond.

Right now, Milwaukee owns more than 1,300 residences foreclosed on for tax reasons, and about two-thirds of those are standing vacant. This grant effort will focus on neighborhoods with high concentrations of these vacant homes and other neighborhoods that have struggled since the foreclosure crisis. Besides money to make the houses livable again, the home buyers will also get counseling to help them before they make their purchase and afterward, as well as help finding and working with contractors. The goal is to have these grants in the hands of new home owners between now and November.

President and COO Jay McKenna gets a photo with Barrett, too.

Vice President Miguel Pesqueira and the rest of the Community Lending team were instrumental in making these grants a reality.

“The process started about a year ago. The Department of City Development called and asked if we would be interested in sponsoring a grant for them to help with Milwaukee’s foreclosure problem,” Miguel says. It took about a year for the application and approval. Around early March, the bank will roll out a marketing campaign to attract potential home buyers. The city has a list of potential properties and will provide an expediter at no cost who can help determine what rehabilitation measures are needed. “The city will have more properties on the tax rolls, and North Shore will have more happy customers!”

All inquiries about the grants should go through Community Lending Operations Coordinator Sonia Milankovic at (414) 327-0539; by routing responses through one person, the department will be able to keep better track of important details.

Facilities & Services donates $25,000 in business clothing

New Threads of Hope staffers display some of the clothing we donated.

The Facilities & Services Department donated corporate clothing valued at $25,000 to New Threads of Hope, a Wisconsin nonprofit that acts as a go-between connecting businesses who want to donate goods and the charities and agencies that need their help. The department made the donation on Dec. 18, Facilities & Services Vice President Steve Dowe said, after one of our vendors, Quality Business Forms, mentioned New Threads of Hope.

Kenosha fundraiser aids playground development effort

Kenosha South Area Manager Julie Goebel and Assistant Manager Stephanie Bruneo, Dream Playground Project reps Amity Forsythe and Tammy Conforti, and Universal Banker Sarah Warren display the donation to the project.

As part of our grand opening inside Festival Foods in Kenosha, we raised funds for the city’s Dream Playground Project, a nonprofit effort “to work with the city of Kenosha to build a fully accessible playground to be located on Kenosha’s lakefront at Kennedy Park.” Guests were asked to donate their change to the playground project, and the bank matched up to $25 of each donation, up to a total $500. Between donations and matching funds, we contributed $1,261.82 to the project.