El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center and Making Hope Happen Receive $200k Grants to Support Building Resource Centers in San Bernardino

Bank of America today announced El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center (El Sol) and Making Hope Happen Foundation as the 2023Neighborhood Builders® awardees for their work advancing economic mobility and serving underserved neighborhoods across the Inland Empire. This multi-year grant comes with extensive leadership training for the nonprofits’ leaders, to enhance resources and services for expansion and scale.

The Neighborhood Builders program is one of the largest philanthropic investments into nonprofit leadership development in the nation, providing comprehensive leadership training for an executive director and an emerging leader on topics ranging from increasing financial sustainability, human capital management and strategic storytelling, and the opportunity to join a national network of peer organizations. Each Builder is also awarded a $200,000 grant over two years.

“Nonprofits are vital to solving social challenges, improving communities and promoting economic advancement,” said Bansree Parikh, President, Bank of America Inland Empire. “Providing these nonprofits with flexible funding and leadership training not only positions them for sustainable, long-term success, but demonstrates our commitment to creating real change in the places where we live and work.”

For more than 30 years El Sol has served approximately 50,000 vulnerable residents annually across the Inland Empire providing access to health care, affordable housing and education through its unique Community Health Workers (CHWs) and Promotores programs. EL Sol will use the grant to help expand the agency, including remodeling a new office headquarters in San Bernardino to support agency staff with training space and offer a venue for community events and members. El Sol will also leverage grant dollars to support the building of a new family resource center, El Sol Learning Park, which will offer programming  and resources to local families.

“We believe that this grant will not only support the recent expansion of our agency, but also serve as a catalyst for positive change within our community. It will allow us to update and fix our facilities, provide our dedicated staff with the necessary resources, and further enhance our family resource center,” said Alex Fajardo, Executive Director, El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center.

The Making Hope Happen Foundation supports low- and moderate-income communities in San Bernardino by bringing resources such as scholarships, home ownership opportunities, small business development and loans, and job skills to underserved residents. Making Hope Happen Foundation will use the grant towards the revitalization of Arrowhead Grove, one of the oldest public housing communities in California, for a Community Resource Center (CRC.) In partnership with other community partners — including El Sol — The Arrowhead Grove CRC in San Bernardino will bring together educational opportunities, mentoring, job and career development services, recreational activities, children’s programming, health and wellness resources, and many other services. 

“This grant will allow us to build capacity supporting critical operations, strategic communications, fund development and marketing as we work with our partners in the Arrowhead Grove project,” said Niki Dettman, CEO, Making Hope Happen Foundation. “We believe that successful collaborative efforts create soil that is fertile and ready for more growth.  Everyone who calls San Bernardino home should have the opportunity to prosper, thrive, and feel like they belong.”

The Neighborhood Builders invitation-only program is highly competitive. Nonprofits are selected by a committee comprised of community leaders and past Builders awardees.  Since the program’s inception in 2004, 31 Inland Empire nonprofits have been selected as Neighborhood Builders.