Immerse Arkansas garners $225,000 for homeless shelter in LR

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) awarded Immerse Arkansas a $225,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant through FHLB Dallas member Arvest Bank to build a homeless shelter for young adults in Little Rock.

The Station, operated by Immerse Arkansas, provides temporary housing for runaways, youth aging out of the foster care system, victims of human trafficking and homeless young adults, ages 18-24.

“Our goal is to help young adults in crisis become whole and resilient people,” said Immerse Arkansas Executive Director Eric Gilmore. “We are deeply grateful for the partnership of FHLB Dallas and Arvest on this project, which helped us to fund construction costs of the shelter.”

AHP funds are intended to assist FHLB Dallas members in financing the purchase, construction and/or rehabilitation of owner-occupied, rental or transitional housing, and housing for homeless individuals. The funds must be used to benefit households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income.

“We are thrilled to celebrate with Immerse Arkansas and the entire state on the opening of this unique shelter that serves young adults,” said Arvest Bank Group CRA Director Virgil Miller. “This shelter meets a critical need in our state, and the FHLB Dallas AHP grant helped make it a reality.”

Greg Hettrick, senior vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas, said Arvest Bank has been a long-time supporter of FHLB Dallas community programs.

“We are proud of the good the AHP grant will do in Little Rock and value Arvest’s active use of our community investment grants,” Hettrick said.