Wells Fargo Military Affairs Celebrates 66 Donated REO Homes, 150 Veteran Recruiting Events and the Launch of Hands on Banking® for Military
Wells Fargo Military Affairs Celebrates 66 Donated REO Homes, 150 Veteran Recruiting Events and the Launch of Hands on Banking® for Military
One year after announcing a $35 million, three year commitment to helping veterans, military members and their families with sustainable housing, career transition and financial education, Wells Fargo is proud to announce it has donated 66 Real Estate Owned (REO) properties to wounded warriors, participated in more than 150 military job fairs and launched its Hands on Banking for Military financial education program.
With the large number of military members transitioning to civilian life over the next few years, we know its more important now than ever to make sure that transition is a successful one, said Jerry Quinn, Wells Fargo Military Affairs program manager. We are proud of the progress weve made towards our commitment, but we know there is still a lot of work to do. We plan to be there every step of the way.
Affordable Housing
In addition to the REO property donations and support to qualifying nonprofits that serve military service members and veterans, Wells Fargo’s Community Lending and Investment group worked with Chinatown Community Development Center and Swords to Plowshares to renovate a historic San Francisco commercial building that now benefits 75 formerly homeless veterans with affordable housing and extensive resident supportive services. Additionally, Wells Fargo recently partnered with the Beswick Partnership in Los Angeles to construct a new senior apartment complex consisting of four buildings with 32 housing units for veterans over the age of 62 who are chronically homeless and have disabilities.
Career Transition
Wells Fargo is committed to hiring and retaining military veterans, veterans with disabilities, active military personnel, national guardsman, and reservists. As a result of this commitment, Wells Fargo was ranked No. 7 on the CareerBliss list of Top 20 Happiest Companies for Veterans in 2013. Wells Fargo also launched a four part webinar series to provide our internal team members with the tools and knowledge to successfully recruit and hire veterans. So far in 2013, the company participated in more than 150 job fairs and has hired nearly 1,100 veterans. Wells Fargo has nearly 7,500 self-identified veteran team members, including 169 military services members on military leave. In addition, Wells Fargo mentored 52 veterans through our alliance with American Corporate Partners www.acp-usa.org.
Wells Fargo also has committed its support to help military veteran entrepreneurs by participating in the U.S. Small Business Administrations (SBA) Veteran Pledge Initiative. Earlier this year, Wells Fargo joined with other SBA lenders in an effort to increase SBA lending to military veteran business owners by 5 percent annually over the next five years. The industry-wide pledge is expected to result in 2,000 more SBA loans for military veteran entrepreneurs who seek financing and are ready to use credit for their business.
Financial Education
In July, Wells Fargo launched its Hands on Banking®
for Military
(www.handsonbanking.org) program
to address the financial education challenges facing military members, veterans and their families. The award winning Hands on Banking program offers
10 individual lesson topics specifically for military ranging from the basics of banking to planning for retirement. Wells Fargo also joined forces with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) to bring Hands on Banking for Military to service members in the continental United States. Wells Fargo Military and veteran groups wishing to have a representative teach a class, or individuals interested in scheduling a session with a financial specialist can contact the NFCC at (855) 374-2773. Wells Fargo is currently training NFCC representatives, as well as veteran team members to teach the program. To date, Wells Fargo has hosted two major financial education events with nearly 200 in attendance each and more than 3,000 people have visited the website to learn more.
On Veterans Day, Wells Fargo is partnering with Kiplingers Social Security Solutions to provide veterans with a free Social Security planning report. Please visit SocialSecurityForVeterans.com on November 11, 2013, for your free report.
Philanthropic Donations and Sponsorships
Wells Fargo is proud to support organizations working to strengthen communities. To date in 2013, Wells Fargo has donated more than $4 million to nonprofit organizations serving the needs of the military, veterans and their families. Organizations can learn more at Wells Fargos giving and where to apply at: www.wellsfargo.com/about/charitable/
Those interested in learning more about these efforts as well as others should visit Wells Fargos special Serving those who serve website at www.wellsfargo.com/veterans.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.4 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores, 12,000 ATMs, and the Internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in more than 35 countries to support the banks customers who conduct business in the global economy. With more than 270,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 25 on Fortunes 2013 rankings of Americas largest corporations. Wells Fargos vision is to satisfy all our customers financial needs and help them succeed financially. In 2012, the Company invested $315.8 million in grants to 19,500 nonprofits, and team members contributed more than 1.5 million volunteer hours around the country. For more information, please visit: www.wellsfargo.com/about/csr. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at blogs.wellsfargo.com.
