This Sacramento neighborhood was given a $10 million investment to improve the area

A Sacramento neighborhood will receive a multi-million dollar investment to focus on equity and economic inclusion for its residents.

Golden 1 Credit Union announced that the Del Paso Heights community will be the recipient of $10 million in funding over the next five years to implement financial support, counseling and engagement efforts.

The credit union established a Del Paso Heights action committee made up of community members to discuss the best ways for the investment to be utilized in the neighborhood.

In those discussions, community members lamented that the neighborhood lacks amenities like a financial institution, quality health care facilities, or options for quality groceries. Golden 1 Credit Union’s vice president of communications, Erica Taylor, said community members want their environment to be beautiful, safe and encourage entrepreneurship and business growth.

She said the credit union’s vision is to “enhance the financial well-being of all Californians to create a more financially inclusive California and equitable California.”

“We looked at Del Paso Heights as a microcosm of systemic racism, economic exclusion and isolation,” Taylor said. “This is our neighborhood. These are our neighbors and we wanted to do something there … something impactful and really concentrated. (We) wanted to do something to affect positive change for people who are low income or people of color.”

A portion of the investment dollars were disseminated to four community-based organizations that are trusted partners and embedded in the Del Paso Heights community.

Four organizations selected for investment

Among the organizations are the Greater Sacramento Urban League, Mutual Assistance Network, Neighborhood Wellness Foundation and the Roberts Family Development Center.

Each entity has its own focus of how the investment dollars will be utilized.

The Greater Sacramento Urban League plans to focus on supporting economic development in the area.

CEO of Greater Sacramento Urban League Dwayne Crenshaw said the organization is looking forward to developing an economic empowerment center in Del Paso Heights, building a two-story commercial retail center next door, and adding 64 affordable mixed income housing units near Marysville Boulevard and Grand Avenue.

“Specifically at our economic empowerment center, we will be doubling our digital upscaling workforce development programming,” Crenshaw said. “We’re creating a series of allied health fields or medical assistants, community health workers, and CNAs. (We’re) really trying to get folks into those high demand, higher wage pathways.”

He said that area where the economic empowerment center will be has been the catalyst for the revitalization of the Marysville corridor and Del Paso Heights as a whole.

Crenshaw anticipates that there will be opportunities to help people with home ownership to add or create generational wealth and income for families in Del Paso Heights.

Other services that will be provided at the center, Crenshaw said, are marketing, accounting, and legal services for small business owners.

“We’re really going all in on the economic well being of individuals and families in the Del Paso Heights (neighborhood) and hopefully spurring further development and bringing in other needed retail and services to the community that are long overdue,” Crenshaw said.

The Roberts Family Development Center aims to support education, mentoring, and various wraparound care for youth, young adults, and families.

Derrell Roberts, CEO of Roberts Family Development Center said the investment will allow him to keep some of his youth mentees — many who attend Grant Union High School — and leaders associated with the organization employed.

“It gives me extra dollars for me to pay my people a little bit more,” Roberts said. “That means that my people are gonna stay maybe one more, two more years longer.”

He believes the investment has been a “game changer” as his organization has been awarded an opportunity to plan support for the high school students and other students going to feeder schools.

Neighborhood Wellness Foundation is supporting targeted physical and mental health support to Grant Union High School students and other neighborhood residents.

Gina Warren, co-founder and executive director of Neighborhood Wellness Foundation is thankful for the support of Golden 1 Credit Union.

“Golden 1 shares our vision to continue building a healthy community for all Del Paso Heights neighbors,” Warren said in a news release. “Like all Sacramento residents, we deserve to live and thrive in our own neighborhoods with optimal resources that improve public safety, mental health, education, and economic stability as well as break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and poverty.”

The Mutual Assistance Network looks to support financial education and coaching support for youth and adults.

Danielle Lawrence is the executive director of Mutual Assistance Network and she commends Golden 1 for being intentional about creating change in Del Paso Heights and North Sacramento.

“Golden 1 has taken time to discuss with neighborhood leaders about the needs of the community, and how to build trust and break down institutional barriers to banking,” Lawrence said in a news release. “Together, we are working to promote economic stability and growth for residents.”