Affordable housing appears to be a runner-up on a long list of causes supported by walks, marathons and triathlons organized in the New England area.
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is teaming up bank employees with student volunteers from Bike & Build, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to construct affordable housing across the nation through cross-country bicycle trips that benefit affordable housing developers.
The partnership will bring together over 450 financial institutions affiliated with the FHLB in the six New England states with hundreds of young adults ages 18-25 who participate in Bike & Build cycling trips.
Participants choose the biking route they will follow during the summer months, research what stops along the way would best serve their affordable housing goals, and plan and execute the details of the fund-raising project for each mile they ride.
Twelve FHLB affiliates have already raised a total of $60,000 to support Bike & Build’s affordable housing mission.
This summer FHLB Boston employees “will pick up their hammers” and join Bike & Build volunteer cyclists to work on their first collaboration: the construction of two Habitat for Humanity homes.
The first project starts on the East Coast in Providence, R.I., before the Bike & Build team cycles to the West Coast all the way to Seattle to build the second home.
Another team that started its journey in Maine will make a stop in Andover, Mass., before continuing the ride on to another build site in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The FHLB contribution to Bike & Build and its affordable housing cause is the most recent example of a working community partnership, said Bike & Build executives.
In 2011 alone Bike & Build donated over $605,000 to 335 housing organizations.
Since its founding in 2002, the nonprofit has engaged over 1,700 riders in trips that have contributed more than $3.3 million to affordable housing projects, along with over 100,000 construction hours.
