Toyota Impact Grant Provides Mobility for Homeless Women and Children in Collin County

PLANO, Texas, July 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota, in partnership with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, along with its formal grand opening today, announced the winner of its $1 million Impact Grant. In Collin County, there are approximately 3,000 women, many with young children, who are homeless. This is in stark contrast to an area where many large companies are locating and thousands of new homes are being built. The grant is intended to implement a program aimed at creating self-sustaining independence for these homeless women and their children. The grant-winners are a part of the newly formed Collin County Mobility Collaborative.
The winners group currently includes Agape Resource and Assistance Center, Family Promise of Collin County, Hope's Door New Beginning Center, and Shiloh Place of McKinney.

"We created this grant to encourage collaboration among nonprofits with a focus on pressing mobility issues in North Texas," said Al Smith, group vice president, Social Innovation, Toyota Motor North America.  "This holistic program aims to empower homeless women and their children to overcome crisis and poverty, helping them gain both physical and upward mobility."

Announced in January to engage the community in North Texas, the grant initiative ties into Toyota's national focus of mobility for all.  It aims to empower like-minded partners to collaborate on physical and/or social mobility issues in the local community.

The multi-pronged program includes efforts to:

• Provide safe and stable housing;
• Assist with reliable and affordable transportation;
• Facilitate childcare and youth development; and
• Improve earning capacity through education, job training, certification and job placement.

The grant is a joint initiative between Toyota Motor North America and Toyota Financial Services, administered in partnership with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, and provides funds over a two-year period.

"By combining resources and sharing expertise, we can achieve greater collective impact to improve the lives of these women, their children, and generations to come," said Karen Ideno, vice president of product, marketing, corporate social responsibility and communications, Toyota Financial Services. "We look forward to working with the collaborative, applying assets beyond dollars, to make a difference right here in our new backyard."

Applicants, whether non-profit, academic, social entrepreneurs, or others, were to submit unique ideas to help create new solutions to existing problems through collaboration. United Way was part of the independent panel and the process to review the applications for the grant. The grant's terms required two to five collaborative partners to come together to solve complex issues.

"Solving complex community challenges requires much more than investing in a single program," said Susan Hoff, chief strategy, impact and operations officer, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. "Strong collaborations, such as the Collin County Mobility Collaborative, provide a multi-faceted approach to addressing pervasive and devastating issues through both direct services and systemic interventions.  United Way of Metropolitan Dallas is proud to partner with Toyota to identify effective solutions that will make a lasting difference for families."

Collin County Mobility Collaborative was selected from more than 40 applications, representing approximately 150 nonprofits, academic institutions and social entrepreneurs.

"Despite the rapid growth of Collin County, there are many women and children in need," said Janet Collinsworth, founder & executive director, Agape Resource and Assistance Center. "Our approach taps into the strengths of each of our organizations, providing a holistic approach that addresses housing, transportation, childcare, education and support services.  Through this effort our hope is not only to empower these women, but also to create a model of collaboration with a program that can be replicated."

About Toyota Financial Services
TFS is the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the United States, offering retail auto financing and leasing through Toyota Motor Credit Corporation (TMCC) and Toyota Lease Trust. TFS also offers extended service contracts through Toyota Motor Insurance Services (TMIS). Lexus Financial Services is the brand for financial products for Lexus dealers and customers. TFS currently employs approximately 3,100 associates nationwide, and has assets totaling over $119 billion. It is part of a worldwide network of comprehensive financial services offered by Toyota Financial Services Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. We announce material financial information using the investor relations section of our website (www.toyotafinancial.com) and SEC filings. We use these channels, press releases, and social media to communicate about our company, our services and other issues. While not all information we post on social media is of a material nature, some information could be material. Therefore, we encourage those interested in our company to review our posts on Twitter at www.twitter.com/toyotafinancial. 

For the past three consecutive years, Points of Light has named TFS one of its Civic 50, the most community-minded companies in the nation.  For more information about the company's support of financial empowerment, youth development programs, and other community initiatives, please visit www.tfsinthecommunity.com

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 33 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 46,000 people (more than 36,000 in the U.S.).  Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold almost 2.7 million cars and trucks (2.45 million in the U.S.) in 2016 – and about 85 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 15 years are still on the road today.  

Toyota partners with community, civic, academic, and governmental organizations to address our society's most pressing mobility challenges. We share company resources and extensive know-how to support non-profits to help expand their ability to assist more people move more places. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com. 

Media Contacts

Aaron Fowles
Toyota Motor North America
469-292-1097
[email protected]

Justin Leach
Toyota Financial Services
310-468-2762
[email protected]

SOURCE Toyota Motor North America