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WALLACE — Greenfield Louisiana this week announced plans to found West Bank Prospers, a new foundation that will invest millions of dollars in new grants to West St. John High School, a new community health clinic, scholarships to River Parishes Community College and more.

West Bank Prospers will target its initial $3.85 million in directed grants toward education, job training, community health, local farmers and cultural preservation through $3.85 million in directed grants. That funding will be provided by Greenfield Louisiana, the agriculture business working to build a new state-of-the-art Grain Export Facility on the West Bank, pending final permitting. Greenfield is also committing to donate the first $500,000 of its profits at the export facility every year in perpetuity to the Foundation to direct to additional community priorities.

The initial West Bank Prospers board members in the coming weeks, as well as a process for members of the community to join the board and shape its grant-making. Once incorporated, West Bank Prospers will be able to raise funds from other sources and pursue work across the West Bank at the direction of its community board.

“In every conversation we have with our neighbors, we’ve heard people’s hopes for a revitalized West Bank. Good jobs are part of that, but so are stronger schools for kids, improved local health care for seniors, workforce training for our young people and helping farmers make ends meet. West Bank Prospers will be an engine for good, driven by this community and for this community,” said Tanisha Marshall, project manager at Greenfield.

 

The West Bank Prospers Foundation’s initial seed funding includes:

• $1-million, 10-year partnership to fund new learning equipment, technology and curriculum at West St. John High School, including full scholarships to River Parishes Community College for students
• $1.5 million for the construction and operation of a new community health clinic on the West Bank of St. John the Baptist Parish
• $250,000 directed to organizations supporting local farmers in Louisiana
• $1.1 million for community heritage, scholarship and cultural preservation on the West Bank, as well as the dedication of six acres of land adjacent to the Export Grain Terminal to foster cultural development and historic preservation