Ford BlueOval City officially broke ground earlier this year, and the upcoming campus will help Ford build the next generation of fully electric pickup trucks. In the run up to its 2025 grand opening, the automaker has taken various steps to ensuring the massive project ultimately enhances the Tennessee communities that will host it, including holding talks to hear concerns about the plant from local citizens. Now, Ford Fund – the company’s philanthropic organization – has revealed a $1 million capital grants program for local non-profits and municipalities.
The Ford Fund program is designed to help the local community spend money toward projects that will improve the infrastructure around the plant. That said, the capital improvement funds can also be used for the construction of new playgrounds or things like community centers. The $1 million in grants will be available to nonprofit organizations and municipalities in the west Tennessee counties of Haywood, Fayette, Tipton, Lauderdale, Shelby, and Madison. Each awarded grant will range from $25,000 to $100,000. In addition to this latest announcement, Ford Fund previously invested in the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum and the National Urban League in Memphis.
“Community has always come first for Ford, and we are staying true to our legacy of giving back by investing in our new Tennessee neighbors,” said Mike Schmidt, director of Programs at Ford
Motor Company Fund. “Our goal is to ensure that the communities where we build benefit from the investments we’re making and the jobs that Ford and SK On are creating.”
BlueOval City is a major pillar of the automaker’s ongoing pivot away from internal combustion vehicles. As Ford Authority previously reported, the company expects to spend $50 billion in its effort to produce two million electric vehicles annually by 2026, with the campus in Tennessee included in that goal. To get there, the automaker also cemented its battery master plan, and has mostly secured the raw materials and solidified its relationship with companies like SK On, which is Ford’s partner at the upcoming plant.
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Hopefully the next gen pickup can actually be used for a road trip. Detroit News reported that the fully charged 380+ mile range made it only 170 miles on a charge from Detroit to Charlevoix on I 75.