CARes will have a ribbon cutting and open house on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 4 p.m. at the United Way of Davie County, 121 Country Lane, Mocksville.

CARes is a United Way of Davie County initiative to provide low-income, credit-challenged working adults living in Davie County the opportunity to qualify for a low-interest car loan while receiving ongoing financial and credit coaching.

“The United Way of Davie County, through The CARes Project, will help meet the needs of many Davie County residents for a dependable car through an affordable car loan,” states Melinda Beauchamp, chief executive officer. “I have been working with David Roddick, the CEO of CARes, since 2013 to bring a program like this to Davie County. At long last, it’s really going to happen. CARes is designed to be much more than just a loan program – it will offer extensive and ongoing financial counseling and coaching to all clients it serves. CARes is not a hand-out program, it’s a hand up program.”

The CARes Project is housed in an office inside the United Way building.  CARes is a non-profit corporation and an emerging Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) through U.S. Treasury.  The CARes Project was recently awarded a substantial grant from the CDFI Fund to help with operational overhead in 2018 and 2019.  The CARes Project is also funded by the United Way of Davie, The Davie Community Foundation, and private donors.

“After looking at many options, Melinda and I determined that the best way to make this program happen was to become a CDFI,” Roddick said. “We will be offering loans to working adults who cannot qualify for a bank or credit union loan. One of our goals is to get each client that goes through the program from unbankable when they start to bankable by the time they are done. We will do this by helping each client build or rebuild their credit. We will also offer what I am calling fast track to help persons who contact CARes but who are close to being able to secure a loan on their own. This program will help them improve their credit and qualify for a conventional bank or credit union loan… thereby not needing a loan from CARes.”

For more information, contact Roddick at 336-751-0313 or david@thecaresproject.org.