Month: March 2025

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 18, 2025 /3BL/ – Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) has received a $300,000 grant from KeyBank to launch the programming and operations of a new shared commercial kitchen facility in the Mountain View neighborhood of Anchorage. The facility, currently in development and slated to open in 2026, will provide shared kitchen and production space and cold and dry storage space to early-stage food businesses and producers, with an emphasis on underserved communities.

The incubator will help address a long-term lack of access to affordable kitchen space for early-stage food businesses, particularly those in underserved communities. Programming will include free training, technical assistance, orientation and access to the kitchen space and storage for participating food businesses. In addition, it will improve food security by providing access to more locally grown and packaged goods.

ACLT is a neighborhood-based non-profit in Anchorage that works with residents and business owners in targeted low-income geographies to improve quality of life in their communities. This kitchen space provides a logical next stop for ACLT’s flagship Set Up Shop program, which provides a pipeline of training, technical assistance, lending, and real estate support to business owners in targeted low-income neighborhoods of Anchorage, which KeyBank has supported with previous grants.

“We have long been impressed with ACLT’s efforts to support entrepreneurs as they build a thriving business, and we are excited to help provide a launch point for the next generation of small businesses,” said Alaska KeyBank President Lori McCaffrey. “Our mission is to help our neighbors thrive, and nowhere is that more important than in underserved communities that often lack access to traditional business resources and funding.”

“This historic gift signifies KeyBank’s commitment not just to this facility, but to the entrepreneurs it serves who stand ready to rise,” says Kirk Rose, CEO of ACLT. “A commercial kitchen incubator is a vital piece of small business infrastructure for Southcentral Alaska. It will ensure the path to food business ownership is attainable to anyone with a dream. This investment will allow early-stage entrepreneurs across the region to launch and grow their food businesses, creating and retaining wealth within their communities and becoming role models, leaders, and changemakers for our state.”

About ACLT 
Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT) is a neighborhood-based nonprofit that disrupts concentrated poverty by bringing concentrated opportunity and investment to neighborhood commercial corridors in Anchorage. Through a toolkit of real estate, advocacy, improvements to infrastructure, and targeted programming, we create community wealth, local jobs, resident leadership and economic opportunity for families. For more information on ACLT, visit www.anchoragelandtrust.org.

About KeyCorp 
In 2025, KeyCorp celebrates its bicentennial, marking 200 years of service to clients and communities from Maine to Alaska. To learn more, visit KeyBank Heritage Center. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $187 billion at December 31, 2024. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,200 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank Member FDIC.

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CONTACT: 
ACLT | Emily Cohn | 907.952.6980 | ecohn@anchoragelandtrust.org 
KeyBank | Laura Suter | 206-343-6953 | laura_suter@keybank.com

NEW YORK, March 18, 2025 /3BL/ – As the President and Congress face critical fiscal policy decisions, college students across America are raising their voices to find solutions to the $36 trillion and rising national debt. Students on campuses across the country participated in the 13th annual Up to Us competition, in which students build campaigns to raise awareness and drive engagement to build a brighter economic future.

Student leaders from Central Texas College took home the top prize for their creative campaign, which included 14 days of action across campus, bringing together nearly 1,000 of their peers. The winning campaign featured classroom presentations, social media efforts and events including the “Debt Defenders Superhero Summit” — where students had the opportunity to manage mock national budget scenarios as superheroes – as well as a “Financial Festival” — where attendees learned about topics like taxes, budgeting, and credit to improve their financial literacy.

The team maximized student reach through on-campus strategic partnerships with a diverse array of organizations, such as the Math and Engineering Club, the Writers Guild and the Dance Team. Participants also conducted outreach to Congress across multiple channels to emphasize the next generation’s growing concern over the national debt. Outreach efforts were coordinated with timely legislative discussions, including budget negotiations, to maximize impact.

“Our team brought together students from across campus with unique and passionate perspectives – but one thing that we all have in common is that the national debt affects our future,” said Christina Strohfus, Central Texas College team leader. “By blending education with collaborative action, our initiative created a platform where diverse voices could explore and promote solutions to the nation’s debt challenges among current lawmakers and future leaders. In the end, our coalition has made it clear that we can’t afford more debt and elected officials need to stabilize the budget outlook.”

Up to Us, a nonpartisan initiative established in 2012 by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, in partnership with Net Impact and the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU), offers the next generation of civic leaders with resources and training to unify their fellow students under the banner of advocating for a more prosperous and inclusive economic future. Up to Us leaders have engaged and empowered over 500,000 students on hundreds of campuses across the country to address U.S. fiscal challenges. Participants have gone on to work in policy, public service, and journalism.

“Central Texas College’s winning team and all of this year’s participants did an excellent job coming together to engage their peers and help move our nation toward a more sustainable future,” said Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the nonpartisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation. “These young leaders have an irreplaceable voice in today’s policy debate, and we need their energy and ideas to successfully build a stronger fiscal and economic future for the next generation.”

The winning Central Texas College team will receive a $10,000 prize and invitations to Clinton Global Initiative University events.

The top 10 finalists from this year’s campus competition are:

Central Texas College

Stony Brook University

Bethune Cookman University-Jules*

University of Notre Dame

St. Francis College

Miami Dade College-Marcos Pedro*

Spring Hill College*

Southeastern Louisiana University

Bethune Cookman University-Dameron*

University of Texas, Austin

*Campuses with multiple teams

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About Up to Us 
Up to Us is a nonpartisan nationwide college initiative that empowers young Americans leaders to let policymakers know they are concerned about and committed to addressing the nation’s fiscal challenges. Since 2012, Up to Us has created a groundswell of student leaders who have engaged and empowered more than 500,000 of their peers toward a more prosperous fiscal future. Established by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, in partnership with Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) and Net Impact, Up to Us provides the opportunity for students to build a movement to raise awareness and engagement on America’s fiscal challenges.