Capital One, Capital One Foundation, and Lever for Change Announce $25M Open Call to Expand Pathways to Homeownership

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, Capital One, the Capital One Foundation, and Lever for Change announced the launch of Scaling Pathways to Homeownership, a $25 million Open Call designed to identify and support bold solutions that expand access to affordable homeownership in the United States. This initiative is part of Capital One’s five-year, $265 billion Community Benefits Plan, developed as part of its acquisition of Discover, that will create affordable housing, enable ready and resilient consumers, grow and sustain small businesses, and invest in community infrastructure.

“Homeownership has long been the cornerstone of financial security for many, yet rising costs, lack of supply, and lack of access to the right tools and information continue to put it out of reach for millions,” said Andy Navarrete, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Enterprise Affairs at Capital One and Board Member of the Capital One Foundation. “Through this Open Call, we’re inviting community partners of all sizes to help us reimagine how consumers get equipped, informed, and empowered to build pathways to homeownership — for those who stand to benefit from it as a vehicle for wealth-building and long-term stability.”

Rising costs combined with a nationwide shortage of supply have made homeownership increasingly out of reach for millions of individuals and families. Consumers also face critical information gaps and lack real-time, accessible tools to assess their readiness to buy a home, while housing suppliers lack reliable demand data needed for planning. Strengthening this feedback loop can help unlock new solutions and partnerships that expand pathways to homeownership. Scaling Pathways to Homeownership seeks to surface and invest in solutions at a local and national level that respond to these urgent challenges by ensuring that more people can achieve sustainable homeownership including shared home equity models without sacrificing their financial well-being.

“Homeownership is a gateway to stability and opportunity,” said Kristen J. Molyneaux, President of Lever for Change. “This Open Call is about unlocking innovative solutions that empower individuals and families to achieve this goal and all the long-term benefits it brings. We’re honored to collaborate with Capital One to surface creative ideas that move us closer to a future where more people have the opportunity to build security and generational strength through homeownership.”

Tackling a Community Challenge

Scaling Pathways to Homeownership seeks ideas that can drive transformative change, including innovations in housing counseling, consumer education, and for-sale housing production at scale. Priority will be given to proposals with the potential to create meaningful and measurable impact through resources and tools that address information gaps or supply challenges, improve access, and support homeownership readiness to make it easier for individuals and families to benefit from the wealth-building that can come from homeownership.

“As an organization that works every day to help Americans navigate the path to prosperity and generational wealth, we celebrate the role investments play in transforming communities and creating pathways to homeownership — places families can call home,” said Marietta Rodriguez, President and CEO of NeighborWorks America.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates that Capital One’s Community Benefits Plan is moving from ideas to impact,” said Horacio Mendez, President and CEO of Woodstock Institute. “Launching in Chicago underscores the strength of our city’s innovative ecosystem and our track record of incubating solutions that can scale nationwide.”

Investing in Innovative Solutions

Ten finalists will be selected through the Scaling Pathways to Homeownership Open Call, with each receiving $200,000 in initial funding from the Capital One Foundation and technical assistance to strengthen their proposals. After revisions, five awardees — selected in early 2027 and awarded in spring 2027 — will each receive an additional $4.6 million to bring their solutions to life.

“Some of the most effective housing solutions are born in local communities and led by smaller institutions that deeply understand the needs of their neighbors,” said Kerone Vatel, Senior Vice President and Head of Community Finance, Impact and Investment at Capital One. “Through this Open Call, we're helping to elevate and accelerate those efforts already underway — showcasing local innovations that are helping to shape a national movement to strengthen the housing ecosystem.”

Through Capital One’s support of the Capital One Foundation, the Open Call builds on and complements Capital One’s significant investment in affordable housing through lending, investment, and philanthropy in communities across the country. In 2024 alone, Capital One provided $2.9 billion in financing to develop over 15,000 units of affordable rental housing, while Capital One and the Capital One Foundation together deployed over $10 million in grants to more than 160 local nonprofit organizations to ensure households have access to safe and affordable housing and homeownership opportunities. Capital One and the Capital One Foundation remain committed to continuing their investments in these efforts.

Capital One Community Benefits Plan

Capital One, through its support of the Capital One Foundation, is launching the Scaling Pathways to Homeownership Open Call as part of Capital One’s broader, $265 billion Community Benefits Plan, or CBP. The CBP, which will unfold over five years, was crafted in partnership with leading community groups that collectively represent more than 800 nonprofit organizations nationwide. Other contributors to the program include members of Capital One’s Community Advisory Council and the more than 200 community organizations and elected officials from across the country who participated in a series of listening tours and meetings held in the first half of 2024. The importance of homeownership and the need to address the country’s housing affordability crisis were topics that consistently rose to the top in discussions around the CBP, and that ultimately informed the Open Call initiative being launched today.

To learn more about Capital One’s Community Benefits Plan, please visit: https://www.capitalone.com/about/newsroom/a-new-chapter-of-community-investment/

Application Information

Scaling Pathways to Homeownership is managed by Lever for Change, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Chicago. All ten finalist proposals will be added to Lever for Change’s Bold Solutions Network, which offers ongoing learning and networking opportunities to expand the impact of their work, raise their visibility, and increase their potential to secure funding.

Interested applicants can learn more at homeownership.leverforchange.org and take the Organization Readiness Tool assessment to determine eligibility. Applicants must register to apply by December 17, 2025, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time and submit an online application by January 29, 2026, at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Statements of Support

“As Governor, I’m committed to improving access to affordable housing in Illinois and helping working families across the state achieve their dreams of homeownership,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Illinois has been nationally recognized for our innovative homeownership programs and transformative approach to housing solutions — but there’s still more work to be done, both here in Illinois and nationwide. With rising costs keeping homeownership out of reach for many Americans, I commend Capital One for its collaboration with our communities in Chicago as we all strive for creative solutions to make homeownership more affordable in Illinois and beyond.”

“Expanding access to homeownership is essential to building stronger, more stable communities,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “By launching this initiative here in Chicago, Capital One and Lever for Change are helping to drive the kind of inclusive innovation that gives more families the opportunity to build wealth, put down roots, and share in our city’s growth.”

“Housing is a human right and sadly, we are not meeting the need. Now more than ever, we must come together across all sectors to find solutions along the whole housing spectrum,” said Alderman Byron Sigcho-López, Chairman of the Committee on Housing and Real Estate for Chicago City Council. “Today we applaud the efforts of Capital One, The Capital One Foundation, and Lever for Change as they launch Scaling Pathways to Homeownership — adding another tool in our kit to help those seeking ownership opportunities.”

“Expanding access to affordable and sustainable homeownership takes all of us — public, private, and nonprofit partners — working together toward shared goals,” said Dennis Shea, Executive Vice President and Chair, J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “Capital One’s Open Call reflects the kind of evidence-based, bipartisan collaboration and innovation needed to help more families achieve the stability and wealth-generating opportunity that can come with owning a home.”

“Thanks to Capital One's investment, Working Credit has been able to build the infrastructure — both in people and technology — that makes our work in Chicago possible,” said Ricki Lowitz, Co-Founder & Director of Policy and Research at Working Credit. “Your support has helped us grow and deepen partnerships, expanding our reach through eight community partners, providing our credit building program to 1,156 residents in just under a year, with a focus on serving households living in South Chicago that have been historically excluded from safe, affordable credit. Through our credit building program, participants are gaining the tools to achieve economic mobility and opportunity so that they, their families, neighbors and entire neighborhoods can thrive.”

“Across the country, families who work hard every day are finding that owning a home feels further and further out of reach. Rising prices and limited supply make it difficult for too many to put down roots and build the kind of stability that creates lasting wealth,” said Annie Donovan, President & CEO of Raza Development Fund. “Changing that takes more than one program or one sector working alone. It requires solutions that are practical, that meet families where they are, and that bring together the strengths of community organizations, private lenders, and the public sector. That’s why partnerships like this matter. Together, we can open new doors to affordable homeownership and help the next generation build a more secure future.”

About Capital One

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company which, along with its subsidiaries, had $468.8 billion in deposits and $661.9 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2025. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has branches and Cafés located primarily in New York, Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COF” and is included in the S&P 100 index.

About the Capital One Foundation

The Capital One Foundation is a nonprofit private foundation, EIN: 11-3276603. The Foundation receives its support from Capital One Financial Corporation. Grant funding to 501c3 nonprofit entities through the Foundation has largely focused on innovative and scalable strategies that expand economic opportunity among low- to moderate-income families and communities.

About Lever for Change

Lever for Change is a nonpartisan nonprofit that creates equitable access in the world of philanthropy, enabling donors to discover and invest in organizations with transformative potential. Through an inclusive Open Call approach, the team invites organizations of all sizes from around the world to showcase their big ideas and receive donor funding and resources to make them happen. To date, Lever for Change has influenced over $2.5 billion in grants and worked with more than 500 organizations worldwide. Discover new potential at leverforchange.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251029938335/en/

Danielle Smotkin, Capital One, Danielle.Smotkin@capitalone.com

Angie Ngo, Lever for Change, media@leverforchange.org

Source: Capital One Financial Corporation