Photo: Ford Motor Company
Ford Fund is investing US$1.75 in a new Ford Resource and Engagement Center, which will become the first of its kind in Asia. The FREC Bangkok will be the fifth of its kind to spring up around the globe, emanating from the Nang Loeng neighborhood in Thailand’s capital city.
Ford Fund’s investment runs through 2023 and will help transform the Satri Julanak School in the Pomprapsattruphai district into the latest Ford Resource and Engagement Center. Eight founding partners — including local nongovernmental organizations, foundations, and social enterprises — will assist Ford in ensuring the success of the FREC Bangkok. GlobalGiving, Ford Fund’s international grant partner, will also be involved with the center.
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“Like our first FREC in Detroit, Michigan, FREC Bangkok is a long-term commitment to a neighborhood brimming with untapped potential,” said Jim Vella, the current of president Ford Motor Company Fund. “In Bangkok, through food rescue programs, conservation projects, plastics upcycling, and some exciting technology, art, and urban planning initiatives, our FREC stewards have an opportunity to deliver services that directly benefit people in the neighborhood — as well as the city as a whole.”
Ford launched its first FREC in Detroit in 2013. Today, the original Ford Resource and Engagement Center returns approximately $3 for every $1 invested, and it’s served as the template for a second Detroit FREC and additional centers in South Africa and Romania. To date, Ford Fund has invested $15 million in its FRECs around the globe.
Ford is heavily involved in community works in Thailand, including 11 years of the Driving Skills for Life Program and a work-study apprentice program offered at the Thai-Austrian Technical College.
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