Pictured from left to right: BNT’s Charlie Griggs, Carol Cruz, Elsie Algarin and Iris O’Halloran, NSB’s Mortgage Loan Officer, Stephen Finnegan, and SVP and head of Retail Lending, Carl Josephson, and BNT’s CEO Doris Latorre, Diamond London, Lizbeth DiFabbio and Beverly Hoppie
December 16, 2022 – BNT is very honored to have recently received a $15,000 donation from Newtown Savings Bank (NSB). This contribution marks the second year in a row the bank has provided this level of support to BNT. CEO Doris Latorre remarked, “Newtown Savings Bank is among BNT’s largest donors and is both an invaluable partner to BNT and to the communities it serves, especially in Bridgeport where in 2021 it was the first bank to open a branch there in over 10 years.”
NSB earmarked $10,000 of its award to BNT’s Empowerment Resource Academy capacity building program, and $5,000 as a Silver Sponsor to its recent Annual Benefit, Putting Housing First, held on November 8. In addition to this financial support, Newtown Savings Bank has become among the most active and most competitive affordable mortgage lenders in Greater Bridgeport, with its Welcome Home Mortgage first-time homebuyer program offering interest rates below the competition, and an average time to close under 30 days.
“BNT is a non-profit organization specifically designed to help low/moderate income folks with the challenge of affordable housing,” said BNT CEO Doris Latorre, “and having partners like Newtown Savings Bank, who are unquestionably devoted to the LMI community, makes BNT’s efforts that much more successful”.
Newtown Savings Bank was founded in 1855 as a mutual savings bank in Newtown, CT, and has 15 branches across the state and over $1.9 billion in assets. NSB recently received a Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rating of “Outstanding” and was also named “Best Small Bank in Connecticut” by Newsweek for the second year in 2023, a testimony to the bank’s outspoken efforts to positively impact the communities it serves.