‘Committed to Being the Best Neighbor We Can:’ Heaven Hill to Invest $800,000 in the Kentucky Neighborhood it Calls Home
Heaven Hill’s “Spirited Neighbor Initiative” aims to give back to its community. (Photo: Heaven Hill Brands)
On Friday, Heaven Hill, the large Kentucky distillery behind brands like Elijah Craig, Rittenhouse Rye and Larceny, announced an $800,000 investment plan scheduled to roll out over the course of five years.
The distillery’s “Spirited Neighbor Initiative” is a move to put money in the “California” neighborhood in West Louisville, where the distillery is situated. The initiative involves numerous long-term investments in education, mental health and economic development.
“Heaven Hill is committed to being the best neighbor we can in the communities where we work and live, and Louisville’s California neighborhood has been our distilling home for nearly 25 years,” Allan Latts, co-president of Heaven Hill Brands, said in a news release. “We’re working with some key organizations that make up the fabric of the West End community to support a sustainable, thriving California neighborhood now and for future generations.”
In addition to a five-year, $500,000 investment program as part of the Spirited Neighbor Initiative, the distillery intends to allocate some funds to the following community organizations as long-term partners: Change Today Change Tomorrow, Neighborhood House, AMPED, Louisville Central Community Center and West End School.
The Change Today Change Tomorrow organization offers food and public health services to Louisville’s Black and other marginalized communities.
Neighborhood House specializes in child development and senior programming opportunities for West Louisville families.
AMPED provides music education and business services to Black and brown communities within the city. Louisville Central Community Center focuses on childhood education programs and providing adult job training to increase equality amongst Louisville’s West End families.
West End School offers education to pre-K through 8th-grade boys and additional housing to alumni who attend high schools within the area.
This initiative is particularly impactful after a legislation measure to phase out Kentucky’s Bourbon Tax by 2043 has put distillers at odds with the local communities. Dubbed House Bill 5, the latest iteration of the bill offers a variety of tax cuts favoring Kentucky’s bourbon producers.
Yet, despite being a major win for bourbon producers, local communities will have to figure out a way to make up the absence of significant financial resources the tax grants them.
A lot of the funds from the Bourbon Tax went to emergency medical services, school districts and infrastructure. Heaven Hill’s Spirited Neighbor Initiative will bring some aid to communities in need.
“It’s critical that our efforts as a Spirited Neighbor are designed to address each community’s specific needs,” said Kate Latts, co-president of Heaven Hill Brands. “Initiatives to support education, mental health and economic development are three critical areas where we believe our assistance will be the most impactful.”
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