Ford revs up investment in West Tennessee communities
By Sophia Surrett – Reporter, Daily Memphian
April 12, 2026
Ford Motor Co. has had several production delays at its $5.6 billion BlueOval City, but the automaker hasn’t slowed in its investment in the surrounding communities.
The auto giant recently announced its Ford Good Neighbor Plan had invested $11.7 million in communities near its 3,600-acre manufacturing campus in Stanton, Tennessee.
“We aren’t stopping here,” Gabby Bruno, Ford director of community relations, said in a release.
The Good Neighbor Plan launched in January 2025 when Ford committed to investing $9 million in West Tennessee communities by BlueOval City, which will now produce gas-powered trucks instead of electric vehicles.
Ford Community Relations and Ford Philanthropy assembled a team, the Equitable Growth Advisory Council, of local leaders and residents to develop a plan to meet the communities’ needs.
Emma Covington, co-chair of the Equitable Growth Advisory Council, said the community investments never stopped or slowed even as manufacturing did and have made a “drastic change.”
Covington, a lifelong Brownsville, Tennessee, resident, said Ford has been “a driving force in the community,” helping complete stalled projects and create new ones, so she wasn’t surprised at the exceeded investment.
“It’s the little things that really add up in our community that most likely would have not been addressed,” she said.Stanton Mayor Norman Bauer Jr. said Ford, through the philanthropy arm, has been “active pretty much since the onset,” which began in 2021 when BlueOval City was announced.
Through the Good Neighbor Plan, he said Ford began allocating funds to specific community programs. Still, he said Ford has been pushing to increase the budget to invest.
He said before Ford came to Stanton “it had been about survivability.” Now, it’s about preparation for the people who will join their community after production begins.
Covington said without Ford’s investment, the county would have had to raise taxes to invest in just some of what Ford has.
“Of course, nobody wants tax increases, so that money has been awesome, necessary and needed,” she said.The majority of the investment, $4.38 million, is in Ford Philanthropy through donations to:
American Red Cross Mid-West TN Chapter
Catch-a-Ride Network
Ford Future Builders Labs in Haywood, Tipton, Lauderdale and Fayette counties
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital Foundation
Mid-South Food Bank
Scholarship Fund for Impact Area Residents;
Stanton Health Center (Hardeman Community Health Center)
theCO
United Way of West Tennessee (Ford Community Center of Staton)
Vision Haywood County
West Tennessee Legal Services
YMCA of Memphis & the Mid-South
Ford has invested $2.18 million in community gathering spaces, including six community centers, six playgrounds, the Haywood County Animal Shelter and a pool and splash pad in Brownsville.
Ford also donated to Vision Haywood to expand its capacity and community-assistance fund, including introducing a home-repair program in July 2025.
Covington, also the Vision Haywood executive director, said there are struggling residents who are low-income, have disabilities and are elderly who need additional help, especially within the 15-mile radius of BlueOval City.
“They invested additional money, which Vision Haywood oversees, to make home repairs,” she said. “We have now completed 10 homes, making on average a $20,000 repair. And we have much more to go.”
Covington said Ford has also helped through its work with the Boys & Girls Club as well as other donations totaling $470,000 for literacy programs and $220,000 for youth programs.
“There has been a twofold change there to help the kids, families with children there at the Boys & Girls Club,” Covington said. “That has been an awesome change to which the community really, really loves.”
Bauer said the money has enabled the Stanton Fire Department to obtain equipment for emergencies, including extrication tools it didn’t have before such as battery-powered spreaders and cutters.
“We’ve had an antique system that, unfortunately, sometimes did not start when we needed it most,” he said. “They’re always engaged with us, asking, ‘What do you need? What can we do?’”
Bauer said Stanton established a police department last summer. And outside the Good Neighbor Plan, Ford provided funding for Stanton to buy the first fully equipped police vehicle for the town.
In workforce development, Ford has invested $990,000 through donations in adult education programs, computer-literacy classes, a new YMCA Early Learning Center, scholarships for students and career expos.
“Even though the focus has changed from electric vehicles to more gas vehicles, we’re still moving forward, trying to get people engaged, educated and equipped to work at the facility,” Covington said.
Ford has invested $600,000 in support for farmers and small businesses, including agriculture and youth development, financial-literacy programs and outdoor pavilions.
Ford has invested $610,000 in environmental protection, including donations to recycling programs, foundations supporting local lakes and rivers, and county-beautification organizations.
Moving forward, Covington said Vision Haywood is working to start a partnership at the senior citizen center to expand the Meals on Wheels program and provide more food to the outer community.
She said with the summer approaching, education and school sports will see greater engagement from Ford as it has already invested heavily in youth activities for summer sports.
“I understand the naysayers or the people that will say, ‘Oh, Ford is going to move,’” Covington said. “They are not going anywhere. Ford has made this humongous investment in West Tennessee, in our community.”
