Fifth Third Bank is returning to the place where its neighborhood investment work began, committing $20 million over three years to Detroit’s Gratiot and Seven Mile area, known to residents as G7. The reinvestment comes as the bank finalizes a $10.9 billion merger agreement with Comerica Incorporated, expected to close in early 2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approval.
The program, which first took root in the G7 neighborhood in 2019, will bring new funding for small businesses, affordable housing, and community development in a corridor that has long symbolized both Detroit’s resilience and its decades of disinvestment. Fifth Third officials say the new investment will build on what was started through Invest Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund and other local partnerships.
Kala Gibson, chief corporate responsibility officer for Fifth Third, said the bank’s renewed focus will align with a larger “One Michigan Community Plan” aimed at driving economic mobility across the state…