PATTERSON, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 10, 2026--
There’s a larger transitional housing apartment complex available to residents of South Louisiana, made possible in part by a $1.17 million Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and Hancock Whitney. The banks today joined The Purple Lemon, a faith-based mission, to celebrate the grand opening of an expanded transitional housing development that assists people recovering from addictions and homelessness.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260410357076/en/
The AHP grant, which was awarded by FHLB Dallas through Hancock Whitney, enabled The Purple Lemon to buy and expand an apartment building to 26 units of transitional housing. The upgraded community provides comprehensive supportive services—including counseling, job training, life‑skills education, support groups to help residents experiencing homelessness to achieve long‑term stability.
“The AHP grant is helping us change the trajectory for people working to rebuild their lives,” said Stacey Lancaster, founder and director of The Purple Lemon. “With this support, we were able to expand our housing and will be able to provide a safe environment for more residents during their recovery journey.”
AHP grants are awarded annually through FHLB Dallas member institutions to support the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing for low-income households.
“We are honored to support The Purple Lemon in expanding housing for individuals working toward long‑term recovery and independence,” said LaCarsha Babers, vice president and community outreach officer at Hancock Whitney. “We are proud of our relationship with FHLB Dallas that helped bring this project to life.”
The organization began in 2019 by providing food and outreach to people experiencing homelessness and a year later began housing individuals in a leased apartment and providing supportive services.
“The Purple Lemon’s commitment to supportive, recovery‑focused housing reflects the impact the Affordable Housing Program is meant to create,” said Greg Hettrick, senior vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas.
About Hancock Whitney
Since the late 1800s, Hancock Whitney has embodied core values of Honor & Integrity, Strength & Stability, Commitment to Service, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility. Hancock Whitney offices and financial centers in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas offer comprehensive financial products and services, including traditional and online banking; commercial and small business banking; private banking; trust and investment services; healthcare banking; and mortgage services. The company also operates combined loan and deposit production offices in the greater metropolitan areas of Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia. More information is available at www.hancockwhitney.com.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $108.5 billion as of December 31, 2025, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit fhlb.com.
FHLB Dallas, Hancock Whitney and community leaders gathered Friday, April 10, to celebrate the grand opening of an affordable transitional housing development in Patterson, Louisiana, that received a $1.17 million AHP grant.
BEIRUT (AP) — Attacks intensified Friday between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah ahead of direct talks between the Lebanese government and Israel set to begin next week.
The talks are set to begin Tuesday in Washington and will be mediated by U.S. diplomats, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's office said in a statement, citing the outcome of a call Friday among Israeli, Lebanese and U.S. ambassadors. The statement reiterated Beirut's position that the talks be held under a ceasefire or truce.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter later issued a statement describing next Tuesday's talks as “formal peace negotiations," but said a ceasefire was not on the agenda, in a stark contradiction to Aoun's remarks.
“Israel refused to discuss a ceasefire with the Hezbollah terrorist organization, which continues to attack Israel and is the main obstacle to peace between the two countries,” the statement read.
At least 13 members of Lebanon's State Security forces were killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on Friday, while Hezbollah claimed an attack targeting a naval base in the Israeli port city of Ashdod some 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the border.
Israel launched strikes across several towns in southern Lebanon, including one on a government building in the southern city of Nabatieh that killed the government security personnel. Hezbollah claimed 31 other attacks on northern Israel and on Israeli ground troops that have invaded southern Lebanon.
Israel launched its latest aerial campaign and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired rockets toward northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, its key ally and patron, on March 2.
At least 1,953 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes, according to the Health Ministry. At least 303 were killed in a rapid series of 100 strikes that hit the country — including multiple areas in dense residential and commercial areas in central Beirut — in 10 minutes on Wednesday, the bloodiest day in the latest war between the two sides. Civil Defense first responders are still searching for bodies trapped under the rubble in the Lebanese capital.
Meanwhile, officials at Beirut's main government-run hospital on the southern edge of the capital fear it could be in the line of fire after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the surrounding suburbs, including the busy neighborhood of Jnah where the hospital is located. Israel has launched attacks in Jnah, both with and without warning.
The World Health Organization has since called for the Rafik Hariri University Hospital to be spared from attacks and not to evacuate, and WHO officials said Friday that they received assurances that it would not be struck. The hospital has not evacuated, though staff are fearful, as getting to work now requires them to drive on roads that can be struck at any time says Dr. Mohammad Cheaito, who heads the emergency department.
“The entire zone around the hospital was threatened and deemed dangerous,” he told The Associated Press. “But at the end of the day, we have a humanitarian duty.”
Lebanon's authorities have not yet commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement on Thursday of the decision to go ahead with talks. Netanyahu said the talks would revolve around disarming Hezbollah and establishing “peaceful relations” between the two countries.
A Lebanese official in government familiar with the developments said that a halt in the fighting is a critical condition for the country to engage in direct talks with Israel, similar to the one between the U.S. and Iran. It has yet to appoint a representative for negotiations. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Aoun had initially proposed the direct talks early on in the war on similar terms, at the time hoping for Israel to stop an escalation in airstrikes and to not invade the country. At the time, with only the backing of France, that failed.
On Wednesday, the U.S. and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire in the war that began on Feb. 28. It included Lebanon and other countries impacted in the wider regional conflict, mediator Pakistan announced. However, Israel — and later the United States — denied this. They want to separate the diplomatic tracks of the two wars.
Hezbollah considers Israel's attacks on Lebanon to be a violation of the ceasefire, while Beirut, in a bid to disarm Hezbollah and assert its full sovereignty over the country, says it wants to be included in talks related to Lebanon.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem in a statement broadcast Thursday did not directly mention the prospect of Israel-Lebanon talks, but called on the Lebanese government to “stop giving free concessions” to Israel.
Dozens of supporters of the Iran-backed group protested outside of the Lebanese prime minister's office in central Beirut. They see the scheduled direct talks as a surrender to Israel, which says its troops will stay in the country indefinitely.
“Our blood has been spilled on this land, and our state is conspiring against us,” said protester Hassan Shuaib. “Our state wants to kill us; our state wants to strip us of our weapons.”
———
Associated Press producer Malak Harb and video journalist Fadi Tawil in Beirut, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A Hezbollah supporter shouts slogans during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Hezbollah supporters shout slogans during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Protesters wave Hezbollah and Iran's flags during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Hezbollah supporter waves a flag with the portrait of the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in front the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
