Edhat Reader
Philanthropic Grants and Other Support Help Address Workforce Development, Education and Entrepreneurship
By the Bank of America
As part of its longstanding commitment to supporting economic opportunity in local communities, Bank of America has invested nearly $1,560,000 across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties this year through philanthropic grants and sponsorships to the region’s nonprofits. The support helps nonprofits remove barriers to economic mobility, with most bank funding directed to help create career pathways, educational opportunities for youth and teens, and support for new start-up businesses.
For instance, Bank of America provided capital and philanthropic support to local nonprofit micro-lender Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) to help new female entrepreneurs grow responsibly. Bank of America also worked locally with the Pacific Coast Business Times sponsoring its “Women in Business” awards highlighting the best practices of local women entrepreneurs, supported Mission Community Service Corporation’s Women’s Business Center, and even the Girl Scouts.
Bank of America also helped MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation to surpass its annual fundraising goals to support STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) programs for Santa Barbara County students. Bank of America’s Neighborhood Champion program, one of the nation’s largest investments into nonprofit leadership development, selects a high-impact local nonprofit to receive multi-year flexible funding and extensive leadership training for the nonprofits’ executive director and an emerging leader. This year’s recipient Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County is using the grant to scale its Mentor Academy Professional Mentoring Program aimed at providing high school students with life skills such as financial literacy and job skills to help them identify a successful path after high school.
“Ventura and Santa Barbara nonprofits know firsthand the needs and obstacles our communities face. Bank of America proudly helps nonprofits develop the solutions and services needed to promote economic opportunity,” said Midge Campbell-Thomas, president, Bank of America Ventura-Santa Barbara. “Bank of America will continue to deploy capital and resources to help create real impact for those most in need.”
Finally, employee volunteerism continues to be an important and valuable contribution to local nonprofits, with Ventura-Santa Barbara employees logging nearly 43,000 volunteer hoursthroughout the year to local causes, ranging from assisting with food donations and distribution, providing free financial education workshops in English and Spanish as part of the bank’s Better Money Habits program, to working with the local Habitat for Humanity chapters to build affordable housing.
