GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has distributed $553,000 in grants to 19 Grand Rapids area charitable and philanthropic organizations to advance economic mobility and help ensure the nonprofits have the power to grow strategically and advance sustainable growth in the community.
Bank of America provided grants to local nonprofits that provide essential services as well as investments in local cultural institutions and youth organizations.
The grants and virtual volunteerism are a part of the bank’s charity aimed at improving the lives of individuals and families and advancing social justice in the communities in which they live.
Organizations that received grants include:
Family Promise of Grand Rapids;
- The Right Place
- West Michigan Hispanic Chamber
- Kids Food Basket
- Grand Rapids Art Museum
- Grand Rapids Symphony
- Grand Rapids Children’s Museum;
- Our Community’s Children
- Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women;
- Healthy Homes Coalition
- Spectrum Health
- Women’s Resource Center
- Junior Achievement
- Streams of Hope
- Safe Haven Ministries
“The pandemic has challenged many in our community both in terms of their health and safety, as well as economically," said Renee Tabben, Grand Rapids Market President, Bank of America. "This year we have intensified our contributions to organizations helping those impacted by not only the coronavirus, but the injustices of racial inequality.”
A very special component of Bank of America’s yearly giving is its naming of a Neighborhood Champion, a recognition that includes both grant funding and leadership training. The Neighborhood Champions program supports the role strong nonprofit leaders play and is an extension of the bank’s signature philanthropic initiative, Neighborhood Builders®, the largest corporate philanthropic investment in nonprofit leadership in the country.
This year, Bank of America named Family Promise of Grand Rapids as its Neighborhood Champion. Family Promise of Grand Rapids received $50,000 in grant support and an opportunity for engagement in virtual leadership training delivered by experts in the nonprofit sector.
For more than 20 years, Family Promise of Grand Rapids has been a good example in the efforts to end homelessness and provide emergency shelter and basic needs to homeless families with children, and assist them in finding housing and sustained independence.
Since the program’s inception last year, Bank of America has invested $4.2 million in 84 organizations within 42 communities through the Neighborhood Champions program. The Neighborhood Champions program in Grand Rapids will strengthen the bank’s commitment to advancing economic mobility and nonprofit leadership.
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