Bank of America’s Orange County community outreach efforts are so vast that it’s hard to encapsulate them in a concise way. You’ll find it simultaneously delivering financial education to military veterans while also committing billions to help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and making sure people with disabilities have access to advocacy, employment and support.
Those initiatives and others are emblematic of its efforts to make a social and economic impact through connections.
Orange County Market President Allen Staff says he’s passionately committed to the idea that everyone and every entity has a role in addressing society’s most pressing needs. BofA’s philosophy is why, for the second year in a row, Bank of America has garnered a special recognition as a Business Journal Civic 50 honoree in the large company category.
Connections That Count
One example is the bank’s Better Money Habits initiative in partnership with Khan Academy. BofA offers free tools and information on BetterMoneyHabits.com to help people learn how to make smarter, more confident financial decisions. It’s open to anyone, and rather than waiting for people to find it, BofA actively seeks out those who may need the guidance.
Take BofA’s robust partnership with Saddleback College and the Goodwill Tierney Center for Veteran Services. Both entities are known for efforts to help veterans readjust to life after service. BofA employees volunteer to teach Better Money Habits classes, where veterans—many of them on the cusp of homelessness—learn the fundamentals of a healthy financial life. Seemingly small things, such as how to balance a checkbook, develop a budget or address a low credit score, can seem overwhelming to the young men and women.
Bringing People Together
BofA recently partnered with Santa Ana-based nonprofit The Wooden Floor, whose mission is to transform the lives of young people in low-income communities through dance and access to higher education.
“Bank of America volunteers will be providing financial education to the parents of the children involved with the program,” says Shari Battle, Orange County enterprise business & community engagement market manager at BofA.
The partnership’s back story exemplifies BofA’s connection concept on a personal level. Battle, by nature and job title, is a connector. For years she’s had a working relationship with Todd Cottle, principal of nonprofit affordable housing developer C&C Development. She also has a strong rapport with The Wooden Floor Chief Executive Dawn S. Reese. About five years ago, she introduced the developer to Reese, and they took it from there.
“Todd just fell in love with The Wooden Floor,” Battle recalls. “He loved the idea of helping at-risk youth through dance. He saw it as a great way to get involved.”
Cottle offered to let The Wooden Floor use space for free at a C&C home development in exchange for providing programming to apartment residents. Not only did that gesture give more underserved children access to The Wooden Floor programs, it also led to their parents’ access to financial education at BofA through Better Money Habits. Battle says the classes will take place at least once a month.
‘Us,’ Not ‘They’
BofA also reaches out on leadership. Its nationwide Neighborhood Builders program, founded in 2004, awards high-performing local nonprofits with $200,000 flexible grants.
This year, Laguna Beach-based Friendship Shelter received the recognition. Founded in 1998, it provides year-round shelter and rehabilitation to homeless adults.
“Throughout the county, we have been talking about solving the homeless issue,” Staff says. “It is an us issue. It’s not a they issue. It is our collective problem. It is solvable.”
Friendship Shelter was recognized for its seed funding supportive housing units for the homeless in Laguna Beach, with the goal of making homeless people feel more a part of the community, and helping existing residents see them as more than statistics.
The city works with the Friendship Shelter to deliver comprehensive programs to help the homeless regain their footing in society. The approach appears to be working: 97% of clients remained in permanent supportive housing within nine months of joining the program.
“You take small bites,” Staff says. “Trying to solve it all at once, it won’t work. If we can copy [the Friendship Center] model, we can fix this as a county.”
Support from the Top
BofA employees, nearly 5,000 are in OC, are performing an ever-increasing number of volunteer hours. This year alone, those in the Orange County corporate office have donated more than 30,000 hours to philanthropic causes. The goal is 50,000—10,000 more than the office achieved last year.
A policy of giving two hours’ paid time off each week to every employee gives them the opportunity to fulfill their outreach passions. The bank has also arranged volunteer days when employees might work to clean up a local beach, refurbish a group home, work with children, or participate in a charity walk.
“Volunteering brings people together,” Battle says. She explains that employees take charge on outreach activities by coordinating, reaching out to volunteers, and acting as liaisons between the bank and nonprofits.
“It gives people the opportunity to be leaders within our organization.”
