Foundation Reels in Grant from Bank of America

​​ ​In the photo, left to right: Ted Cooper, RCCD Foundation Board Secretary, Al Arguello, Inland Empire Market President at Bank of America, Launa Wilson, RCCD Foundation Executive Director, Judy Horan, RCCD Foundation Board President, Dennis Brandt, RCCD Foundation Board Member, Cathy Paredes, Vice President & Community Relations Manager at Bank of America​

The Riverside Community College District Foundation has received a grant from Bank of America in order to address economic mobility for individuals and families and put them on a path toward financial stability. The $25,000 grant will fund resources for workforce development and education pathways that will assist students chart a path to better economic futures, as well as basic needs that are fundamental to building lifelong stability.

In all, Bank of America awarded $500,000 in grants to 49 Inland Empire nonprofits. Despite the region's recent growth in economic standards, the Inland Empire is in desperate need of greater job diversity in order to lift wages and close a fast-growing income gap, noting over half - 54 percent - of the region's jobs being “neither good nor promising, meaning they provide insufficient pay or benefits and no viable career pathway to good jobs,” according to a report from the Brookings Institute.

The Foundation will utilize its portion to support an initiative to increase the number of historically underrepresented populations — women, Veterans, foster youth as well as individuals with disabilities interested — in pursuing a career in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field.

“Bank of America has been a strong corporate partner to the Riverside Community College District for over twenty years,” said Launa Wilson, executive director, RCCD Foundation. “The RCCD Foundation staff and board of directors are grateful for this generous grant supporting a major District initiative that will make a significant impact throughout our region.”

All 49 nonprofits have been asked to address two key factors — improving financial stability for basic needs such as access to food, shelter and health services, and secondly, access to educational and workforce development services that either give young adults pathways to employment or provide additional opportunities for people to launch or rebuild their careers for better-paying work.

“The future of the region's economy and making it sustainable begins with better pathways to educational attainment and a more skilled labor force, as more than 1.3 million of the Inland Empire's workers lack a bachelor's degree,” said Al Argüello, Inland Empire market president at Bank of America. “But through strategic philanthropic investments into our incredible nonprofit network, Bank of America is deploying its capital to help connect teens and young adults to educational resources and the current workforce to advanced job skills training, especially for those from economically disadvantaged communities.”

The RCCD Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1975 to raise and manage private donations that benefit RCCD and its colleges, students, and programs. For more information, call (951) 222-8626 or email Foundation@rccd.edu.

About Bank of America

At Bank of America, we're guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We're delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It's demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at about.bankofamerica.com, and connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).