Fourteen nonprofit organizations in South Florida received a combined $2.8 million donation from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, which awarded the grants through its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative.
The South Florida Business Journal reported that each of the grant winners will receive $200,000 to participate in the Neighborhood Excellence Leadership Program with other nonprofit leaders from 45 communities in the U.S. and London.
"Nonprofit and community leaders are instrumental in providing critical neighborhood services, and Bank of America is proud to support their work through the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative and other lending, investing and community development programs that align with our overall corporate social responsibility efforts," said Mike Fields, Florida market president at Bank of America.
Bank of America said the program supports "neighborhood builders" – the kinds of organizations that make communities work together. Nonprofit winners in the Miami-Dade County area included the Communities in Schools of Miami, which provides disadvantaged and at-risk students with resources to succeed in school and graduate to continue education or get a good job.
Another award winner is the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami, which is well known for its efforts to help revitalize ailing communities by building new homes and rebuilding old homes and selling them at cost for affordable housing.
The Bank of America Neighborhood Excellence Initiative is the company’s most forward outreach to the nonprofits and community groups in the areas it serves with mortgages and other banking products.
On the bank’s website, the initiative is described as an effort to strengthen local communities through education, the arts, culture, small businesses and community spirit.
"[W]e work with local community leaders to identify economic and social priorities and the visionaries working to sustain, strengthen and grow our communities," Bank of America says on the site. "Together, we can create healthy, vibrant neighborhoods where all of us can pursue our dreams."