| Job program bases
training on biblical principles
October 31, 2001 - Reporters
may contact: Karen Shawcross, Bank of America, 503.279.2876
karen.b.shawcross@bankofamerica.com
Portland, Oregon - Bank
of America announces a new national strategic alliance with
the National Jobs Partnership to work together in the development
of programs to assist individuals and families move out
of poverty and into self-sufficiency.
The bank's national America/Works Initiative is a comprehensive
corporate commitment to fostering workforce development
solutions for low-income individuals and families. "It
is the 'people' side of the bricks and mortar work of community
development that the bank has been doing for decades,"
says Karen Shawcross, Vice President of the Community Development
Banking Group. "Because of our shared goals with the
National Jobs Partnership of helping people to enter or
re-enter the workforce and become self-sufficient, we have
established this national partnership to work together in
the communities we jointly serve. We have a shared mission
of taking a holistic approach to knocking down the barriers
that keep low-income individuals and families from moving
from poverty to self-sufficiency."
The National Jobs Partnership describes its mission as bringing
churches and businesses together to mentor, train, and employ
our country's neediest citizens, moving them from dependency
to self-sufficiency as productive citizens of the community.
Founded in 1996 in Raleigh, North Carolina by a businessman,
Chris Mangum, and an inner-city pastor, Rev. Donald L. McCoy,
Jobs Partnership has expanded to similar business/church
partnerships in 19 other cities, with 11 more cities in
planning stages. National Jobs Partnership affiliates develop
training programs to equip their neighbors with basic workplace
skills and ethics. Churches agree to work together and mentor
and support each neighbor they sponsor through the Jobs
Partnership training. 83% of those graduates who have participated
in the Jobs Partnership training programs nationally are
still working today. The organization's website is www.tjp.org.
Skip Long, Executive Director adds: "I am excited that
the National Jobs Partnership provides Bank of America the
opportunity to connect with our neighbors in cities across
America that are trying to rise up out of poverty. This
new national strategic alliance with Bank of America also
provides our neighbors with the resources to be able to
take advantage of the opportunities provided by Bank of
America to increase their skills and training to fill all
of its positions that in the past have been hard to fill
at Bank of America."
Chris Mangum, President of the National Jobs Partnership
comments: "I am grateful for Bank of America's extraordinary
vision and commitment to community development. As a result
of this alliance and our working together, we should be
better able to serve our neighbors and offer them a broader
range of opportunities for personal and economic development.
Bottom line: more people will receive the kind of help they
truly need to reach their goal of financial self-sufficiency."
"We look forward to deepening and developing new relationships
between local Jobs Partnership programs and Bank of America
Personnel offices," says Connie McWilliams, National
Outreach Manager for Personnel, "as part of our overall
strategy of building a powerful, effective and diverse workforce."
Since 1998, Bank of America has hired over 5,000 new associates
off public assistance and into career path jobs at the company.
With local partnerships and collaborations, the company
has also developed pre-hire customized training programs
in Atlanta, Seattle, Miami, Tampa, Concord, San Francisco,
Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Norfolk to prepare people on assistance
for jobs as proof operators, tellers, customer service representatives,
cash handlers, wire transfer clerks, and other positions.
One of the world's leading financial services companies,
Bank of America is committed to making banking work for
customers like it never has before. Through innovative technologies
and the ingenuity of its people, Bank of America provides
individuals, small businesses and commercial, corporate
and institutional clients across the United States and around
the world new and better ways to manage their financial
lives. The company enables customers to do their banking
and investing whenever, wherever and however they choose
through the nation's largest financial services network,
including approximately 4,400 domestic offices and 13,000
ATMs, as well as 38 international offices serving clients
in 190 countries, and an Internet Web site that provides
online access for more than 3 million customers, more than
any other bank. The company's website is www.bankofamerica.com.
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