NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / October 3, 2024 / The PNC Financial Services Group
Building Birmingham Businesses
Supporting the communities in which we live and work is a cornerstone of PNC's pragmatic approach and empathy-leading philosophy. In 2023, we expanded our previous funding of REV Birmingham, a place-based revitalization and economic development organization working to make the city of Birmingham, Alabama, a more vibrant place for all. Our support is helping to launch the Building Birmingham Businesses Program, which is focused on low- and moderate-income business owners. The program's goal is to meet entrepreneurs' unique needs at three different stages of business, from those who have reached their first sale, to those whose sales have grown to the point that they need a physical presence, to businesses already operating with a physical presence. The program will address the businesses' needs at all three stages, which might include financial education, marketing, accounting expertise, assistance with inventory sourcing, understanding real estate, securing business improvement funding and operational support.
Our Community Affairs group is responsible for the overall corporate strategy for charitable giving from the PNC Foundation and for PNC Grow Up Great® and other volunteerism opportunities. In collaboration with PNC's Regional Presidents organization and the Community Development Banking team, the Community Affairs group provides guidance and assists with local efforts to implement our strategy.
In 2023, PNC provided critical grant funding supporting various nonprofit organizations across the country, including:
Dallas, Texas: The North Texas Food Bank's Feeding Children initiative provides nutritious foods to children in need throughout the school year and summer months. The Food Bank works with schools and social service programs throughout a 13-county service area.
Chicago, Illinois: Ravinia Festival Association's Music Discovery program enables teaching artists to provide interactive instruction to elementary students in Chicago Public Schools that will help them develop musical knowledge, appreciation and skills.
Miami, Florida: Florida Memorial University's Center for Entrepreneurship was established to serve as a learning hub and solution center for entrepreneurs and help prepare students to be competitive in a rapidly evolving business world.
San Diego, California: Just In Time for Foster Youth's Financial Fitness initiative was designed to provide financial education workshops and encourage saving behavior to aid those in the foster care system to achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency.
Helping Our Youngest Neighbors Grow Up Great
Since the program's inception and through the end of 2023, PNC Grow Up Great supported 10+ MILLION CHILDREN
Since the program's inception and through the end of 2023, PNC Grow Up Great has supported more than 10 million children through grants and educational programs. We provided more than $247 million in grants to organizations championing high-quality early childhood education, and enlisted PNC employees to volunteer more than 1.1 million hours to the cause.
Supporting Early Childhood Education
High-quality early childhood education is the very foundation of a bright and promising future for individuals and society at large. We recognize the significant role educators, caregivers and parents play in early childhood education. That's why we're committed to supporting educators and caregivers in giving children the opportunity to Grow Up Great. This initiative was built on the understanding that education is a powerful means for economic and social mobility.
Early this year, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our signature PNC Grow Up Great initiative. Since 2004, we've supported early childhood education through this $500 million, multi-year, bilingual initiative. Our goal is to help prepare children from birth to age 5 for success in school and in life, with particular emphasis on underserved communities. Through a comprehensive approach that includes grant funding, employee volunteerism, awareness and advocacy efforts, PNC Grow Up Great supports families, educators and community partners. This provides innovative opportunities that enhance learning and development for our youngest community members, setting a path for success that lasts a lifetime.
Since the program's inception and through the end of 2023, PNC Grow Up Great has supported more than 10 million children through grants and educational programs. We provided more than $247 million in grants to organizations championing high-quality early childhood education and enlisted PNC employees to volunteer more than 1.1 million hours to the cause.
In 2023, we continued our efforts to promote high-quality early learning opportunities in collaboration with PNC Grow Up Great partners. Some examples of the impact on early childhood leaders, organizations and communities working with PNC Grow Up Great include:
PNC's continued support of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health at the University of Chicago, a research institute that translates science into tools and strategies to help parents, organizations and communities meet the developmental needs of children. In 2023, the TMW Center expanded its reach by building on the success of a PNC-funded study confirming that parents' knowledge of brain development contributes to improved language skills later in life by increasing the quantity and quality of talk with their children. These findings have helped to inform the growth of a bilingual, group-based community program, 3Ts-Let's Talk, which reinforces parents' understanding of the critical role their talk and interactions which reinforces parents' understanding of the critical role their talk and interactions play in their children's foundational brain development, and shares research-based strategies to enhance that development. To date, PNC Grow Up Great has provided support for 3Ts-Let's Talk in six PNC markets, with three additional markets planned for 2024, benefiting nearly 400 families.
As part of our nearly two-decade partnership with Sesame Workshop, the global impact nonprofit behind Sesame Street and so much more, we created new financial education resources for young children and the parents and caregivers who support them. Sesame Workshop's mission is to help children everywhere grow smarter, stronger and kinder. With financial stability remaining a top concern for families with young children, these resources teach foundational financial skills so children can understand the value of money and learn to make wise financial decisions as they grow. The new resources, which include free bilingual videos, activity guides and articles, are distributed by Sesame Street in Communities, a program created to support national and community providers who serve families and help children face challenges big and small.
Building on PNC's longtime collaboration with Fred Rogers Productions, nearly 50 Be My Neighbor Day community events were hosted across PNC markets throughout 2023 in cooperation with local public television stations. More than 46,000 attendees, primarily families with young children, participated in these community events. Participants learned about high-quality early childhood resources and learning opportunities in their neighborhood while participating in fun, engaging hands-on activities. In addition to the Be My Neighbor Day community events, PNC Grow Up Great support of Fred Rogers Productions has sustained sponsorship of the PBS television show Alma's Way, including PNC Grow Up Great recognition for more than 3.2 million viewers during the year. Alma's Way, a bilingual, animated series, provides positive representation of Hispanic and Black children. It focuses on critical thinking, responsible decision-making and self-awareness. Now in its second season, the show has won back-to-back Imagen Awards for Best Youth Programming and the Kidscreen Award for Best Inclusivity-Preschool Programming. PNC Grow Up Great support also affords a variety of educational awareness efforts, such as custom-branded video content aired on various media channels. Alma's Way episodes, digital games and resources provide parents and teachers tools to support the development of early childhood critical-thinking problem-solving skills and self-awareness.
The PNC Grow Up Great Mobile Learning Adventure (MLA), a mobile early learning experience, visited all 54 PNC markets in 2023, interacting with over 197,000 children and families. The MLA provides an opportunity for parents and caregivers to learn about the importance of early childhood education while engaging in fun activities with their children. Through a series of hands-on activity stations, and together with their families, children learn new words while they explore various careers and professions. This ignites their imaginations for what they hope to be when they grow up.
Volunteerism
Our communities are not simply places where we do business. They are home to our employees and our customers. At PNC, we're committed to making a difference in these communities, not only with our products and services, but with our time. We share our employees' passion for our communities and support that passion by empowering volunteerism and participation in our volunteer grant program.
In 2023, PNC employees volunteered a total of 83,433 volunteered hours and earned $400,000 in volunteer grants. A total of 122 organizations have been approved as volunteer partners across 51 of our markets.
To support and encourage our employees' community commitment, our paid volunteerism policy provides up to 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer with approved organizations.
Engaging our community partners across our markets is an important part of our community efforts. For the past seven years, we've invited our PNC Grow Up Great nonprofit partners to participate in SkillShare, a unique volunteer program that helps solve some of our partners' biggest issues, such as donor tracking and electronic inventory systems. This 12-week experience provides an opportunity for teams of employees to enhance their skills, demonstrate leadership capabilities and learn more about the nonprofit world. In 2023, SkillShare expanded to include a racial and social justice cohort and engaged 70 volunteers, providing a total of 2,619 volunteer hours and earning $64,500 in volunteer grants.
PRO BONO PROJECT
PNC Legal Department's Pro Bono Project offers PNC attorneys and legal professionals an opportunity to provide free legal services to individuals and organizations in their local communities who need, but cannot afford, legal assistance. The program enables PNC attorneys and legal professionals to develop new skills and fulfill practice requirements by working with local legal service providers to do good for the community.
The project is run by a committee of PNC lawyers who periodically approve new pro bono opportunities and encourage their fellow Legal Department colleagues to participate. Now in its eleventh year, the Pro Bono Project continues to grow in participation and expand opportunities to help in PNC communities where PNC employs internal lawyers, and across the U.S. through virtual volunteer opportunities.
In addition to providing pro bono opportunities throughout the year, PNC attorneys participate in the annual "Pro Bono Week" each October, during which the Pro Bono program offers seminars, training sessions and pro bono opportunities across PNC's footprint. Previous opportunities during Pro Bono Week included assisting with veteran discharge status reviews for the Veterans Consortium and drafting wills for low-income or disabled clients. There's also a partnership with the PNC Foundation, encouraging volunteering with Sky's the Limit, an online mentoring platform that matches business professionals as volunteer advisors and mentors to underrepresented, young adult entrepreneurs across the U.S.
The PNC Pro Bono Project continues to partner with the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) on larger projects, including Financial Institution Pro Bono Day, which has grown out of a joint initiative between PNC and PBI to now include more than 40 different financial institutions across the U.S. and parts of Europe. During Financial Institution Pro Bono Day, each financial institution's legal departments volunteer on pro bono projects on the same day. Some opportunities during Financial Institution Pro Bono Day in 2023 included refugee clinics for children, pardon clinics and name change clinics.
Between 2021 and 2023, 550 PNC volunteers have logged more than 1,600 volunteer hours
SkysTheLimit.org
For young, underrepresented entrepreneurs, nonprofit Sky's the Limit makes mentoring connections with business professionals seeking skills-based volunteer opportunities through their proprietary digital platform at SkysTheLimit.org. PNC supports that mission by providing opportunities for our employees to take part in support of our racial and social justice volunteer program.
Sky's the Limit's young entrepreneurs (generally 18 to 29 years old) are seeking support to develop and launch their own businesses. Participants are 80 percent people of color, 70 percent women and 90 percent low income. Between 2021 and 2023, over 550 PNC volunteers have logged more than 1,600 volunteer hours and earned Sky's the Limit 10 volunteer grants totaling $28,000.
View the full 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report.
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Contact Info:
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SOURCE: The PNC Financial Services Group
