San Diego – Programs that help address local issues around social and economic equality and education in underserved urban communities will be able to scale, helping even more people through multi-year grants from Bank of America. The Urban League of San Diego and Ocean Discovery Institute have been named as the 2021 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders® awardees for their work in San Diego addressing these issues.
As a Neighborhood Builder, each organization receives a $200,000 grant over two years, comprehensive leadership training for the executive director and an emerging leader on topics ranging from increasing financial sustainability, human capital management and strategic storytelling, joins a network of peer organizations across the U.S., and gets the opportunity to access capital to expand their impact. The program continues to be the nation’s largest investment into nonprofit leadership development.
“As our community continues to recover and navigate a changing landscape, nonprofits are still in need of resources to help meet critical needs like rising out of poverty and or providing education and career pathways in underserved communities,” said Rick Bregman, president, Bank of America San Diego. “Urban League of San Diego and Ocean Discovery Institute are helping bridge important gaps that help individuals chart a path toward economic opportunity and stability. Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program will help these organizations grow so that they can have a greater impact in the community.”
“With this year’s Neighborhood Builders award, we’ll be able to scale our program to serve 100 students in our leadership programs, up from 50.” says Shara Fisler, executive director and founder of Ocean Discovery Institute. “We’ll do this with the addition of summer programming as well a coaching component to help students overcome challenges during the school year. It’s exciting that the Neighborhood Builders program will ensure many more young people enter high-paying fields, break generational poverty, and change the future of science.”
The invitation-only Neighborhood Builders program is highly competitive, and leading members of the community participated in a collaborative selection process to identify this year’s awardees.
Since 2004, Bank of America has invested over $5.8 million into 29 San Diego nonprofits selected as Neighborhood Builders since the program began in 2004, and $280 million across the U.S. with more than 1,400 nonprofits and helping more than 2,800 nonprofit leaders strengthen their leadership skills.