Community Action Marin is honored to be named a Neighborhood Champion by Bank of America. The award includes a grant of $50,000 over two years to support the role that the agency plays in advancing economic mobility and to increase sustainability during a critical inflection point. Through 2021, Bank of America has invested $6.3 million in 126 organizations within 42 communities through the Neighborhood Champions program.
Bank of America’s Neighborhood Champions program aims to build stronger, more vibrant communities by providing non-profits with tools to develop robust strategic plans, chart a succession plan, create dashboards, and enhance funding opportunities.
“Bank of America shares Community Action Marin’s belief that equitable access to resources can create economic mobility for more people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and in turn, help the wider community thrive,” Amy Loflin, Senior Vice President, Napa, Marin, Sonoma Market Executive shares. “We are delighted to see them further this work with the resources made possible through the Neighborhood Champions program.”
Community Action Marin is excited to strengthen an equitable recovery locally with this additional grant support following two years of significant changes in community needs, as well as enhancements to the agency’s approach to providing services in meeting those needs. Explains Chandra Alexandre, Chief Executive Officer:
“This grant will enable us to be stronger together as an agency, strategically aligned behind our mission to alleviate the causes and consequences of poverty. In so doing, we will be more of a force in ways that best serve our community of low-wage workers, families of low income, the unhoused, and those who are too often invisible in affluent Marin County.”
As part of the award, Community Action Marin’s leadership team will also receive virtual leadership development training and gain access to a network of peer organizations across the U.S.
According to Gina Guillemette, Chief Strategy Officer, “The Neighborhood Champion Award is an investment that will allow us to engage leadership and people managers to think more collaboratively and strategically. It will strengthen the implementation of our strategic plan and deepen the agency’s capacity for ongoing evolution in response to community need.”
As a champion to the most vulnerable and a catalyst for system change efforts, Community Action Marin helps to ensure improved outcomes by connecting people to services that are most relevant to their needs. Agency staff work hard to center people’s strengths and remove barriers in support of hope and dignity along pathways to thriving.
Many people get help at a critical time in their lives. “I am so grateful for CAM’s free income tax assistance,” commented L.R. Brown. “I am a single mother of a young daughter and I simply could never afford to pay for these professional services!”
At Community Action Marin, staff listen deeply and build trusted relationships. The frontline team of success coaches focus on people’s triumphs anywhere along a crisis-to-thriving continuum. Learn more about Community Action Marin’s services that give people a step up.