From “Hancock Whitney Awards $15,000 grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County”
by Community Submitted, Elyssa Brandt | January 21, 2020 | heraldtribune.com
On Jan. 16, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County received one of three competitive grants in the region awarded by Hancock Whitney. The $15,000 award will support the Tom & Debbie Shapiro Career Resource Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs’ new state-of-the art facility for workforce development.
“We opened the doors to the CRC to help train young people,” said Bill Sadlo, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County. “It is our hope that we are able to help prepare them for the future—ultimately securing competitive community employment in Sarasota County or continuing their academic career at the collegiate level after high school graduation.”
The Shapiro CRC focuses on developing strategies that address poverty prevention, 21st Century Learning, and competency building in the context of national and local standards, needs, and demands. Approximately 82 percent of the children served by the organization come from families with a household income of $42,000 or less. Additionally, at least 45 percent of children served receive either free or reduced-price lunches at school.
The mission of the Shapiro CRC is to help teens avoid or overcome poverty by creating and maintaining a post-secondary plan of action with emphasis on vocational trades.
“At Hancock Whitney, we are committed to engaging with our communities and measuring success by the vibrancy of our neighborhoods,” said Hancock Whitney Regional President Tim Coop. “We are proud to be investing in an organization with a mission much like our own—to help people achieve their dreams—and in our community. We look forward to witnessing firsthand all the success that the Shapiro CRC will bring to Sarasota and beyond.”
For the second year in a row, Hancock Whitney, in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation, has awarded competitive grants to help nonprofits broaden community development efforts across the five Gulf South states the bank serves.
Through its competitive grant program, Hancock Whitney awarded a grand total of $200,000 to 16 eligible 501 (c)(3) organizations engaged in affordable housing construction and rehabilitation for low-to-moderate-income individuals, programs that support small businesses, and youth programs for low-to-moderate-income youth that provide job training, entrepreneurship training, and internship opportunities. The competitive grants are part of Hancock Whitney’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) program.
In addition to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County, Hancock Whitney also awarded grants totaling $50,000 to the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa Inc. (CDC of Tampa) and Lighthouse of Pinellas.