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Dallas Social Venture Partners Members Receive Three Neighborhood Excellence Initiative® Awards from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation
11/06/08
DALLAS – Nov. 6, 2008 – Dallas Social Venture Partners today announced three of the five recipients of the prestigious Bank of America Charitable Foundation Neighborhood Excellence Initiative (NEI) Neighborhood Builder awards are members of their organization. Five community leaders were recognized by Bank of America for making a difference in the Dallas community. Three of them are DSVP partners who received the awards for their work as community leaders.
“Bank of America has long held the belief that a healthy community is a healthy place to do business, and we are committed to creating real impact in the Dallas community,” said Richard Holt, Dallas market president, Bank of America. “The Neighborhood Excellence Initiative underscores our belief that investing in leadership is a sound practice, whether building the capacity of our nonprofit organizations, developing current and emerging community leaders, or preparing our youth for the future.”
“We consider the impact to our community these three women have made a testimony to DSVP’s model of engaged philanthropy,” said DSVP board chairwoman Karen Akin. “The work we do around education and engagement is inspiring to our partners. We are thrilled to see three of our partners recognized for their significant contributions in creating new solutions to our community’s needs.”
One of the three categories NEI honors is Local Heroes™ – community leaders who contribute significantly to the health of our neighborhoods. Dallas’ 2008 NEI Local Heroes™ award recipients who are DSVP members are as follows:
Local Heroes – each directs a $5,000 donation from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to an eligible nonprofit of their choice.
• Phyllis Bernstein, of Dallas, will donate the award to The National Council of Jewish Women
• Sheryl Fields Bogen, from Dallas, will donate the award to Dallas Furniture Bank
• Janet Mockovciak, of Dallas, will donate the award to The Dallas After School Network
Bank of America is one of the few corporations in the U.S. that provides unrestricted grant funding to nonprofit organizations. This practice is based on Bank of America’s belief that corporate philanthropy works best when it sustains community efforts that are based on partnership, leadership development and flexible funding.
Including this year’s awardees, Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative has recognized, nurtured and rewarded more than 400 organizations and over 2,000 individuals. In 2008, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will commit $20 million globally to the initiative, which operates in 45 of the bank’s major markets, bringing the total commitment under the program to more than $90 million by the end of this year.
Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America will embark in 2009 on a new, ten-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods.
Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2007, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches giving through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 650,000 hours in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit
