Bank of America foundation gives 20 grants to Las Vegas-area groups
Eduardo Barahona spent most of the early months of the coronavirus pandemic as a warehouse associate — a job that paid well, but one he couldn’t find advancement in. So when he heard of a College of Southern Nevada scholarship to take classes in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, he seized the chance for a new career and new goals.
“I just signed up immediately because I wanted a brighter future,” Barahona said. “They helped me out a lot because it got me into learning. I want to learn more and more and more, and right now I have the goal to get my associate’s degree in this industry.”
Since enrolling at CSN in February, Barahona has learned to put new units on roofs, braze weld and how to best serve customers. Recruiters and industry professionals come to his classes and he’s watched as classmates get hired as soon as their educations were complete.
Barahona’s education is funded in part through a grant from Bank of America. It’s one of 20 grants from the bank’s charitable foundation given to Las Vegas-area nonprofits in July.
Grants, totaling $545,000, were awarded to nonprofits focused on improving economic mobility through access to fundamental needs and access to educational and workforce development.
Al Welch, president of Bank of America Las Vegas, said that with such a large overarching goal, activities target different needs depending on what stakeholders say. Those discussions help narrow who may receive a grant in any given year.
“We always pull it through the lens of, ‘How do we provide upward economic mobility for everybody living here?’” Welch said. “The answer to that can shift from year to year in what priorities might be for the community so we try to think about it internally and gather feedback from external leaders in the community to try to best utilize the resources we have.”
Other grantees include Three Square Food Bank, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada, HELP of Southern Nevada, Just One Project, Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Training Fund A Trust and more.
The grant to College of Southern Nevada exemplifies economic mobility work, Welch said. The institution is using the grant to fund the initial six college credits that bring students into its “Ability to Benefit Career Pathways” program. The program sets up GED students with the first courses toward associate’s degrees and certificates.
Leaders say it opens up entry-level careers for underserved and economically disadvantaged people in Southern Nevada.
“We take somebody from an underserved community that has fallen off the education pathway,” Welch said. “We’ve re-engaged them, showing them a path to do something they might not have thought possible, while at the same time getting specific skills, if they want to end their education right there with the GED, they have skills to transition into the workforce and actually get a job and take care of their families.”
For Barahona, the program gave him a new goal: master HVAC and refrigeration trades and, one day, open his own company.
“The program is gonna help me tremendously,” Barahona said. “They have given me a new trade, something new that I’ve learned and I will just keep going on in my life.”
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.
