As part of its longstanding commitment to supporting economic opportunity and local communities, Bank of America has invested $547,900 across Greater Augusta-Aiken this year through philanthropic helping to strengthen the local economy. The support is helping Augusta thrive with a particular focus on economic mobility, workforce development, health, affordable housing, and arts and culture.

For instance, the bank provided a grant to support Augusta Locally Grown to launch the Georgia Food 4 Health (GF4H) programs that provides fresh organic produce grown from sustainable farming to underserved populations in our downtown urban core which is a food desert. The GF4H program serves 75 women with diet diseases and their families to provide monthly clinic visits, dietary consultations, family wide prescriptions, and cooking classes to those with known food insecurity. Through the bank’s investment and partnership, the grant will be used to provide cooking, wellness, and vegetable prescriptions for these 75 program participants and their families. 

This year, Aiken Center for the Arts received a grant to help support and grow their programs Creativity Outloud and Beginning Group Strings in an effort to make the arts more accessible for all. Each week students ages 5 through 18 can be found in a class learning to play the violin, raising their voices in song, or learning to play the keyboard, all at no cost. These programs are made possible by funding from organizations like Bank of America celebrate the process of doing the work and its outcomes 

Bank of America has provided more than $5M in support to the Greater Augusta-Aiken community since 2019. In addition to philanthropic capital, the company also donated 105,000 masks, 179 hand sanitizer cases and 408,000 gloves to the Greater Augusta-Aiken community this year.

“Nonprofit organizations understand the needs and challenges Augusta faces, uniquely positioning them to develop the solutions and services needed promote economic opportunity,” said Ora Parish, president, Bank of America Augusta. “Bank of America will continue to deploy capital and resources to tackle the barriers embedded within our community and create real impact in the lives of the Augusta individuals and families we serve.” 

This year’s efforts reflect the bank’s commitment to addressing critical issues and long-term gaps by partnering with local leaders and organizations to support diverse and women entrepreneurs, build job skills, support basic needs and create opportunities to help people succeed today and in the future.