The Bank of America presented the Boys and Girls club with a $25,000 check on Wednesday, July 6, in support of the services that the club provides to children in the community.
The check was presented at the Boys and Girls club (BGC) of Clovis where a check for multiple Fresno County BGC’s was presented in the amount of $25,000 to help aid the clubs.
This year Bank of America’s student internship program called the Student Leader Program (SLP) , which focused on financial literacy and community service provided services to the Clovis BGC.
The student interns this year were Pratham Hombal, a recent graduate from Buchanan high school, and Akhil Vallabh, an incoming senior from Clovis North.
Hombal and Vallabh created budgets and drafted curriculum for future youth programs and spent time helping out at the Clovis BGC, under the Bank of America student internship program.
This is Bank of America’s second year with a career launch program grant that focuses on financial literacy at five BGC’s, located in Clovis, East Fresno, West Fresno, Selma, and Oakurst.
Reflecting on the time spent in the student internship, Hombal said that every moment in the student internship was worth the amount of work that needed to be done.
“It’s definitely brought a new perspective to me because I’ve lived in Clovis my entire life and I feel like I’ve been kind of sheltered. I haven’t been able to talk with and get a more diverse world view based on the people that I’ve met,” Hombal said.
The goal of the student internships and financial literacy programs offered by Bank of America, according to Marissa Moore the Fresno-Visalia market executive for Bank of America, is to help develop skills and knowledge about finances that could help students later in life.
“I think that has a huge impact because those are skills that we don’t learn in school and I know that many of us have had to learn the hard way by not having that type of training. So I think it’s leaving a lasting impression on them but really it’s setting these kids up for success and showing them the pathways in which they could take,” Moore said.
For the SLP student internship, Moore said that Bank of America selects two Fresno County high schools that are junior or senior for the paid positions.
Funding the program, Bank of America provides a stipend to the BGC’s to officially hire the students on as paid interns where the students complete projects that will help benefit the organization.
Through the process, Moore said interns like Hombal and Vallabh will also have the opportunity to attend board meetings, learn how a non-profit functions and receive hands-on training in the workplace.
Mary Lou Ramirez, the senior director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club of Fresno County said programs such as the SLP internship provide a unique opportunity for the students involved.
“Learning about finances and how credit works and things like that is so important for young people to know. That way they can make sound decisions as they become a young adult and that will be more financially ready and savvy,” Ramirez said.
Kimberly Carter, unit director for the Clovis Boys and Girls Club said the SLP internship also provides the younger children at the club an opportunity to have a positive role model in the form of the interns.
“To see the teens be good role models and good examples for the kids that really drives the younger kids to jump into community service,” Carter said.