The FINANCIAL — Bank of America announced it has exceeded its five-year goal two years ahead of schedule to hire 10,000 teammates from low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods through its Pathways program. The bank also announced Pathways is expanding across the company due to its success, and has committed to making an additional 10,000 LMI hires by 2025 through expanded partnerships with community colleges and local organizations like Year Up, UnidosUS and the National Urban League.
“Since 2018, Pathways has fueled our talent pipeline by providing long-term career opportunities for people from LMI communities who often face barriers to employment,” said Sheri Bronstein, chief human resources officer at Bank of America. “This work furthers the bank’s longstanding commitment to creating equal employment opportunities for all by building a strong, diverse talent pipeline through hiring and recruiting, including from LMI neighborhoods, continuing our ability to mirror the clients and communities we serve.”
“Bank of America’s partnership with Year Up allows us to provide internships to hundreds of talented, motivated young people from under-represented populations each year,” said Gerald Chertavian, Year Up Founder and CEO. “The Pathways program helps ensure that these young adults have the resources and support to not only launch their careers at Bank of America, but continue advancing over the long-term.”
According to Bank of America, Pathways participants are trained through The Academy at Bank of America, a best-in-class learning approach that is designed to set them up for success throughout their careers. The bank provides a full range of ongoing professional development programs using industry-leading innovation including client engagement simulators, virtual reality, interactive labs, boot-camps and instructor-led coursework.
Since the inception of Pathways, Bank of America has focused its efforts in major markets with a large concentration of hiring needs, including:
Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas
Los Angeles, Calif.
New York City, N.Y.
Orange County, Calif.
Phoenix, Ariz.
Pathways is just one of the ways that Bank of America is helping to create a stronger hiring pipeline in communities across the nation. In December, the bank joined a coalition of business leaders to up-skill, hire and promote 1 million Black Americans through OneTen. And in March, Bank of America expanded its $1 billion commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity to $1.25 billion over five years. $25 million is allocated to enhance up-skilling and reskilling for Black and Hispanic-Latino students, Bank of America notes.
Through initial partnerships with 21 higher education institutions including community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), Bank of America is giving $1 million to each of the 21 institutions selected across the U.S. to help students of color successfully complete the education and training necessary to be successful in today’s workforce.
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