First National awards grants for workforce education

FORT COLLINS — First National Bank has awarded $134,000 in community development grants to 13 organizations in Colorado to support educating the region’s workforce.

The grants were part of the bank’s $996,000 in community development grants to 58 organizations in Colorado, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas.

Alec Gorynski, First National’s vice president of corporate, philanthropy and social responsibility, said the grants will help strengthen individual core competencies and lead to improving personal economic self-sufficiency. The round of grants mark the bank’s final disbursement of grant funding for the year. First National Bank awarded $1.8 million in community development grants in 2017 to 104 organizations across its seven-state service area.  

SPONSORED CONTENT

How dispatchable resources enable the clean energy transition

Platte River must prepare for the retirement of 431 megawatts (MW) of dispatchable, coal-fired generation by the end of the decade and address more frequent extreme weather events that can bring dark calms (periods when there is no sun or wind).

In Colorado, the grants were given to:

• $14,000 – Project Self-Sufficiency, Loveland: provides guidance and support for single parents as they complete educational goals, obtain career path employment and remove barriers to self-sufficiency.  
• $10,000 – Front Range Community College Foundation, Westminster:  provides low cost/free instruction to adults in need of a GED, English language skills, financial literacy education or general skills to advance in the workforce.
• $10,000 – I Have a Dream Foundation, Boulder: provides low-income youth with college and career readiness programming, including financial education, paid internships and career support in post-secondary programs.
• $10,000 – The Matthews House, Fort Collins: provides competencies for entry-level restaurant certification for out-of-school, out-of-work youth, ages 16 to24, while developing life and soft skills such as budgeting, conflict resolution and work ethic.  
• $10,000 – Thrive, Lafayette: provides assistance in achieving self-sufficiency through education, skill development, relationships and employment support services.
• $10,000 – Emergency Family Assistance Association, Boulder: supports access to higher-paying jobs through a year-long program of workforce training, paid internships and financial literacy.
• $10,000 – Homeless Gear, Fort Collins: provides workforce support and case management to equip homeless or near-homeless individuals to gain and maintain employment and economic stability.
• $10,000 – Student Recovery Program, Greeley: provides educational support to at-risk Latino male high school students to help them graduate, including an intensive summer academy with skill development in math and literacy.
• $10,000 – Attention Homes, Boulder: supports programming for runaway and homeless youth, promoting education, career development and self-sufficiency.  
• $10,000 – Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County, Fort Collins: provides at-risk youth with programming promoting financial responsibility and independence.  
• $10,000 – Forward Steps Foundation, Broomfield:  provides current and former foster youth with financial assistance, professional support, coaching and mentoring to help them progress toward independence and self-sufficiency.   
• $10,000 – Salida del Sol Academy: provides enhanced academic support to at-risk students.   
• $10,000 – Outreach United Resource Center, Longmont:  supports funding to prepare unemployed/underemployed individuals for jobs in the food-service industry as certified chefs.   

First National Bank has 24 retail branches along the Front Range including multiple locations in Fort Collins, Boulder, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont and Broomfield.