Bank of America to Honor Chicagoland Community Leaders on Kennedy Expressway Mural
CHICAGO – As part of an ongoing effort to honor Chicagoland’s community leaders, Bank of America will recognize three of the city’s very own with larger-than-life portraits painted on the well-known mural space adjacent to the Kennedy Expressway located near North Ashland and West Armitage Avenues.
The leaders who will be displayed are three of the 12 most recent Chicago recipients of Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative awards, the company’s signature philanthropic program that has invested $3.15 million in Chicago since 2004 to strengthen the city’s community leadership. These honorees were collectively awarded $450,000 in flexible funding and leadership development and were recognized at a Nov. 10 celebratory event at The Art Institute of Chicago.
The wall, seen by an estimated 400,000 people daily, currently displays a placeholder to give the public a “teaser” of what is to come when the final wall is unveiled. Painting of the mural is slated to begin in mid-January and is expected to be completed in mid-March. At that time, the three community leaders and their important service to Chicago – ranging from homeless advocacy to supporting the economically disadvantaged – will be revealed and celebrated. In the interim, the wall is populated with a special website address, http://www.bankofamerica.com/NEIchicago, which encourages Chicagoans to learn more about a number of individuals who are changing their city.
“Bank of America’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative recipients are some of Chicago’s greatest community heroes. A public and very visual acknowledgement of their great work on such a large canvas is befitting of their heroic stature,” said Tim Maloney, Illinois president at Bank of America.
“Nonprofits, community leaders, and young people who are dedicated to making a change in their communities are integral to our city’s vitality and critical in the current economy when nonprofit funding is down and demand for services is up,” Maloney continued. “At Bank of America we want to highlight, honor and thank the individuals who are making a difference in Chicago.”
For more information on the community leaders and the mural, please visit: http://www.bankofamerica.com/NEIchicago.
Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, last year Bank of America embarked on a new, 10-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2009, making the bank one of the largest corporate cash donors in the United States. Bank of America approaches investing through a national strategy under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Reaffirming a commitment to develop and sustain a culture of service, the bank announced the “Million Hour Challenge,” a pledge by the company’s associates around the world to donate 1 million volunteer hours by the end of 2010. In 2009, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 800,000 hours to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.