The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has announced that two Hartford area nonprofits, Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford and Mutual Housing of Greater Hartford Inc., have received its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative, or NEI, Neighborhood Builder awards. Neighborhood Builder winners receive $200,000 in unrestricted grants. Bank of America has committed more than $2.2 million in NEI awards in Hartford over the past five years.
“The Neighborhood Excellence Initiative underscores our belief that investing in leadership is a sound practice, whether building the capacity of our nonprofit organizations, developing current and emerging community leaders, or preparing our youth for the future,” said Kevin Cunningham, president, Bank of America, Connecticut.
At its annual meeting, Connecticut Legal Services honored BL Cos., a Meriden-based architecture and engineering firm. BL Cos. donated professional services to help CLS with office redesign and physical-plant planning for several CLS field offices. BL Cos. employees Greg Longo, project manager, and Steven J. Iovanna, AIA, architect, led the design efforts at CLS’ New Britain, Waterbury and Stamford offices. Richard Orr, a principal of the firm and vice president and general counsel at BL Cos., is a member of the CLS board of directors.
The boards of the New England Minority Supplier Development Council and the Connecticut Minority Supplier Development Council have agreed in principle to merge the two regional affiliates of the National Minority Supplier Development Council. The merger between these two nonprofits will result in one NMSDC council consisting of 250 corporate members and 400 certified minority-owned businesses, which have combined sales of close to $2 billion. Pending final approval by both boards, the merger will become effective Jan. 1.
The American Cancer Society saluted Whole Foods Market for supporting the 32nd annual Great American Smokeout by underwriting the cost of advertising on WVIT, NBC 30 during the month of November. “The Great American Smokeout provides an opportunity to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors to reduce the risk of cancer,” said Kathy Alexander, director of corporate relations for the American Cancer Society. “Whole Foods is a natural partner for the American Cancer Society, as we collectively work to promote healthy, nutritional alternatives in our Connecticut communities.”
Through Dec. 10, the six Connecticut Dream Dinners stores will each be asking members of their community to send in letters nominating fellow neighbors who could use help getting dinner on the table each night. Families who are dealing with an illness or a recent death, a parent who recently lost a job, a new mom who is too tired to cook, or an elderly couple who cannot drive to the store, are just a few examples of members of the community Dream Dinners would like to help. On Dec. 10 each store, including the Berlin, Branford, Glastonbury, Manchester, Cheshire and West Hartford franchises, will pick from the letters and provide six meals, 36 servings, to two local families in need.
