Bank of America $22,000 Goes for Diversity Outreach

By Liz Caldwell

 
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation chose to donate $22,000 to the Center for Diversity Affairs. Pictured left to right – Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D.; Patricia Edgerson; Mariah Adams; Billy Thomas, M.D.; Bonsa Nemera; Heather Albright; Donnie Cook and Jazmin Martin

 

July 17, 2014 | A $22,000 donation received this month from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will support outreach programs at UAMS to help recruit and retain minority students to health care fields.

For the past three years, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation has donated money to support the UAMS Center for Diversity Affairs (CDA). The $22,000 donation the foundation made on July 8 will help support CDA outreach programs for undergraduate and K-12 academic enrichment programs.

“We feel very blessed by the donation this year and in past years,” said Jeanne Heard, M.D., Ph.D., UAMS provost. “This helps us fulfill our mission to create new and diverse work force in the care of Arkansans.”

Bank of America has had a long-standing relationship with UAMS having generously donated more than $300,000 total to UAMS in recent years. It donates to 60 organizations statewide and gives about $600,000 per calendar year.

The money will specifically help the Bridging the Gap program that is for students in ninth through 12th grades with a science, technology, engineering and mathematics focus. The six-week program also teaches students test-taking skills in addition to increasing their knowledge base. Students from the program were at the presentation to talk about their experiences and the different activities they participated in during the program.

Arkansas state president of Bank of America Donnie Cook and Heather Albright also of Bank of America presented the check to Billy Thomas, M.D., vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion; Patricia Edgerson, CDA director of outreach; Heard; and students. Then, Edgerson and the students presented Cook with a card that the students in the program made and signed.

“It is our pleasure to be a part of this,” Cook said. “We are grateful for this active partnership with UAMS.”

The CDA has more than nine outreach programs to help recruit and retain students who represent minority groups. “We want our student body to represent the diversity of Arkansas,” Heard said. “The mission of the CDA is to encourage underrepresented groups to think about health careers.”

Bank of America has also given support for programs that serve low-to-moderate income populations at the UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging and Department of Family and Preventive Medicine in the College of Medicine.