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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 29, 2009
SquashSmarts
named Champion
in Action®
for work
in youth programming
Organization receives $25,000 grant and other
benefits
   
 
Citzens Bank President Dan Fitzpatrick and NBC 10 General Manage Dennis Bianchi present the
2009 Champion In Action award to
SquashSmarts Board President Lisa Stokes and
Executive Director Stephen Gregg. Students celebrate live on NBC’s
The 10! Show
PHILADELPHIA
– Four of the
region’s foremost corporate organizations announced today that
SquashSmarts is the latest nonprofit to be named a Champion in Action®. SquashSmarts received the Champion in Action recognition
because of its effective after-school programming that combines the sport
of squash with academic tutoring and leadership instruction for
under-served urban youth. As a Champion
in Action, SquashSmarts will receive a $25,000 grant, media coverage,
and extensive promotional and volunteer support over the next three months.
Champions in Action is an innovative program
that provides various forms of support for small nonprofit organizations in
recognition of their contributions to communities throughout the
five-county Philadelphia
area. Since the program’s inception in 2003, 20 Champions have been
selected including today’s announcement.
“Citizens
Bank is pleased to join NBC 10, Greater Philadelphia Cares, The
Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and Philly.com in naming SquashSmarts
as our new Champion in Action,” said Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, Citizens
Bank President and CEO for Eastern Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and Delaware.
“Founded in 2001, SquashSmarts has already established a record of
success among potentially ‘at risk’ inner city youth through
its intensive curriculum of academic and athletic achievement, self-esteem,
teamwork and leadership skills. Its program is successful and distinctive,
in large part, because it begins with middle-school students and continues
over the course of seven years.”
“NBC
10 is proud to be a partner with the Champions
in Action program,” said Dennis Bianchi, President and General
Manager of NBC 10. “Strong partnerships and programs such as this
allow us to demonstrate our community commitment, and give us the chance to
thank local nonprofits, such as SquashSmarts, that do so much good work in
communities across our region. SquashSmarts is already working with 60
students three days a week throughout the year and expects to serve more
than 120 students by 2012.”
“Beginning
in the 6th grade, 20 new students are recruited each year on the
basis of their commitment to the program, not their athletic or academic
ability,” said Carol Dooling, Director of Communications and
Partnerships at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and
philly.com. “SquashSmarts has been hugely successful in its goal
of 100-percent matriculation and on-time graduation from middle school to
high school and enrollment in college.”
Champions
in Action: SquashSmarts
“Volunteer support is
essential to an organization such as SquashSmarts ” said Renee
Archawski, Executive Director of Greater Philadelphia Cares. “Greater
Philadelphia Cares will be able to help
identify community-service projects for the students and assist in
recruiting additional adult mentors to support SquashSmarts’
mission.”
SquashSmarts Executive Director Stephen Gregg
and his staff learned that the nonprofit was selected as a Champion in Action during a surprise
segment of the 10! Show on NBC 10. As a Champion
in Action, SquashSmarts will
receive:
·
A $25,000 contribution in
unrestricted funds from the Citizens Bank Foundation.
·
Media coverage from NBC 10,
including public service announcements and profiles.
·
Advertising space in The Philadelphia
Inquirer, Philadelphia
Daily News and on Philly.com to promote both the program and the
organization.
·
Volunteer support from
Citizens Bank, NBC 10 and Greater Philadelphia Cares.
·
Extensive public relations
support.
·
Promotional support,
highlighting the Champion in Action
in all Citizens Bank branches.
·
Consulting and
implementation services, provided by Greater Philadelphia Cares, to
leverage volunteer support that enhances impact.
Applications are still being
sought for additional Champions in
Action with the following topics and deadlines: Financial Literacy,
April 24, 2009 and Community Arts, July 17, 2009. In April, a Champion in Action will be announced
for a nonprofit working in the area of housing.
About Citizens
Bank of Pennsylvania
Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania
is a state-chartered bank with dual headquarters in Pittsburgh
and Philadelphia.
It has approximately 400 branches and more than 690 ATMs throughout Pennsylvania. It
also operates 15 retail branches and 37 ATMs in southern New
Jersey and a commercial loan office in Virginia. It is a subsidiary of
Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $161 billion commercial bank holding
company headquartered in Providence,
R.I.
Citizens
Financial Group, through its subsidiaries, has more
than 1,600 branches, 3,500 ATMs and 24,000 employees.
CFG’s two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank
of Pennsylvania.
They operate a 13-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware,
Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island and Vermont,
and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan
and Ohio.
CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. It is
one of the 10 largest commercial banking companies in the United States ranked by assets
and deposits. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc).
CFG’s Web site is citizensbank.com.
About NBC 10
NBC 10, one of 10 Owned
& Operated NBC television stations, is located in Bala
Cynwyd, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. Millions
of viewers throughout Greater Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, South Jersey and
Delaware tune into NBC 10 everyday for the most up-to-date news, weather,
sports, consumer, health and traffic reports. NBC 10’s 5 p.m. news ─
“All That & More” ─ is the only fully interactive news
program in the region. Viewers also tune in daily to watch “The 10!
Show,” an upbeat, one-hour lifestyle and entertainment show featuring
local, national and internationally known celebrities. The program airs
Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Recognized as the No. 1 Web site
(www.nbcphiladelphia.com) in the top 50 markets, NBCphiladelphia.com
received the prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award.
About Philadelphia Media
Holdings
Philadelphia Media
Holdings, LLC, is the leading media company in the Philadelphia region. Privately held and
locally owned, PMH is the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News,
philly.com, related online products and several community newspapers. With
almost one million people reading The Inquirer each day, and 1.6 million on
Sundays, The Inquirer is the region’s most-read daily newspaper.
Together with the Daily News, the No. 1 tab newspaper in the region, which
reaches 500,000 readers each week, and philly.com, the No. 1 Web site in
the region, Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC, reaches almost 2 million
people each day.
About Greater Philadelphia
Cares
An award-winning nonprofit, Greater
Philadelphia Cares is committed to empowering individuals to realize their
ability to contribute to the community in meaningful ways. By providing a
variety of flexible, tangible volunteer opportunities, Greater Philadelphia
Cares is continuously enhancing the ability for volunteers to serve the
community.
About SquashSmarts
SquashSmarts combines the sport of squash with
academic tutoring and mentoring of under-served, urban youth in order to
develop self-esteem and discipline through academic, athletic and personal
achievement. SquashSmarts Web site is www.squashsmarts.org.
Press
Release Contacts
Citizens Bank Sylvia T. Bronner, Senior Vice President
267-671-1079
NBC 10 Eva Blackwell, Publicist
610-668-5790
Philadelphia Inquirer Carol
Dooling, Director of Communications & Partnerships 215-854-4312
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