First National Bank awards community development grants

YANKTON — First National Bank has awarded a total of $956,000 in community development grants to 51 organizations in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and South Dakota, announced Alec Gorynski, Vice President, Community Development and Corporate Philanthropy.
South Dakota organizations who received grant funds were Cornerstones Career Learning Center of Huron, which got a $10,000 award to continue its work in supporing adult basic education, GED prep and testing, workforce preparedness and English language programs.

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, based in Sioux Falls, was granted $15,000 to support financial education workshops and credit counseling in Yankton, Mitchell and Huron.
The grants, which support programs focused on educated workforce initiatives that will help strengthen individual core competencies and lead to improving personal economic self-sufficiency, mark the bank’s final disbursement of grant funding for the year. First National Bank awarded a total of $1,870,000 in community development grants in 2018 to 98 organizations across its seven-state service area.  
“At First National Bank, we believe that an individual’s life and job skills have a direct correlation to their employment status and overall financial wellness,” said Gorynski.  “Our Community Development Grant program is dedicated to improving economic self-sufficiency within all of the communities we call home by partnering with community organizations who provide education, training and life-skills improvement that helps individuals gain employment, advance their careers and improve their financial well-being.”
Grants supporting Educated Workforce initiatives will enable a projected 1,400 individuals in South Dakota to move closer to self-sufficiency.