PITTSBURGH, June 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The PNC
Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC) today announced
a commitment of more than $1
billion to help end systemic racism and support economic
empowerment of African Americans and low- and moderate-income
communities.
"We are living in one of the most important civil rights
movements of our time. Each of us has a role to play in combatting
racism and discrimination, and PNC is committed to driving real
change in areas in which we can make the greatest impact," said
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer William S. Demchak.
PNC has a long history of supporting economic empowerment
efforts. The company has earned an "Outstanding" rating under the
Community Reinvestment Act since those examinations began more than
40 years ago, and has been nationally recognized for the impact of
PNC Grow Up Great®, a bilingual multi-year initiative
launched in 2004 that helps prepare children from birth to age 5
for success in school and life, with a particular emphasis on
helping children, families and others in diverse and low- and
moderate-income neighborhoods.
PNC's expanded commitment, announced today, will provide more
than $50 million in additional
charitable support for national and local work that will help
eliminate systemic racism and promote social justice; expand
financial education and workforce development initiatives; and
enhance low-income neighborhood revitalization and affordable
housing, with funding allocation led by the PNC Foundation Board of
Directors, PNC's Regional Presidents and Community Development
Banking teams.
PNC's commitment also includes more than $1 billion in community development financing and
capital for neighborhood revitalization, consumers and small
businesses; enhancements to PNC's existing matching gift program to
include support for qualifying non-profit organizations that
support economic empowerment and social justice educational
efforts; and a commitment to fully engage PNC employees in support
of qualifying social justice and economic empowerment non-profits
through volunteerism, with up to 40 hours paid time annually off to
do so.
"This is about much more than writing a check. This is about PNC
doing what it does well – putting our capital to work in the
communities we serve and providing innovation through products and
services, with a special focus on helping African Americans buy
homes, which we recognize is an important factor in wealth
accumulation," Demchak said. "We are also going to make a positive
impact through employee volunteerism. We've seen incredible success
from our employee volunteerism through our Grow Up Great program,
and that's what we're going to do here as well.
"Today's announcement is just one step toward PNC furthering its
commitments and building on the meaningful work that the company
has done in this space," Demchak said. "Diversity and Inclusion are
fundamental tenets of PNC's culture. We are also committed to an
intensified focus on the recruitment, retention and advancement of
African American talent; a more comprehensive and sustained effort
to create a more inclusive culture at PNC; and a focus on internal
systems to improve racial equality.
"Within our own company, we are having more candid, transparent
and quite frankly, more difficult conversations about the
challenges facing our black colleagues and customers and what we
must do to change that," he said. "We have a responsibility to act
– a responsibility to each other, our clients, communities and
shareholders. We need to seize this moment and use our voices, our
influence and our resources to address racism, discrimination,
bigotry, bias and economic and health disparities that plague our
country."
Demchak said this includes recognizing the role that democracy
plays in the fight for social justice, citing PNC's contribution
earlier this month of $200,000 to the
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in support of the
organization's work to ensure voting access for all communities,
particularly African Americans and other voters of color; and PNC's
role as a signatory to Time to Vote – a nonpartisan coalition of
U.S. companies working to increase voter participation.
The PNC Foundation, which receives its principal funding from
The PNC Financial Services Group, actively supports organizations
that provide services for the benefit of communities in which it
has a significant presence. The foundation focuses its
philanthropic mission on early childhood education and community
and economic development, which includes the arts and culture.
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is one of the largest
diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its
customers and communities for strong relationships and local
delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of
lending products; specialized services for corporations and
government entities, including corporate banking, real estate
finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset
management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.
CONTACT:
Marcey Zwiebel
(412) 762-4550
media.relations@pnc.com
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SOURCE The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.