AUSTIN, Texas, July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- NBA All-Star
Kevin Durant surprised students
Thursday at IDEA Rundberg in Austin as part of BBVA Compass' Summer of
Opportunity initiative to pay it forward through random acts of
kindness.
The students were attending a basketball clinic held on the
school's outdoor basketball court, which debuted last year and is a
joint endeavor between the BBVA Compass Foundation and the Kevin
Durant Charity Foundation's Build It and They Will Ball court
renovation program. The clinic was led by instructors from the
Kevin Durant Youth Basketball Fantasy ProCamp, the two-day event
for Austin-area youth that also started Thursday. Both the clinic
and camp are being presented by BBVA Compass.
"It's great to come back to IDEA Rundberg today with BBVA
Compass and see how this court is being put to such good use," said
Durant. "This is a place where the students can live big
and bright and build their futures. It's an honor to be able to
give back to Austin in a way that makes a real difference in
day-to-day lives."
Durant's appearance in Austin
Thursday is his first in the city since winning the NBA Finals in
June and being named MVP of the series.
BBVA Compass' Summer of Opportunity initiative kicked off in
June with employees across the bank's footprint handing out
$25 gift cards to the people and
organizations of their choice. The bank also summoned its brand
ambassadors, including Durant, to help promote the summer-long
campaign to spread bright cheer and pay it back to the communities
it calls home.
"This event today puts an exclamation point on our commitment to
Austin," said Yolanda Davila, BBVA
Compass' Community Relations Executive for Texas and also an IDEA board member. "We are
out there every day helping families get into affordable homes,
helping families build their futures, and it's nice to have such a
phenomenal role model as Kevin come together with us during our
Summer of Opportunity to help bring attention to those efforts and
create such an amazing opportunity for the IDEA students."
The BBVA Compass Foundation, which dedicated $100,000 to the
court at IDEA Rundberg, helps carry out the bank's mission to be an
engine of opportunity by broadening access to education and
affordable housing, among other aims. The court is a vivid
illustration of both the bank's dedication to Austin and the power
of private industry to step in where other funding sources fall
short. As a charter school, IDEA Rundberg receives approximately 75
percent of its funding from state and federal sources, compared to
traditional public schools, and relies on private donations to pay
for its facilities.
IDEA's Austin Rundberg campus
serves more than 700 students in its Academy and College Prep
schools, and is part of the growing IDEA Public Schools network of
charter schools serving more than 36,000 students across
Texas. For the past 11 years, 100
percent of IDEA graduates have been accepted to college, including
Ivy League schools and other highly competitive universities.
"Our aim is to give the promising young people who walk through
our doors whatever they need to build big futures, and we are
marshaling all of the resources we can to help us achieve that,"
said IDEA Rundberg College Prep Principal Taylor Nichols. "We're proud to be able to stand
with such committed partners in BBVA Compass and Kevin Durant in the service of that goal."
To learn more about BBVA Compass, visit: www.bbvacompass.com
For more news visit: www.bbva.com and
newsroom.bbvacompass.com
About BBVA Group
BBVA is a customer-centric global
financial services group founded in 1857. The Group is the largest
financial institution in Spain and
Mexico and it has leading
franchises in South America and
the Sunbelt Region of the United
States; and it is also the leading shareholder in Garanti,
Turkey's biggest bank for market
capitalization. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth
markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable
competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of
its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion,
and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the
highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best
practices. More information about BBVA Group can be found at
bbva.com.
About BBVA Compass
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based
financial institution that operates 657 branches, including 342 in
Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 38 in Colorado and 19 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top
25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and
ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (5th). BBVA Compass has been
recognized as one of the leading small business lenders by the
Small Business Administration (SBA) and ranked 5th nationally in
the total number of SBA loans originated in fiscal year 2016.
Additional information about BBVA Compass can be found at
www.bbvacompass.com. For more BBVA Compass news, follow
@BBVACompassNews on Twitter or visit
newsroom.bbvacompass.com.
About IDEA Public Schools
IDEA Public Schools believes
that each and every child can go to college. Since 2001, IDEA
Public Schools has grown from a small school with 150 students to
the fastest-growing network of tuition-free, Pre-K-12 public
charter schools in the United
States. Currently, the network serves nearly 36,000
college-bound students in 61 schools across three Texas regions. Additionally, IDEA boasts
national rankings on The Washington Post and U.S. News & World
Report's top high schools lists and is on-track to maintain its
legacy of sending 100% of its graduates to college.
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SOURCE BBVA Compass