$750,000 Investment from KeyBank to Create New Program at Case Western Reserve University to Address Issues Involving Diversity, the Digital Workforce and More Equitable Neighborhoods

KeyBank is investing $750,000 to create a new program at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) that will help address issues on diversity, the digital workforce and more equitable neighborhoods. This transformative grant is part of KeyBank’s $40 billion National Community Benefits Plan and is symbolic of the bank’s longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The KeyBank Partnership for Equity through Education and Community Impact at CWRU program will help to address issues on diversity, the digital workforce, and more equitable neighborhoods. 

“We are proud to partner with Case Western Reserve University as they address systemic barriers many students in Cleveland face each day,” said Timothy Burke, KeyBank Northeast Ohio Market President. “The KeyBank Partnership for Equity through Education and Community Impact is an innovative program that will provide young people in Cleveland with opportunity, guidance and bright futures.”

"We deeply appreciate KeyBank's support for promising high school students in Cleveland and East Cleveland," Case Western Reserve President Eric W. Kaler said, "as well as their engagement with our National Center for Mixed-Income Communities. These investments in local young people and Cleveland neighborhoods benefits our entire community."

The Partnership will support three key areas:

• KeyBank Scholarships will be provided to students, studying business, applied mathematics, computer science or data science. Students from CMSD, College Now, and Say Yes will be given preference in awarding these scholarships. 
  
• KeyBank Envoys: This 10+ year program takes high potential, inner city high school students, who will work with CWRU for 3 years (10-12 grades). The students coming from Cleveland and East Cleveland will receive a stipend to mitigate the need to get a job, carrying out research in conjunction with a PhD student.  100% of the participants have gone to college, and 90% matriculation into STEM majors.
  
• National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities (NIMC): NIMC is a research center that helps promote urban equity and inclusion by supporting strategic investments in low and moderate-income neighborhoods and promoting policies that support social and economic mobility among low and moderate-income populations in revitalizing communities. NIMC has worked intensively in several neighborhoods across Cleveland and has engaged practitioners and policymakers in more than a dozen U.S. cities, including the KeyBank markets of Buffalo, Denver, Pittsburgh, Portland and Seattle. Outcomes include refining city and organizational neighborhood revitalization strategies, shaping government and organizational policy, and increasing organizational and individual capacity.  Focus for this program will be on the Cleveland neighborhoods of Buckeye/Woodhill and Slavic Village which are among the poorest neighborhoods in Cleveland.
  
  

Along with the financial investment and as a part of the Partnership for Equity, Case Western Reserve will work with KeyBank to promote opportunities for Key employees to meet and mentor students in the program and work in the neighborhoods supported by NIMC in Cleveland and beyond.  There will be opportunities for Key leaders to provide guest lectures and to introduce the students to Key’s human resource groups which help them see a pathway forward toward a career.