Bank of the West 2006 Annual Report Download - page 19

Among other notable investments and
contributions in 2006 were:
• A $50,000 sponsoring partnership
in the Denver Youth Mentoring
Collaborative, a project of the
Strategic Partnerships office of
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper,
in cooperation with Denver Public
Schools and 15 nonprofit youth
agencies that match at-risk youth
with caring adults, to recruit 1,000
citizens for mentoring relationships.
• A $10,000 grant to sponsor the third
annual Neighborhood Summit
conference on sustaining healthy
neighborhoods, for public officials
and civil society participants in
Kansas City, Omaha and Des Moines.
• Ongoing major support for Operation
Hope’s “Banking on Our Future”
financial literacy program in Los
Angeles, Oakland, Denver and
Portland public schools, including
providing volunteer banker/teachers
who explain basics of personal
finance. Funding for 2006 included
$125,000 to launch the program in
Denver.
Sponsored community events in 2006
included:
• Bank of the West Classic women’s
pro tennis tournament, part of the
U.S. Open Series that annually
draws 40,000 spectators to Stanford
University in Northern California
along with millions of television
viewers.
• San Gabriel Valley Lunar New Year
Festival, one of the largest Asian
American celebrations in the U.S.,
attracting thousands of spectators
in Southern California and broad-
cast on Asian-language media.
• Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world’s
largest outdoor rodeo and a
Wyoming tradition since 1897.
Bank of the West also sponsors the
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo,
the nation’s only African-American
touring rodeo.
• “Bank of the West Celebrates
America” features a free community
concert and fireworks show
in Omaha’s Memorial Park each
July 4th weekend.
• Collegiate athletic programs in New
Mexico, Wyoming and California.
• Arts festivals in Cherry Creek,
Colorado and Sausalito, California.
• Bank of the West Beach Games,
featuring the U.S. Open of
Surfing and world-class athletes
in volleyball, free-style motocross
and skateboarding in Southern
California. Some 350,000 spectators
attend the free week-long event.
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“We are committed to better understand the impact that we have on
the communities where our customers and employees live and work.
Bank of the West made a commitment to the members of the Hopi
Tribe in Arizona by providing a low interest loan to the Hopi Credit
Association to fund consumer loans in a community that has no
banking institution within 100 miles of its borders. This epitomizes
the human side of banking.”
-Bank of the West Relationship Banking Team
Eric Sexton, Tolleson, AZ and Rick Yee, Walnut Creek, CA