BRIDGEPORT — An initiative that aims to ensure the leadership of local nonprofits is made up of a diverse group of residents who reflect the communities that they serve has been given a financial boost.
M&T Bank announced this week that it has provided philanthropic support to the SEAT (Skill, Educate, Act, Transform) Program, a project designed to equip residents from minority communities with the skills and confidence to serve on nonprofit boards.
The support, which includes $10,000 in funding and meeting space at the Bridgeport Center, the bank’s regional headquarters, allowed the program to enroll a new class in its 10-week course, according to Kim Bianca Williams, a training consultant who oversees the program.
“We are extremely grateful for M&T’s generous support,” Williams said. “Their contributions to this program will help us to build capacity and continue to train residents to serve and expand BIPOC representation on boards for nonprofit organizations that are doing crucial work in our community.”
Since launching in 2021, the program has trained a total of 16 residents in Bridgeport and Waterbury during three separate sessions. Seven of those graduates have since been named to the boards of local nonprofits such as KEYS, which offers music lessons to children who cannot afford lessons, and the Center for Family Justice.
“We found an excellent candidate whose Board SEAT training has enabled her to add value to our board from Day One,” Kathy Maiolo, the chairperson of the center’s board, said in a statement on the program’s website. “She has brought enthusiasm, professionalism and perspective to our board of directors.”
Williams said the program aims to provide participants with a wide range of helpful skills and crucial information about serving on a board, including the ins and outs of nonprofit structures, board governance and how to work alongside an organization’s executive staff.
“I would say approximately 75 percent of our program participants have had no board experience at all,” Williams said. “So this is a critical opportunity, not only for them to gain a new skill, but be able to better impact the community that they live in.”
Around 78 percent of nonprofit board members are white, according to a 2021 report from BoardSource, an organization that tracks and analyzes trends in nonprofit board leadership. The study found that just 10 percent of members are Black and five percent are Hispanic.
The disparities are even greater among the leadership of nonprofit boards. About 83 percent of board chairs are white, while just 6 percent are Black and 5 percent are Hispanic, according to the BoardSource report.
The donation from M&T is the latest in a flurry of racial equity-focused philanthropy from the Buffalo, N.Y.-based company. Last year, after acquiring the Bridgeport-based People’s United Bank for $8.3 billion, the bank announced the creation of a new fund to support lower-income communities and underrepresented groups.
The bank has pledged to use the fund, dubbed the Amplify Fund, to provide $25 million to organizations in Connecticut and across the northeast. A spokesperson for the company, however, said the funding offered to SEAT came from a separate but similar philanthropic initiative.
“M&T Bank is committed to partnering with communities to understand the challenges they face and their opportunities for growth so we can help every town and city we serve reach its fullest potential,” Frank Micalizzi, M&T’s head of Connecticut commercial banking and Bridgeport regional president, said in a statement. “DEI is foundational to that work, and we are proud to support the SEAT Program here in Bridgeport.”
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