LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CIT Bank,
N.A., (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender), and its Southern California retail bank division
OneWest Bank, today announced that it will provide a $1.25 million grant over five years to the
University of Southern California
(USC) Cecil Murray Center for Community
Engagement (the Murray Center). The grant supports a new financial
fitness program that will offer financial literacy training to
thousands of community leaders with the goal of promoting economic
development in low- to moderate-income Los Angeles neighborhoods.
Over the course of five years, the Murray Center will
partner with churches to train 6,000 individuals in
personal financial management and small business development,
including credit remediation, savings and investments, and
homeownership. Staff from the Murray Center, along with
volunteer CIT bankers and financial professionals, will instruct
the workshops.
"Urban communities suffer from the poverty of money, safety, and
most of all opportunity. CIT/OneWest Bank is giving people in these
often overlooked communities the chance to gain financial
capabilities," said Mark Whitlock,
executive director of the Murray Center at USC. "With CIT's generous support, the Murray
Center will be able to help religious leaders and their
constituents gain knowledge and resources for financial fitness,
which will transform communities into better places to live, work,
and worship."
Steve Solk, president, CIT consumer banking, said, "Developing
strong partnerships with organizations such as the Murray Center
helps us serve community needs where we do business, using our
collective networks and expertise. We're pleased to launch this new
program with the Murray Center and make a long term commitment to
helping our communities prosper."
Rick Lieber, senior vice
president, CIT, stated, "We're focused on building pathways to
economic sustainability by addressing the issues of financial
education and community development. Through our philanthropic
efforts and the power of our employee volunteers, we're working to
create thriving economies and a better future for us all."
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About CIT
Founded in 1908, CIT (NYSE: CIT) is a
financial holding company with more than $65
billion in assets. Its principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank,
N.A., (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender) has more than
$30 billion of deposits and more than
$40 billion of assets. It provides
financing, leasing and advisory services principally to middle
market companies across a wide variety of industries primarily in
North America, and equipment
financing and leasing solutions to the transportation sector. It
also offers products and services to consumers through its Internet
bank franchise and a network of retail branches in Southern California, operating as OneWest
Bank, a division of CIT Bank, N.A. cit.com
About USC Cecil Murray Center for
Community Engagement
The Cecil Murray Center for Community
Engagement equips faith leaders to transform low-income
neighborhoods in Southern
California. Through training sessions for clergy and lay
leaders, the center addresses civic engagement and economic
opportunity, areas that are essential to the health of underserved
communities. The Murray Center is a component of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. As
pastor of First AME Church in Los
Angeles, Rev. Cecil Murray
served as an essential link between the community and civil
authorities during the 1992 civil unrest. He and Rev. Mark Whitlock, now executive director of the
Murray Center, founded FAME Renaissance, the economic
development arm of FAME Church, which created more than 4,000 jobs
in South Los Angeles. After
retiring from FAME, Rev. Murray join the faculty of the religion
department at University of Southern
California, where he has passed on the "Murray Method"
of faith and civic leadership to hundreds of community leaders.
crcc.usc.edu/murraycenter
CIT MEDIA RELATIONS:
Matt Klein
Director
(973) 597-2020
Matt.Klein@cit.com
USC CECIL MURRAY CENTER
FOR
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MEDIA
RELATIONS:
Megan Sweas
Director of Communications
213-743-1611
sweas@usc.edu
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SOURCE CIT Bank, N.A.