Neighbor News
First Bank Participates In Boys2men Program In Santa Ana
Women Helping Women annual event helps young men in foster care find empowerment
To help young men emancipating from Foster Care, First Bank participated in the Women Helping Women (WHW) Annual Boys2Men event on May 20 in Santa Ana, California.
In partnership with the Orangewood Foundation, 30 young men recently transitioning from foster care took part in a day of empowerment that included breakfast, inspirational presentations, an interactive employment readiness workshop and mock interviews.
Highlighting the event was the time each young man spent with a volunteer executive who acted as a personal stylist and mentor for the day while helping them to select a new suit and all the accessories. Each young man also received a grooming kit.
Find out what's happening in Fountain Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Five employers came to the catered networking lunch armed with available jobs: First Bank, Eastridge Workforce Solutions, Apartment Management Consultants, Allied Universal Security and MVP Staffing.
The goal of the Boys2Men event is to give the young men the opportunity to interact with successful businessmen and interview with potential employers. In California, 65 percent of foster youth emancipate without a place to live, 51 percent are unemployed within two to four years of emancipation and 70 percent of all state prison inmates were in foster care.
Find out what's happening in Fountain Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
WHW’s Boys2Men event was created to assist at-risk youth by providing tools, skills and resources to assist them in obtaining gainful employment during a critical point in their lives.
Women Helping Women is a non-profit organization with the mission of providing the unemployed the skills and resources they need to get and keep a good job.
First Bank firstbanks.com is one of the largest privately owned banks in the country with $6.1 billion in assets and over 100 locations in California, Missouri, and Illinois.
# # #
Photo Captions:
Picture 1 – From left: Brenda Walters, WHW Program Manager – Education, Sophak Ok, First Bank Westminster Branch Manager, and Trina Fleming, WHW Chief Operating Officer.
Picture 2 – The annual event also included mock job interviews.
Picture 3 – Each young man received help in selecting a new suit with all the accessories.