BankWork$® Celebrates Endorsement by Texas Bankers Association, Partnership to Help Expand BankWork$ Across Texas

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BankWork$, a signature program of the Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation and the national nonprofit organization CareerWork$®, is celebrating the endorsement by the Texas Bankers Association and its partnership to help expand the program across Texas in the coming years.  

The Texas Bankers Foundation, the charitable arm of the Texas Bankers Association, has also committed $5,000 to Dallas College’s BankWork$ program, to support the program’s expansion to its Richland campus in Fall 2021. 

You can also find more information about this announcement on the Texas Bankers Association website. 

“We train for success in the financial industry and beyond, and we are excited to be partnering with the Texas Bankers Association to bring our free career training program to more communities across Texas,” said Sherry Cromett, President of CareerWork$. “Our BankWork$ program teaches hard and soft skills needed to succeed in banking and engages employers throughout the program to provide industry insight and integrated recruitment opportunities. We work in communities where we can have the greatest impact and partner with local workforce development organizations, banks, and financial institutions to match great hires with great jobs.”     

Dallas College BankWork$ Instructor Elishima Myles (center) with her BankWork$ students.

“BankWork$ is an outstanding program that aligns with many important TBA objectives – including access to talent for our member banks, increasing diversity and inclusion within our workforce and, ultimately, elevating the socioeconomic well-being of local communities across the state,” said Brent Cox, vice president of member relations at the Texas Bankers Association. “Our next step in partnering with CareerWork$ will focus on expanding the BankWork$ program to a second training center in Dallas, establishing a Houston campus and expanding into additional cities across Texas.” 

Operating in 13 cities around the country, BankWork$® helps young adults from low-income communities build meaningful careers in banking, through a free, eight-week career training, placement assistance, and ongoing coaching. Since the program’s inception, more than 3,600 graduates have secured entry-level positions with career potential across the country. Seventy-two percent of graduates remain employed twelve months after they are hired. More than half of BankWork$ students are bilingual and 82 percent of its graduates are people of color.   

Three Ways CareerWork$ Adapted to Meet the Challenge of the COVID Pandemic and Continue Our Impact

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Over the past 18 months, organizations across the country navigated the rapid changes of the pandemic. CareerWork$ worked closely with partners around the country to adapt, pivot, and pivot again—and as a result, we’re still marking milestones like graduations and job placements among our graduates.  

Here are three ways we adapted and continued our impact during the pandemic: 

A New Program: CareerWork$ Ready: Early in the pandemic, we launched a new job readiness program, CareerWork$® Ready, a condensed, three-week program designed for individuals seeking their first job, as well as those who are looking to re-enter the workforce., in a broad range of industries. We provide community organizations with the curricula they need to offer virtual or in-person training for job seekers in underserved communities. The program leverages the curricula from our proven BankWork$® and CareerWork$® Medical programs and includes one-on-one sessions and group trainings with a job coach, creating a personalized experience in real time, and standing out from many other pre-recorded programs. 

Making Classes Digital: As we launched CareerWork$ Ready online, we also digitized our BankWork$ and CareerWork$ Medical® curricula, making it possible for our training partners to offer courses through hybrid models while complying with public health guidelines. Moving the curriculum content online meant students also gained digital skills and practiced holding virtual meetings and online collaboration tools—skills and experience necessary in the “new normal” for many careers. 

Making Graduations and Job Fairs Digital: Ask any graduate, or any employer—our graduations and job fairs, where each graduate interviews with each employer partner, is part of what makes CareerWork$ so impactful. We celebrate the hard work and dedication of participants, and they receive far more personal attention than they might during a standard job fair or online application process. During the pandemic, we adapted to ensure we could continue our graduations and jobs fairs by pivoting to a virtual model; immediately following the virtual graduation events, our graduates met 1:1 virtually with employers in their region for job interviews. As we look to the future, we are hopeful and energized for what’s next – especially as we recently hit an important milestone: 4,000 graduates placed into jobs with career growth potential.   

Thanks to these steps and collaboration with our training partners around the country, CareerWork$ is poised for our next phase of growth— expanding with new partners, new staff, potential for new training programs, and new ideas for the future. Our work has never felt more vital, and as the pandemic has highlighted the long-standing inequities for BIPOC community members, the need for our last-mile training programs has never been so clear. 

Graduate Spotlight: Emily Duong: From “No Direction” to A BankWork$ Class to A Growing Career with Bank of America

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After immigrating to the United States with her family, Minh (Emily) Duong’s career path was unclear.  

For a while, she worked part-time in retail. But Emily wanted a more meaningful career.  

“After I came to the US with my family, I had no direction,” she recalls. “I did not know to build a career plan. In the darkest time, I came across the BankWork$ program.” 

Emily had found the BankWork$ program with our Bay Area partners, Fremont Adult and Continuing Education. 

“It was the opportunity I was looking for, so I could not let it slip away.” 

In April 2018, Emily began our free, eight-week BankWork$ training program. It was the first all-female class BankWork$ class in the history of the Bay Area program, “a circle of support, friendship and sisterhood to rely on,”as Emily describes it. 

Emily experienced our program that provides the hard and soft skills they need for entry-level roles in banking, a curriculum that was co-developed by employers and community-serving organizations to ensure success. Emily graduated from the BankWork$ program that June. The youngest in her class, her peers chose her to be the class graduation speaker.  

After graduating, Emily interviewed for open roles with our partner banks partners. She soon received two offers, and she accepted a position with Bank of America as a part-time teller. Within the first six weeks, Emily was promoted to a full-time teller role. She was also recognized for her excellent customer service skills.  

In 2019, Emily was promoted to a Lead Teller role and continues to receive accolades for her top performance in her new career with Bank of America.   

“Regardless of which banking positions you would like to apply to later, after completing this short-term program, you are well equipped with the most powerful tool, customer service skills, which helps differentiate you from the crowd,” says Emily. “I was so grateful for every lesson from the BankWork$ program.” 

Today, nearly two years into her career in financial services, Emily’s advice to her fellow BankWork$ students is simple: 

“Be confident in your abilities and do not give up…If I can do it, then, yes, you can make it through as well.” 

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Graduate Spotlight: Akaila Powell on Finding a “Good Job Fit” and A New Career with Bank of America

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Before her career in financial services, Greater Phoenix resident Akaila Powell had worked in hospitality, as a pre-k teacher, and as a family respite provider. 

But she was ready for a change. It was then that a friend who had worked in financial services recommended she explore opportunities in the industry. 

During an online job search, Akaila came across a posting advertising the BankWork$ program offered by training partner A New Leaf.   

Akaila applied for the program and completed the eight-week course in the spring of the 2017. 

What was her BankWork$ experience like?  

“The instructors were fun, and everybody was professional and knowledgeable and made you feel comfortable.” 

BankWork$ offers a job fair for graduates immediately after graduation where students interview with employers on the spot. Akaila knew she wanted to work for Bank of America, and she did well in her interview; she soon received an offer.  

Since then, she has worked in a variety of roles at Bank of America, including Collections, Claims, and the Pre-Paid Debit department. 

For Akaila, her career path is a testament to the BankWork$ program. 

“BankWork$ gives you a lot of confidence to be able to take on different roles and want to branch out and see what’s out there. They’re great at helping you identify what you’re good at.” 

And her advice for people considering the BankWork$ program? 

“I literally recommend it to everybody. It helped me be prepared to find a good job fit.” 

Employer Partner Spotlight: Harborstone Credit Union: “We want our branches to reflect our communities.”

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Our national and local employer partners have always been instrumental in the development of the BankWork$ program and actively support its expansion. They fund and participate in BankWork$ trainings and ensure that participants receive current, relevant, and industry-leading information.

Every day and coast-to-coast, we work with financial services partners to expand our reach.

Harborstone Credit Union is one of them. Based in Tacoma, Washington, Harborstone is a member-owned, not-for-profit financial organization with 14 branches across the Puget Sound region.

Since 2012, Harborstone has been a strong BankWork$ employer and partner working with our local training partners, Career Path Services, Inc. and YWCA Seattle | King | Snohomish. For Harborstone, being a partner has meant not just supporting the program’s operations, but “being an active participant with individual cohorts,” says Connor Lewis, Harborstone’s VP Talent Management and Development. Harborstone brings in leaders and high performers from across the organization to do mock interviews with BankWork$ students. Immediately following the interview, they provide each student feedback on ways to improve and strengths to highlight in future interviews. And they have a Human Resources representative at every graduation.

Since 2018, Harborstone has hired 10 BankWork$ graduates in King and Pierce Counties.

Harborstone recruits aggressively from the BankWork$ program for two key reasons, says Lewis: The organization’s need for knowledgeable team members, and its focus on advancing equity.

BankWork$ students have “a skill set and knowledge set that is immediately applicable to what we do.” Hiring recent BankWork$ graduates allows Harborstone to “recruit talent with baseline knowledge that we can build upon. We pride ourselves on having the most knowledgeable team members.”

At the same time, its shared value of equity also drives its support of BankWork$.

BankWork$ graduates are a “diverse group of people that enriches the experience within our credit union and helps us connect with the communities we serve. We want our branches to reflect our communities,” says Lewis. “We want to make sure that through our lens of financial empowerment, we can level the playing field.”

Through its partnership with BankWork$, Harborstone can “work with and build relationships with people we may not otherwise get to work with.”

Lewis encourages all financial services partners to find ways to actively partner with the cohorts.

“Look where you can add value, and where you can help and serve,” like sharing best practices and real-life application of what students learn in their eight-week program.

And once you do hire a BankWork$ student, find ways to stay in touch with them and check in regularly to develop an ongoing coaching process to support their journey in their new career.

“Their skills and experiences make us stronger, and we want them to succeed.”

“I absolutely love my new career”: Graduate Jennette Wooley on How BankWork$ Opened Doors to Opportunity

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To tell my story, I have to start with where I was 12 years ago. I was a person who was lost and just starting my recovery process from addiction. I was given a second chance at Goodwill. I took that opportunity, starting as a Sales Associate and worked hard to become a Store Manager of an Outlet Store. My story with the BankWork$ program starts when I made the decision to leave my 11-year career at Goodwill, not because I disliked my job, but because I loved my job. I knew I had to go to grow to become a better me. 

In January 2020, I was in a Goodwill manager’s meeting and  learned about the BankWork$ program. I felt this ping inside of me and wondered if this program was for me. A few weeks later, I interviewed a candidate for a Sales Associate position at Goodwill. The candidate brought her daughter to translate and through the conversation, I found out her daughter was a BankWork$ graduate. I was excited to learn more. She told me about the job fair at the end of the program and how BankWork$ continues support far beyond graduation from the program. That night, I researched about the program. I learned that a banking career would allow me to do what I love; working with people and, even better, a college degree wasn’t a requirement to launch a career in banking. BankWork$ is a program that helps people find careers,not just another job.  

Then, March 2020 became a time of uncertainty in the world. Through this uncertainty, I was afraid but most of all I was given courage to continue with my dream to change my life and my career.  

I started in the BankWork$ program in July 2020. Because of COVID-19, our class looked different than all the prior sessions; the class size was smaller, and we had to wear masks and socially distance. Those eight weeks of class work and homework prepared me for a career. I learned the fundamentals of banking such as regulations, managing a cash drawer in a banking environment, and bank products and services.  

When I would feel my most vulnerable and scared, the BankWork$ team would step in to support me, provide guidance and assure me that I had what it would take to find placement in the job I was meant to have. I remember the day I applied for a position with Academy Bank.  When I was given the opportunity to talk with the hiring manager, we had a 30 minute interview. y the end of the conversation, I had an offer with an organization I felt valued me and offered endless opportunities.  When I received my offer letter I was shocked, scared, and excited all at the same time. I called my instructor and remember leaving her a message of excitement and happiness. I was crying and remember thinking “They believe in me; I believe in me!”

I started my banking career in October 2020 as a part time teller. I absolutely love my new career; all the learning, getting to know people, the laughs and the feelings of pride. Every time I walk away from my computer at work, I hear my BankWork$ instructors in my head telling me to get a routine and demonstrating the motion of pulling on two cash drawers and locking the computer! I see this vision daily. It’s true that BankWork$ won’t abandon you. They have been here every step of the way.

Since starting with Academy Bank, I have already moved from part time to a full time Universal Banker position with a raise in pay.  I mentioned earlier that I had researched the BankWork$ program before applying.  What I didn’t find through my research was that this program would change me as a person. That I’d have more love in my heart and have a better perspective on what life is about. ThatI would have to dig deep into my heart and believe in myself and become vulnerable to the process that has formed me today.  Because of BankWork$, I’m truly a better person.