Santander Holdings USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A., recently announced a $2.5 million three-year philanthropic commitment to City Year, a member of the AmeriCorps network supporting diverse public schools in the U.S. and one of its long-standing community partners.

From the Hand of the Greatest Male Grand Slam Winner of All Time

The financial organization invited world sports superstar and Santander ambassador, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, to a special event in New York to launch this new fund, with the participation of 25 selected high school students from the City Year supported schools in East Harlem and South Bronx.

Tim Wennes, Santander US CEO, stated:

We are proud to announce this new commitment today as we deepen our decade-long relationship with City Year, helping them carry out their mission of supporting students.

Resources for Educational Programs

This Santander U.S. initiative will provide $1 million in funding for City Year's Whole School, Whole Child program, which provides academic tutoring, coaching, extracurricular activities and other resources to students in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Miami and Providence.

Likewise, the entity, through the Santander Consumer USA Inc. Foundation, will also allocate $1.5 million over three years to support City Year Dallas.

“Santander’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper. This commitment to City Year is another demonstration in how we live out that purpose by supporting organizations that make a meaningful difference in the communities where we work each day to serve our five million customers,” added Wennes.

More Benefits 

Additionally, more than 1,000 members of City Year Corps will take part in inclusion and economic education programs, as well as personalized advice from Operation HOPE, a non-profit provider of financial education programs, which will allow them to obtain a monetary award of $1,000 upon completion of programming.

Since 2011, Santander's contributions to City Year have reached nearly $5 million, resources with which the organization has supported its work in six cities and that have made it possible to strengthen the volunteering of Santander employees and its senior leaders who form part of the local boards of directors.

“The partnership between City Year New York and Santander helps ensure that systemically under-resourced students and schools across New York City have access to a supportive learning environment and education. The multi-year commitment means that we can continue to innovate to meet the needs of our communities. Thank you to the Santander leadership team, for your unwavering support and partnership to help develop leaders of tomorrow,” noted Quamid Francis, Executive Director of City Year New York.

The program, which began in 2021 as a pilot in Dallas, is projected to grow in an additional 15 cities through 2022, with planned expansion to all 29 City Year cities in 2023.

For its part, Santander, which has been a charitable donor of City Year and has worked hand in hand as a community partner for more than 10 years, highlights its work as a volunteer to advance the mission of the organization, which has offered help to over 200,000 low-income, high-needs public school students.

“City Year is thrilled to be partnering with Santander. Our mission has always been to help students and schools succeed, which creates a more just and equitable future for all of us. This partnership will ensure City Year AmeriCorps members are able to serve full time in schools to support student success while developing young leaders who can work across lines of difference. We look forward to partnering with Santander to continue to support the development and success of young people,” underlined Jim Balfanz, CEO of City Year, Inc.

About Santander Holdings USA, Inc.

The wholly owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A. is a global banking group with 157 million customers in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

In its role as an intermediate holding company, this financial entity is the parent organization of financial companies with approximately 14,600 employees, 5 million clients and $160 billion as of December 2021.

About City Year

City Year, through joint work among diverse teams, offers low-income students training and holistic support so that they can achieve their goals and become the next generation of civically engaged leaders to work across differences.

Supported by AmeriCorps, local school districts and private philanthropy, City Year partners with public schools in 29 U.S. communities and through international affiliates in the UK and South Africa.