Providing financial resources and volunteering to help support local non-profits is a way to give back and support the community.

For Jeff Klink, Valley Bank’s Regional President for South & Central Florida, this approach plays out in his work with the Jack and Jill Center in Fort Lauderdale. Jeff has served on the organization’s finance committee for three years, helping the Center as it provides early education and elementary school services with capacity for 360 children, ages 6 weeks to fifth grade, from to lower- and moderate-income families throughout Broward County. The Center also provides family strengthening and health services to the community.

This hands-on involvement is typical of Valley’s relentless commitment to support the communities we serve, as Jeff describes in this Q&A:

Q: How does Valley Bank help the Jack and Jill Center?

Klink: We are privileged to be a corporate sponsor, and a number of our employees regularly volunteer at the Center. Our finance committee helped road-map the funding and construction of a new elementary school on West Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, which will support the education of students for many generations to come.

Also, we help introduce banking and finance to kids at the Center through age-appropriate lessons on finance, budgeting and the banking industry, along with field trips to our bank branch in Fort Lauderdale.

Q: Why is Valley’s involvement at the Center important?

Klink: The Jack and Jill Center does important work, helping to make sure kids in Broward have a chance to reach their full potential, regardless of their circumstances. And for us at Valley, we can see the impact of the school on our local community, which is amazing.

Q: How does the work for Jack and Jill Center match Valley’s approach to community relations?

Klink: Creating and maintaining meaningful community partnerships is a key part of our commitment to the Community Reinvestment Act. We actively work with a number of nonprofits that help underserved populations throughout South Florida.

Education is one of our key focuses, along with efforts to help minority-owned businesses.
Earlier this year, we created a community lending group dedicated to serving minority-owned businesses based throughout Florida. This diverse lending team has deep expertise in commercial lending, retail bank management and a desire to support our small business community.

In all of our community work, our goal is to help lift those up who traditionally haven’t had access to education or banking services that can help them run their personal finances or grow their business.

Q: Does meaningful community relations help the bank, and how?

Klink: When the community improves from a financial and social standpoint, it raises up families, business owners and the local economy as a whole – this is critical to a bank like Valley’s success. We also find commitment to supporting the communities is important to our employees, who want to make a difference. In closing, the local community is the backbone of Valley Bank’s success – we take great pride in supporting non-profit organizations that strive to assist families that need a hand in order to enhance their lives. The Jack and Jill Center is a perfect example of such an organization.

For information on how to get involved with The Jack and Jill Center, please contact Maria Meyer at mmeyer@jackandjillcenter.org.

Jeff Klink is Valley Bank’s Regional President for South & Central Florida.

– Valley National Bank is a Member of the FDIC and Equal Opportunity Lender.