CIBC honored with Junior Achievement’s Above and Beyond award

CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 — CIBC today announced it was honored with the 2022 Above and Beyond award from Junior Achievement (JA) for dedicating significant time to teaching financial literacy to Chicago Public School students. This is the fourth time CIBC has received recognition from Junior Achievement for their volunteerism. 

“It is a true honor to be recognized by Junior Achievement,” said Beth Witczak, head of CIBC US Community Development. “Our professionals devote countless hours creating positive learning environments in the communities we serve, and this recognition validates CIBC’s commitment to Chicago-area students.” 

During the 2021-2022 school year, CIBC volunteers taught 192 classes, impacting over 4,400 students. Also, this year, volunteers from the Bank proposed a new volunteering method to JA. The approach, which has been adopted by other Chicagoland companies and dubbed “the CIBC method”, encourages volunteers to visit different schools every other week for five months instead of volunteering at one school per semester. The new method requires less training, improved volunteer satisfaction, and increased the number of students it reached by 10x. 

For over a decade, CIBC US professionals have partnered with JA to provide sound financial skills to students of all ages through the bank’s volunteer program. 

“Making a difference in our communities is important to all of us at CIBC,” said Witczak.