City National, Barnes & Noble Donate Record Number of Books to Schools and Nonprofits

By: BWW News Desk Jan. 25, 2017

City National Bank's Reading is The way up literacy program, in partnership with Barnes & Noble, today announced the donation of new books and cash totaling nearly $ 250,000 to 33 schools and nonprofit organizations in California, Nevada, New York City, and Nashville, Tennessee. The bank also announced that this year marks the 15th Anniversary of its award-winning Reading is The way up literacy program.

In an effort to promote literacy and support local communities, the book donations were part of the 9th Annual Holiday Book Drive last December at Barnes & Noble, the world's largest book seller, in partnership with the Reading is The way up program at City National.

Customers at 16 Barnes & Noble stores in four states donated 60,000 new books, which City National provided a $120,000 cash donation for additional new books to be purchased through Barnes & Noble by the school librarians at each of the schools and nonprofit organizations receiving books. This year's donation also set a new record for the number of books ever donated through the holiday book drive program.

"It's very impressive of the number of books Barnes & Noble collected from its customers," said Carolyn Rodriguez, vice president and program administrator for City National. "What began nine years ago with Barnes & Noble has grown into a wonderful partnership we have established to help kids develop a love of reading. This is a great example of how collaborative partnerships can help our schools and communities on The Way Up."

The City National and Barnes & Noble Holiday Book Drive ran from November 1 through January 1 and included 16 stores in the four states where the bank has a presence. City National and Barnes & Noble representatives are presenting the books and monetary donations to school administrators at school assemblies and nonprofit groups over the next several weeks. The bank's literacy mascot "Blue" is also taking part in many of these donation presentations.

"With this year marking the 15th Anniversary of City National's Reading is The way up literacy program, the bank is planning a number of fun and exciting programs to further engage and enhance our educational partnerships to benefit schools and students throughout our footprint," added Rodriguez. "We want to develop something very special that reflects the importance of this program and how it helps promote literacy and excellence in education."

With $47 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 73 offices, including 16 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville and Atlanta. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $58 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North America's leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 36 other countries.

For more information about City National, visit the company's website at cnb.com.

Originally established to help improve the education of California's future leaders, City National in April 2002 launched the multi-faceted Reading is The way up initiative to restock the state's school library system. The program has since been expanded to include all areas where the bank has a presence. Since its inception, the award-winning program has:

- Donated more than 400,000 books to California, Nevada, New York, Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia school libraries.

- Awarded more than $1 million to teachers at elementary, middle and high schools for creative literacy projects.

- Received the 2005 President's Volunteer Service Award, the 2005 Corporate Philanthropy Award from the Los Angeles Public Library, the 2006 Corporate Award from the Getty House Foundation, the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Corporate Citizen Award, and honored as the 2007 Corporate Visionary Partner by the Wonder of Reading.

- Received the 2013 Innovations Reading Prize Award presented by the National Book Foundation.

- Received the 2013 Outstanding Corporation of the Year Award presented by the Clark County School District-Community Partnership Program in Las Vegas, NV.

- Received the 2013 Angel Light Foundation Award for excellence in community service and educational outreach presented by the Angel Light Academy in Orange County, CA.

The Reading is the Way up Fund is a 501(c)(3) administered by the California Community Foundation. For more information, visit www.readingisthewayup.org.

Following is a list of schools and nonprofit groups in the four states receiving new books and monetary support from City National and Barnes & Noble:

California

Ocean Knoll Elementary, Encinitas

Paul Ecke Central Elementary, Encinitas

Lake View, Huntington Beach

Children's Hospital, Los Angeles

Girls Academic Leadership Academy, Los Angeles

Assistance League of Long Beach, Long Beach

St. Cornelius, Long Beach

St. Joseph's, Long Beach

Star View Elementary, Midway City

Colette Elementary, Riverside

Erickson Elementary, San Diego