Stories

We donated $50,000 through our inaugural Market Impact Fund to make the project possible.

Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio members will soon have opportunities to learn about alternative energy, forest management, astronomy, geology, hydrology and more at the new U.S. Bank Environmental Learning Lab at its Skyland Ranch camp in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. 

U.S. Bank helped fund the project – which will be completed early next year – with a $50,000 grant through its inaugural $1 million Market Impact Fund that supports organizations focused on economic development in the areas of workforce preparation, affordable housing and arts and culture.

“We look to invest our resources in areas where there have traditionally been gaps in terms of racial or income inequity,” U.S. Bank Community Affairs Manager Rockette Ewell said in the video above. “And we want our investments to be a part of closing those gaps and helping people reach their possibilities.”

Environmental science is one of the areas that girls say they are looking for education in from the organization, Girl Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo said. 

“The environment is so important to our girls,” she said, pointing to specific examples of members launching public initiatives to conserve wildlife such as sea turtles, birds and more. “And it’s part of our mission statement to make the world a better place.”

Acevedo also talked about how her experience looking up at the stars as a young Girl Scout inspired her interest in astronomy and ultimately led to her career as a rocket scientist at NASA. Today, she said, the organization is focused on listening to girls about their interests – such as cybersecurity and coding – and implementing programming that can help shape their future. To support those efforts, U.S. Bank has a program in Cincinnati, for example, in which its cyber defense team partners with local Girl Scouts to help them earn the new cyber badge.