Banker on loan benefits Bakersfield economic development

May 30—What economic-development mission couldn't use a year's worth of professional assistance, more so if it's coming from a big-city bank with a local legacy to uphold?

Not one but two local organizations — Kern's B3K Prosperity initiative and MLKcommUNITY — recently welcomed the free consulting services of a Los Angeles-based senior vice president at Bank of America.

Business Controls Executive Jacky Holler expects to apply her professional skills in the areas of nonprofit support to help the two locally based organizations through their early strategic-growth phases.

"Bakersfield is an important, important market for us," she said. "We do have a lot of opportunity and it's an exciting time to be in Bakersfield with the collected activities."

Bank of America's donation of Holler's services has come at a special time for economic development in the county. B3K has built a shared vision for moving Kern past its reliance on oil and agriculture, while MLKcommUNITY has energized efforts to lift up the socioeconomically disadvantaged community of southeast Bakersfield.

Holler has hit the ground running at B3K, Executive Director J.P. Lake said in a news release.

"As we begin to implement this transformational undertaking, we needed professional full-time expertise to help develop formal structures that can help align industry hiring needs with the region's richly diverse talent," Lake stated.

CEO Arleana Waller at MLKcommUNITY, also known as Circle of Life Development Foundation, said in the release that Holler's experience will help COLDf and the wider community.

"With the support of Bank of America and its Loan a Leader program, Circle of Life Development Foundation can usher in a foundational way of community-led and community-driven planning, education and eventually investments that focus on shared leadership and equitable outcomes."

The lender program she referred to was created by the bank in 2017. It has since placed 27 of its leaders in various organizations to try and advance opportunity and philanthropy in markets where it operates. Bank of America has served customers in Kern for about 100 years.

Since April, Holler has divided her time between B3K and MLKcommUNITY while continuing to live in Woodland Hills and making regular trips to Bakersfield. The traveling doesn't bother her; she said she's humbled by the opportunity.

A native Angeleno, she studied at Santa Monica before transferring to UCLA and then earning a master's in business administration at Pepperdine University.

Holler started with Bank of America as a teller and worked her way up from there. Her expertise lies in collaborating with nonprofits, and has focused much effort on the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation. She describes her career as having crossed into a variety of specialties, from project management to process improvement and strategic implementation activities.

She plans to help B3K recruit contributors to broaden the organization's representation across the community, which Lake recently named a priority as the organization moves into its own drive for strategic implementation.

"We certainly want to have, to listen to the collective voices of the community as we go forward," she said. "The way that we do that is have all represented at the table."

At MLKcommUNITY, Holler said there is an ongoing, development dynamic she expects to help shape by putting in place processes that can help the organization sustain itself and grow.

"I can help (Waller) with her process improvement and process managing skills," Holler said. Through staff training and advance planning, she anticipates working with Waller to "get it into a nice, humming machine."

What's in it for Bank of America? A more "seasoned and committed employee," for one thing, Holler said. But in another sense, the whole Loan a Leader program merely carries on a history of generosity toward nonprofits around the world.

Sometimes the organizations the bank wants to help need more than simply financial resources, she said.

"They need guidance in strategic growth stages," she said.