2025 Neighborhood Builder

January 30, 2026

Center for Transforming Lives is Named the Bank of America Fort Worth 2025 Neighborhood Builder

Multiyear Grant & Leadership Training will Expand Critical Services to Reduce Poverty

Fort Worth, Texas – Bank of America Fort Worth has named Center for Transforming Lives a 2025 Neighborhood Builder® for its critical work in breaking cycles of poverty for women and children in Tarrant County. This is the second time in a decade that Center for Transforming Lives has been selected to receive this prestigious grant award.

Bank of America’s signature Neighborhood Builders program continues to be one of the nation’s largest philanthropic investments into nonprofit leadership development, while providing unique multiyear flexible grant funding annually to high-impact nonprofits in communities nationwide.

“Bank of America’s investment provides vital support for our work, breaking the generational cycle of poverty for women and their children in Tarrant County,” said Carol Klocek, CEO for Center for Transforming Lives. “This grant strategically supports the launch and operations of Riverside Coworking – an innovative new approach to help low-income women build income, increase financial stability and access wraparound supports. Thanks to Bank of America’s support, we can position Riverside Coworking, and the entrepreneurs we serve, for success today and well into the future.”

As a Neighborhood Builder, Center for Transforming Lives is awarded a $200,000 grant over two years, leadership training for the executive director and an emerging leader, and the opportunity to connect with nonprofits in a peer network.

“At Bank of America, we believe that when women thrive, families, communities, and economies thrive. The Neighborhood Builder program invests in nonprofits tackling communities’ most complex challenges, and Center for Transforming Lives is doing just that – empowering women entrepreneurs in Tarrant County by providing them with the essential resources, childcare, and financial tools needed to build successful small businesses,” said Mike Pavell, president, Bank of America Fort Worth. “Coupled with a robust leadership training, this program is more than a grant; it's a strategic investment in the long-term financial stability and vitality of the entire Fort Worth community, positioning families and the local economy for sustained success.”

Riverside Coworking is a unique small business incubator, housed in our new Riverside Campus, that pairs commonly needed business resources along with free drop-in childcare, workshops and other opportunities to empower women and families to thrive economically.

About Center for Transforming Lives

Center for Transforming Lives partners with single mothers and their children so they can thrive. Founded in 1907, Center for Transforming Lives is one of Tarrant County’s biggest family safety nets, working to disrupt cycles of poverty and homelessness among the most vulnerable in our community. The non-profit meets the needs of more than 3,000 women and children annually, through a comprehensive and evidence-based, two-generation and trauma-informed model. Thanks to housing support, early childhood education, economic mobility services and counseling services that work across generations, parents and children establish security and well-being as a family. Led by CEO Carol Klocek since 2009, the $22 million non-profit opened its new Riverside Campus headquarters in May.

About Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders Program

Neighborhood Builders is part of Bank of America’s longstanding efforts to build thriving communities by addressing issues fundamental to economic opportunity. In Fort Worth, 29 nonprofits have been selected as Neighborhood Builders, with the bank investing more than $6 million in philanthropic capital into these nonprofits. Since 2004, Bank of America’s Neighborhood Builders program has invested more than $346 million in communities across the U.S. and trained more than 4,000 leaders at nearly 2,000 U.S. nonprofits.

Contact:
Trish Rodriguez
Director for Communications
trodriguez@transforminglives.org
817-996-7330

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