Citizens Financial : Sojourner House named Champion in Action in Addiction Prevention & Treatment Services category

01/10/2017

Citizens Bank, WPXI-TV, Trib Total Media provide $35,000 funding, public relations and volunteer support

PITTSBURGH - Sojourner House has been named a 2017 Champion in Action® in the category of addiction prevention & treatment services. The award, announced jointly by Citizens Bank, WPXI-TV, and Trib Total Media, includes $35,000 in unrestricted funding and extensive promotional and volunteer support for the organization's outstanding work providing faith-based recovery services to women and their children.

The organization, which helps addicted mothers learn to break the cycle of chemical dependency while rebuilding relationships with their children, will use the award to help support the recently doubled capacity of its MOMS program, which provides 42 units of supportive housing to single parents and their children experiencing homelessness.

Champions in Action is part of Citizens Helping Citizens Strengthen Communities, the bank's program designed to enhance quality of life and economic vitality in local communities. It provides support for small nonprofit organizations to recognize their contributions to communities throughout the Pittsburgh area.

'Sojourner House has improved the lives of countless women throughout the state who have been affected by chemical dependency,' said Mark Latterner, market president for Western Pennsylvania, Citizens Bank. 'We are proud to support our next Champion in Action, Sojourner House, as they expand their services and outreach to more deserving women and their families throughout Pittsburgh and the surrounding area.'

'WPXI-TV is honored to be presenting this award to Sojourner House with Citizens Bank,' said Ray Carter, general manager of WPXI-TV. 'We are thrilled to lend our support to their great organization, and hope that they will continue to serve as a beacon of hope for families on the road to recovery.'

To date, the Champions in Action program has awarded 40 nonprofits more than $2.2 million in contributions and promotional support in Western Pennsylvania.

'Sojourner House believes women can shatter the chains of addiction and hopelessness when surrounded by what means most to them: their children. We are grateful to Citizens, WPXI-TV and Trib Total Media for their generous support of our mission,' said Joann Cyganovich of Sojourner House. 'Their Champions in Action recognition is an important endorsement of our work and we thank them for their partnership, which will ultimately benefit the area.'

As a Champion in Action, Sojourner House will receive:

• A $35,000 contribution in unrestricted funds from Citizens Bank;
• Media coverage from WPXI-TV, and Trib Total Media, including public service announcements and television profiles over the course of six months;
• Volunteer support from Citizens Bank, WPXI-TV and Trib Total Media colleagues as well as from Pittsburgh Cares, including promotion of volunteer opportunities to a network of more than 20,000 volunteers;
• The opportunity for the organization's executive director to participate in an 'Executive-to-Executive' mentorship with a Citizens Bank executive;
• Extensive public relations support;
• Promotional support highlighting the Champion in Action in Citizens Bank branches;
• Exposure on the Citizens Bank, WPXI-TV and Trib Total Media websites.

For more information about the Citizens Bank and WPXI-TV Champions in Action program, visitwww.citizensbank.com/community/champions.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation's oldest and largest financial institutions, with $147 billion in assets as of September 30, 2016. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers 'bank better' with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides wealth management, mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance. Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania as Citizens Bank, Citizens Commercial Banking and Citizens One. Additional information about Citizens and its full line of products and services can be found at citizensbank.com.

About WPXI-TVWPXI is the Cox Media Group TV station in the Pittsburgh television market. Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of Cox Reps. Additionally, CMG owns and operates Valpak, one of North America's leading direct marketing companies. The company operations include 15 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, 86 radio stations, eight daily newspapers and more than a dozen non-daily publications, and more than 100 digital services. CMG operates in more than 30 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including 30 million TV viewers, more than 4 million print and online newspaper readers, and 18 million radio listeners. WPXI-TV's website is wpxi.com.

About Trib Total Media

Trib Total Media is a multimedia network of daily and weekly newspapers, weekly shoppers, and websites delivering news, information and advertising to over 1.2 million readers across Western Pennsylvania every week. Trib Total Media's targeted direct mail, promotional products, commercial printing, media planning and digital services deliver a variety of marketing solutions for advertisers big and small. In addition, Trib Total Media has formed strategic partnerships with community and non-profit organizations across the region, enabling Trib Total Media to conTRIBute and make a positive impact in the communities they serve. Visit TribTotalMedia.com and discover how we do things right. Here.

About Pittsburgh Cares

Founded in 1992, the mission of Pittsburgh Cares is to maximize the impact of our nonprofit partners and to advance a culture of volunteerism and civic engagement in the Pittsburgh region. Firmly believing that the collective efforts of volunteers can transform an entire city, we provide opportunities for adults, youth, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to connect and serve together to address pressing social needs. As the largest volunteer agency in the Pittsburgh region, Pittsburgh Cares offers more than 20,000 volunteer positions each year. We offer a free public resource that connects the general public to hundreds of one-time and skills-based service projects per month. We also constantly strive to offer programs that strategically maximize volunteer time and provide high-quality service experiences, moving Pittsburgh closer to the day when everyone is inspired and equipped to be the change they wish to see in the world.