This guest blog was written by Jessa Thomas in Community Affairs at Capital One.
As a local bank, Capital One is committed to expanding economic opportunities for individuals, families, and small business owners in New York. During National Pro Bono Week, Capital One teamed up with the Taproot Foundation in New York City to host the first ScopeAthon, to date, that was specifically focused on digital innovation. Aptly named, the NYC ScopeAthon was a 4-hour problem-solving event where nonprofits partnered with individuals from Capital One Labs, a department that solves challenges through design thinking and innovation. Thanks to the volunteer support of Capital One NYC Digital Lab, NYC-based nonprofits Breakthrough New York, Green City Force, Rising Tide Capital and The Opportunity Network joined together to begin their journey of digital innovation.
As Capital One Labs Senior Product Manager and NYC ScopeAthon participant Ally Cahill states, “In the NY Lab, we leverage new technology and big data to better understand and serve Capital One customers. Hosting the NYC ScopeAthon organized by the Taproot Foundation allowed our team to take a stab at solving the problems nonprofits face each day. In addition to making an impact on each nonprofit’s roadmap in the months and years ahead, the team left the event feeling more empowered and inspired than ever about helping our customers and the community at large!”
We recognize that healthy businesses and healthy communities go hand in hand. As part of “Investing for Good,” we focus our community involvement activities in four areas that are important building blocks of economic opportunity: affordable housing, financial literacy, education, and small business and workforce development.
As more and more consumers rely on digital and mobile technologies, banking has become a fundamentally digital experience. From developing innovative products and services to offering enhanced digital engagement, Capital One is focused on ideas that propel us forward, and it is imperative that we continue to encourage and cultivate the innovative spirit that is the engine of our success. We want to foster this same digital vision with our nonprofit partners to help advance their missions.
Capital One Bank has partnered with Taproot since 2007, investing in over half a million dollars to advance pro bono service. Since 2013, a total of eight ScopeAthons have been completed across the U.S.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company with more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities – good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families – benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.
