Youth

Helping young people achieve their full potential has been a long-standing priority of CIBC's community investment program.

The CIBC Children's Foundation, our flagship youth program, will be celebrating its 25th anniversary on December 2, 2009. CIBC Miracle Day is held on the first Wednesday of each December during which CIBC's wholesale banking sales and trading staff and CIBC Wood Gundy Investment Advisors donate their fees and commissions to children's charities. Since its inception in 1984, Miracle Day has raised more than $190 million to support the health, well-being and education of children in our communities, including over $44 million in Canada.

In addition to Miracle Day, the CIBC group of companies contributed more than $3 million in 2008 to hundreds of initiatives that support mentoring, skills development, financial literacy training, nutrition and health, anti-bullying, youth shelters and programs for young people with disabilities.

In 2008, CIBC also announced a $1 million commitment over 10 years to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to help reduce the victimization and exploitation of children across Canada. CIBC's investment will help to raise awareness of the Centre and its Kids in the Know safety education program to better educate children and parents about keeping their children safe from sexual abuse and exploitation.

Here are just a few other examples of the youth-serving organizations that CIBC supports:

Breakfast for Learning - Canadian Living Foundation is the leading national non-profit solely dedicated to child nutrition programs in Canada. Children who are well-nourished perform better in school and Breakfast for Learning ensures that students receive the healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks they need to succeed.

Eva's Initiatives for Homeless Youth works with homeless and at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 to get them off the streets permanently. Eva's Initiatives helps over 2,300 youth to get off the street each year so they can begin to rebuild their futures.

Invest in Kids Foundation aims to strengthen the parenting knowledge, skills and confidence of all those who touch the lives of our youngest children to ensure the healthy social, emotional and intellectual development of children from birth to age five.

Leave Out Violence (LOVE) helps youth who have lived with violence end violence in their lives, and then become community leaders of violence prevention. LOVE's leaders are comprised of youth who best understand violence, as they have been personally challenged by gangs, weapons, domestic violence, racism, drugs and bullying.

Children's Wish Foundation of Canada works with the community to provide children living with high-risk, life threatening illnesses the opportunity to realize their most heartfelt wish. Children's Wish is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has granted 12,000 wishes to date that are tailored to each child's individual needs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area and the YMCA Calgary helps provide mentored youth aged 6 to 12 with the opportunity to become more active through the Calgary YMCA's Recreational Mentoring Program. The program matches volunteers with young people who share similar interests, and together they participate in like-minded recreational pursuits.

Kids on the Block, Saskatchewan Association of Community Living helps promote acceptance and appreciation of differences. Through the use of large puppets with and live interactive theatre, children foster a greater awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by others with physical and learning disabilities.