Junior Achievement USA (JA) last night honored U.S. Bank’s Leslie Godridge with its Gold Leadership Award, the organization’s highest recognition, for her volunteer work teaching and promoting financial education for New York City children.

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Leslie Godridge (Photo: Business Wire).

Leslie Godridge (Photo: Business Wire).

JA also honored U.S. Bank with its corporate President’s Volunteer Service Award for its employees dedicating more than 15,000 volunteer hours to teaching JA programs in classrooms across the country. The award was created by the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation, which President George W. Bush established in 2003 to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers make in communities and to encourage more people to serve.

"Junior Achievement volunteers are important mentors for young people, bringing our programs to life," said Jack Kosakowski, President and CEO of Junior Achievement USA. “Each year, more than 200,000 JA volunteers share their experiences and skills with students while delivering our programs, teaching them how to manage their money, succeed in the workforce, or start a business that creates jobs and grows the economy.”

Godridge, who was promoted to vice chair and co-head of wholesale banking earlier this year, has served on Junior Achievement of New York’s board of directors since 2003. In recent years, she’s developed a program in which students visit U.S. Bank’s corporate office for workplace experience in addition to bankers visiting classrooms. She is one of only ten people receiving JA’s Gold Leadership Award this year.

“As a supporter of JA for many years, I’ve had the opportunity to see the profound impact these programs have on young peoples’ lives,” said Godridge. “I’m very honored by this recognition, and proud to work for a company that helps bring JA programming to classrooms across the country.”

U.S. Bank is also a longtime JA partner nationwide and encourages employees to get involved in their communities by providing up to 16 hours of paid time off per year to spend volunteering. Earlier this year, the bank unveiled a new corporate giving and volunteer program, Community Possible. Through the program, the bank will focus its investments on Home, Work and Play.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with $422 billion in assets as of December 31, 2015, is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The Company operates 3,133 banking offices in 25 states and 4,936 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.