The Charlotte-based Bank of America Charitable Foundation has announced $20 million in funding and training to nonprofits and community leaders nationwide.

The grants were awarded through the foundation's Neighborhood Excellence Initiative, an effort launched in 2004 to help develop current and future community leaders and foster continued improvement in the social and economic health of dozens of communities across the country. To date, the initiative has awarded $130 million to high-impact nonprofits and individual community leaders.

Hailing from forty-five U.S. communities, this year's recipients include more than ninety Neighborhood Builders — nonprofit organizations that will receive unrestricted grants of $200,000 to improve their long-term viability, bolster the strength of their leadership team, retain and hire new staff, and extend the depth and reach of their services. In addition, 230 Local Heroes (individual community leaders) will receive $5,000 from the foundation to direct to a nonprofit of their choice. The names of those grantees will be announced soon.

"The nonprofit sector is a vital part of the U.S. economy as well as local economies," said Kerry Sullivan, president of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. "Through our Neighborhood Excellence Initiative and many other community development, lending, and investing initiatives, we are setting opportunity in motion for organizations, families, individuals, and entire communities. We are producing deep, long-lasting economic, and social impact at the local level where it's needed most, whether it's job training for the unemployed or providing housing assistance to the underserved."