WINSTON-SALEM - BB&T received the Latino Diamante Award for education at Diamante Inc.'s 12th annual awards ceremony held earlier this month in Raleigh. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to North Carolina's Hispanic/Latino community through teaching, administration, research and participation in professional education associations.
BB&T received the award for its groundbreaking series of free 'BiBi' audio tapes and CDs (named for one of the narrators and pronounced Bee-Bee). The 60-minute 'BiBi' series covers topics such as emergency preparedness, basic banking information, tips on finding a job, the United States' legal system, driving in the U.S., paying taxes in the U.S. and more.
"Celebrating Hispanic heritage and culture can come in many ways; for us it is by recognizing achievement and contributions on behalf of the community in our state," said Lizette Cruz-Watko, Diamante Inc. founder. "This (the awards) is simply Diamanteís way of saying thank you to those making North Carolina a better place to live for thousands of Hispanics."
About 350,000 of the 'BiBi' tapes and CDs have been distributed through BB&T's more than 1,500 financial centers as well as through Hispanic/Latino advocacy groups since 2002. The 'BiBi' series consists of nine different topics and additional topics are being considered.
The concept for the educational series began when BB&T officials met with Latino leaders and advocacy groups to learn about the challenges new immigrants face, not only with banking but also with everyday issues.
"It's an honor to receive this award," said Jorge Miller, BB&T's multicultural markets manager, who accepted the award for the financial services company. "Educating new Latino immigrants on the American way of life is a key issue for BB&T. The 'BiBi' series, which also is available in English, demonstrates BB&T's commitment to our corporate mission of making the communities in which we work better places to be."
The Spanish educational series has been particularly well received through the BB&T @ Work program, which provides discounts and other benefits to employees of BB&T's business clients. Employers have found the tapes help their multicultural employees adapt to American life and culture, Miller said.
The 'BiBi' series is one aspect of a broad multicultural program focused on providing the 'perfect client experience' to BB&T's diverse and multicultural communities, Miller said. Approximately 10 percent of BB&T's branches are multicultural banking centers that include bilingual staff members as well as Spanish signage and brochures.
"Our commitment to service excellence extends from our outstanding Spanish-speaking customer service to having the appropriate products and services that better meet the needs of our communities," he said.
With $130.8 billion in assets and more than 1,500 financial centers in 11 states, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT) is the nation's 14th largest financial holding company. More information about the company is available at BBT.com
BB&T receives Latino Diamante Award in recognition
of educational series of audiotapes and CDs 
