CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its efforts to support the communities where its employees live and work, OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, is pleased to provide financial support to its employee-designated 2015 charitable organizations through OCC’s offices in Chicago and Keller, Texas.
The two organizations; The Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project (ChiMOP), and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Collin County, Texas, were selected by a group of OCC employees in Chicago and Keller as part of the company’s overall charitable endeavors.
“OCC believes it has a responsibility to play an important role in the communities where our employees live and work,” said Craig Donohue, OCC Executive Chairman. “We have an obligation as an organization to be good corporate citizens, and our values of stewardship and integrity should carry over from the financial markets to our employees’ neighborhoods.”
“I am very proud of the work by the members of our employee charitable contributions committee to select two very deserving organizations,” added Mike McClain, President and Chief Operating Officer of OCC. “One of our goals in 2016 will be to combine our growing financial support of targeted charitable organizations with increased employee engagement with those groups to hopefully serve our communities.”
ChiMOP was founded in May, 2013 by Thomas Madeja and Sylvia Carlson, local Chicago musicians and community activists, who had a vision to begin transforming Chicago’s underserved West Side communities by providing free and intensive orchestra training in a positive environment. ChiMOP’s mission is to affect positive social change in young children with limited access to the arts by providing a safe and fun environment for them to make music in pursuit of artistic excellence together with peers and role models. OCC’s $30,000 contribution will help ChiMOP to provide more contact time between staff and children, more time in small groups instead of large group sessions, establish an outcomes measurement system, and provide professional development and training for staff who work in challenging work environments. You can learn more about ChiMOP at http://www.chimop.org/.
"We at the Chicago Metamorphosis Orchestra Project are honored, humbled, and extremely grateful to have been chosen as the 2015 OCC Charity Project recipient,” said Thomas Madeja, Artistic Director of ChiMOP. “The funds raised by the dedicated team of OCC employees will help us continue to serve communities in need by empowering youth through music with greater impact than ever before. ChiMOP strives to provide high quality music programming and access to the arts for Chicago's vulnerable youth. Thank you, OCC, for your generous support of this important work!"
CASA of Collin County promotes and protects the best interests of children by training volunteer advocates to help those children who have been abused or neglected, improve the child’s quality of life, and serve as their voice within the court system to ensure they are placed in a safe, permanent and loving home. Children who are connected with CASA fare significantly better in the foster system than those without. They are more likely to be adopted, half as likely to reenter foster care, more likely to pass school courses, have better conduct in school and less likely to be expelled. OCC’s $20,000 contribution will help CASA support ten children for one year of services. You can learn more about CASA at http://casaofcollincounty.org/.
“CASA of Collin County is thrilled to have been designated as a 2015 charitable partner by the employees of OCC,” said Susan Etheridge, Executive Director. “CASA provides a caring and compassionate adult to advocate for every child in Collin County who find themselves in foster care through no fault of their own. It’s up to us to help make certain that these most vulnerable children find a safe, loving and permanent home. We are grateful for OCC’s support.”
OCC has supported several charitable organizations throughout 2015, including A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO), The American Red Cross, Career Place, Econ Illinois, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Loss Program, NYU Langone Medical Center, Special Olympics of Illinois, and the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago.
About OCC
OCC is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization and the foundation for secure markets. Founded in 1973, OCC operates under the jurisdiction of both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Registered Clearing Agency and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Derivatives Clearing Organization. OCC now provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 18 exchanges and trading platforms for options, financial futures, security futures and securities lending transactions. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com.
