04/15/2025
Citizens Names 2025 Small Business Community Champions
Has awarded nearly $2 million to 167 small businesses over eight years
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Citizens is recognizing 25 small businesses as winners of its eighth annual Small Business Community Champion Award based on their commitment to support their communities. Applicants proposed strategies for growing their business in tandem with supporting their local community and are now able to bring them to life.
This year, 25 honorees received $10,000 each in addition to a one-year membership to Luminary, a global education and networking platform that uplifts and upskills professionals and entrepreneurs. Upon learning that they won this award, business owners have shared the ways it will support their business missions and local communities. These vary from increasing free programming for children to donations to nonprofit organizations and local schools to increasing employee wages.
Citizens created the Small Business Community Champion Award program as part of its ongoing commitment to strengthen local communities and, including this year’s recipients, the program has awarded nearly $2 million to 167 small businesses.
“At Citizens, we know the important role that small businesses play in our communities and we are committed to supporting owners to help them achieve their goals,” said Mark Valentino, head of Business Banking at Citizens. “We proudly support the backbone of our community – small businesses – not only in the everyday work we do, but also through programs such as the Small Business Community Champion Awards. Citizens is committed to helping entrepreneurs thrive and investing in the resources they need to grow, innovate and succeed.”
The award winners are from New England, Michigan, Pennsylvania and the New York City metro area, regions known for their vibrant small business communities. Citizens is committed to supporting entrepreneurship in these areas by investing not only in these awardees, but also through business expansion in these regions.
Citizens is proud to announce the following winners of the 2025 Community Champions Award (in alphabetical order by business name):
- Anthony’s Cheesecake, Bloomfield, NJ
- Bargain Thrift Center, Philadelphia, PA
- Behavioral Intervention Psychological Services PC, Hempstead, NY
- Cha Cha N Beans, Westborough, MA
- Cini’s, Boston, MA
- Duryea Electric LLC, Holyoke, MA
- Gardner Builders, Inc., Troy, MI
- God Speed Transportation, Detroit, MI
- Good Morning Dental, Hackensack, NJ
- Jasmin Yahné School of Dance, Jenkintown, PA
- Judy Cohn Housing and Relocation Consultants, Chelmsford, MA
- Juju Marketing and Technology LLC, Detroit, MI
- Montville Florist, Uncasville, CT
- NI GLOBAL ENTERPRISES, INC., Roosevelt Island, NY
- Paraash, Pittsburgh, PA
- Precious Treasures Academy, East Haven, CT
- Precision Cleaning of New England, LLC, Cranston, RI
- Retail Cities, Bath, ME
- Spruce Meadow Farm, Clarence, NY
- Stone Grow, Pittsburgh, PA
- The Academy of Martial Arts & Personal Development, Manchester, CT
- The Blessed Day Care Center, Maplewood, NJ
- The Pose Experience, LLC, Detroit, MI
- Vermont Womenpreneurs, Burlington, VT
- Watch Me Grow Daycare of WNY, Cheektowaga, NY
Learn more about the Citizens Small Business Community Champion Awards.
About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $217.5 billion in assets as of December 31, 2024. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a full-service customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,100 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 14 states and the District of Columbia. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities. More information is available at www.citizensbank.com or visit us on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn or Facebook.
