PNC Bank, with 47 branches in Greater Cincinnati, could commit $5 million to $10 million locally to help children from birth to age 5 get prepared for school.

The initiative is tied to an effort by the bank's parent, Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Service Group Inc., to provide $100 million nationally as part of "PNC Grow Up Great" during the next decade.

The program - geared to enhance school readiness among millions of children - will include such things as partnerships with Sesame Street Workshop, local PBS stations and local Head Start centers. The bank will offer supporting materials from those groups to customers, employees and parents of participating child-care centers. Employees at PNC, with about 500 workers locally, will volunteer with children or their parents.

John Taylor, regional president of PNC Bank in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, also has agreed to join the board of Success By Six, a local United Way effort that helps with early childhood nurturing and development. He will be chairman of an advocacy committee for Success By Six that will generate awareness and support of the issue locally.

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Jeff McKinney