Grant Creates an Intensive Literacy Program at Six Schools in Gulf Coast Communities Affected by Hurricane Katrina
NEW YORK, N.Y., May 8, 2007– The New York Life Foundation has awarded a two-year $580,000 grant to Save the Children, a leading nonprofit organization helping children and families in need in the United States and in more than 50 countries. The grant will help launch a literacy program at six schools in impoverished communities in the Gulf Coast region.
“This grant from the New York Life Foundation will help children in rural areas who are functioning below grade level to
become stronger readers,” said Charles MacCormack, president & CEO, Save the Children. “Six public elementary schools in Louisiana and southern Mississippi affected by Hurricane Katrina will benefit from this generous gift.”
“New York Life is proud to be able to help establish this comprehensive literacy initiative in these areas that have been
touched by great tragedy,” said Peter Bushyeager, president of the New York Life Foundation. “It is critical that we nurture
children in the Gulf Coast by providing services that will have a positive impact on them for the rest of their lives.”
The New York Life Foundation grant will help fund the launch of literacy programs at two schools in Louisiana and four
schools in Mississippi. Save the Children identified the program locations using their established criteria which focuses on
rural, persistently poor communities with a small tax base and under-funded and/or poorly performing schools. The program provides highly trained staff, a structured curriculum, age-appropriate books and other reading materials, equipment, software and technology resources. Save the Children staff work directly with schools to provide year-round literacy services during the school day, after school and throughout the summer. Each school’s programming is customized to meet local needs.
Save the Children has a full-time, school-based literacy coordinator who manages each school’s program. The coordinators, who are locally hired and trained by Save the Children, are responsible for the day-to-day management of the program. A Save the Children literacy specialist provides ongoing technical assistance and supervises several literacy coordinators within a region.
To date, New York Life Foundation is the only corporate partner earmarking support for this new Gulf Coast literacy
initiative. Since 1979, the New York Life Foundation has donated more than $100 million to national and local non-profit
organizations.
Since 1932, Save the Children (USA) has been working in some of America’s most impoverished communities to provide children with programs to help improve their academic performance and health. Save the Children works in partnership with schools and community-based organizations to offer intensive literacy and obesity prevention programs during the school day, after school and in the summer. Currently, Save the Children serves children in 12 states throughout Appalachia, the Southeast, the Mississippi Delta, the Southwest and in California’s Central Valley. For additional information about Save the Children (USA), please visit www.savethechildren.org.
The New York Life Foundation is the major vehicle through which New York Life Insurance Company channels contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations. Through its Nurturing the Children initiative, the Foundation supports organizations, programs and services that target young people, particularly in the areas of mentoring, safe places to learn and grow, and educational enhancement opportunities. Please visit the Foundation’s Web site at www.newyorklifefoundation.org.
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