Grants That Make a Difference
"Grants that Make a Difference" highlights grants given to Southeastern organizations that have helped make a difference in people's lives. Getting the grant is only the beginning of the story. At least once a month, "Grants That Make a Difference" will profile these important grants and what their recipients are doing with them.
BellSouth Donates $5M to Gulf States Impacted by Katrina to Fund e-Learning Efforts to Support Education Needs
The BellSouth Foundation will donate $5 million towards enabling students from the Gulf States to continue their education via virtual courses. With thousands of students and teachers displaced because of the widespread devastation on the coast, online learning is a vital education resource for students impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
"The Foundation's mission to bring e-Learning to communities in need has never been more relevant," said Dick Anderson, chairman, BellSouth Foundation. "We want to make sure that high school students displaced by Katrina can stay on track for graduation, and on-line learning can help them to meet the necessary requirements."
Working in collaboration with the Louisiana and Mississippi Departments of Education, BellSouth will donate $5 million in cash earmarked to provide virtual courses to affected students, train teachers in online course delivery and provide support for schools and learning centers to accommodate student needs.
"Because of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, some of our schools will be closed for the entire school year and others will have the responsibility of educating students displaced from the severely affected areas," said Governor Haley Barbour, Mississippi. "Hence, online courses and technology support is critical to our relief effort. BellSouth's generous donation will help thousands of high school students continue their education and graduate on time."
"We expect that many of our displaced students may change schools several times over the coming year, which will, in turn, increase the emotional toll on them," said Dr. Hank Bounds, state superintendent of education, Mississippi. "Virtual courses will help provide stability and consistency for these students. This resource will also benefit the schools throughout Mississippi that have enrolled displaced students, and need additional resources to meet their educational needs."
"We are working hard in Louisiana to meet the needs of our students displaced by Hurricane Katrina," said Cecil Picard, state superintendent of education, Louisiana. "BellSouth's support will help us to reach our goal of allowing Louisiana students to continue their education."
"The damage created by Hurricane Katrina is unprecedented and our hearts go out to the victims of this tragedy," continued Anderson. "In keeping with the tradition of BellSouth's support for education, we are committed to serving the students displaced by this disaster by providing quality virtual learning opportunities."
The BellSouth Foundation is an endowed trust of BellSouth Corporation that is devoted to education in the South. Since its creation in 1986, the Foundation has funded over 595 grants and operated numerous special initiatives, with a total investment of more than $56 million. For more information about the BellSouth Foundation, please visit www.bellsouth.com/foundation.
For more information about other Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in the Southeast, please click
here.
The selection of organizations for the "Grants that Make a Difference" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size of funding programs to ensure the broadest possible representation of the region's nonprofit sector.
If you'd like to see support for your organization featured in "Grants that Make a Difference," e-mail a detailed description of the grant, including the name and contact information of the funder and of your organization, the amount given, and how the grant made a difference. For your convenience, we have provided a template to follow. We welcome press releases in addition to, or as a substitute for, the information in the template.
Email the description or press release to
atweb@foundationcenter.org, with "Grants that Make a Difference" in the subject line.
Recipient Name:
Project Name:
Organization Mission and how it relates to the project:
Beneficiaries or Community Impact:
Funding Partner(s): (Grantmaker Names)
Grant Amount:
Recipient Contact: Name, Address, Phone, Fax, E-mail, URL
Grantmaker Contact: Name, Address, Phone, Fax, E-mail, URL
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