Posted on December 27, 2006

JCPenney Afterschool Fund Awarded $7 Million for At-Risk Youth in 2006

This year, the JCPenney Afterschool Fund has awarded more than $7 million in grants and an additional $1.5 million in gift cards that enable the at-risk youth who receive grants to purchase clothing and supplies for the school year.

Working through four national after-school program providers — Boys & Girls Clubs of America, YMCA of the USA, National 4-H Council, and United Way of America — the fund's revised access grant program has assisted children who were currently not in after-school programs or on the verge of leaving them due to a lack of funds. The providers identified at-risk children and provided matching funds for full or partial financial assistance, with grants assisting K-12 students in all fifty states and Puerto Rico.

"After completing our fifth year as a 501(c)(3) charity, we took the opportunity to review our activities and refocused the majority of our funds directly to at-risk youth through a new access grant program," said Mike Theilmann, chairman of the J.C. Penney Afterschool Fund. "With studies showing that more than 14.3 million children in the United States are unsupervised after school between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day, we felt our new access grant program would have a more direct benefit to individuals who are in the greatest need of assistance."