Lincoln Financial Foundation Strengthens Education with Grants to Philadelphia Nonprofits
Philadelphia, July 8, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Lincoln Financial Foundation is helping to strengthen educational programming in Philadelphia through $927,500 in recent grants to 30 local nonprofit agencies that sustain learning. These grants are a portion of $2.1 million in charitable funds the foundation has allocated for Philadelphia in 2013.
City Year Greater Philadelphia received $70,000 to support its Whole School Whole Child Initiative in Edison High School for the fourth consecutive year. Philadelphia’s 230 corps members will reach more than 14,000 students at seven Philadelphia public schools during the 2013-2014 school year. City Year teams work directly with school administrations to serve students who most need additional support. As role models and tutors, they form a unique relationship with students, stressing academic support, after-school programming and positive school activities to reinforce a well-rounded educational environment, high school graduation and college readiness. Lincoln Financial employees volunteer alongside the City Year corps throughout the year and provide additional mentoring and career and professional development assistance to their City Year corps members.
Additional education grants awarded include:
- $115,000 to Philadelphia Futures for its College Retention and Success program, which will directly support core services offered to more than 300 collegians during the 2013-2014 program year.
- $100,000 to the Eagles Charitable Foundation to support its Eye Mobile, providing free vision care including eye exams, prescription eyeglasses and follow-up care to elementary and middle school children, and its Book Mobile, serving underprivileged children at schools, libraries, recreation centers and summer programs and allowing the children to select their very own new book.
- $90,000 to Teach For America to continue expanding the number of its corps members teaching in Philadelphia classrooms, as well as support for four TFA Philadelphia corps members.
- $65,000 over two years to Franklin Institute to support the Partnerships for Achieving Careers in Technology and Science (PACTS) program of intensive school-year and summer study of earth science, robotics, forensics and architecture for 125 middle and high school students, as well as the ACCESS program, providing free field trips to the museum for children from underserved schools.
- $60,000 over two years to Steppingstone Foundation for its academic and scholar enrichment and summer support programs.
- $40,000 over two years to Project Forward Leap Foundation for its summer education and year-round enrichment program for public school students.
- $30,000 over two years to Please Touch Museum to support its year-round ACES (Achievement through Community Service, Education and Skill Building) program, a work-based learning, enrichment and mentoring program serving 13 low-income, at-risk high school students.
- $30,000 to the Police Athletic League of Philadelphia for three Adopt-a-Center sites, a program that provides homework clubs, literacy programs and computer education in League youth centers.
- $30,000 over two years to the Zoological Society of Philadelphia for Zoo CREW (Champions for Restoring Endangered Wildlife), which teaches freshmen and sophomore students about the threats facing at-risk species and gives them the opportunity to create a community conservation education plan that they can then carry out in their community.
- $25,000 over two years to After-School Activities Partnerships to support city-wide after-school programs and enrichment activities, including chess, debate, drama and Scrabble clubs.
- $25,000 over two years to Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia for its School Success program in 25 schools in the School District of Philadelphia aimed at low-income students who aspire to attend college.
- $25,000 to the Children’s Literacy Initiative to support its Philadelphia Model Classrooms Project over the 2013-2014 school year, which will provide literacy-focused professional development and classroom resources for kindergarten through third grade teachers and principals.
- $25,000 to People’s Emergency Center for the Digital Inclusion youth education programs, including Sixth Grade Stars, Digital Connectors and Teen Technology Network, available to low-income students.
- $25,000 to Philadelphia Education Fund for its College Access program, providing one-on-one college prep guidance to low-income, at-risk students in three city high schools.
- $25,000 to Philadelphia Youth Network for its 2013 WorkReady summer internship program, providing high school juniors and seniors workforce development opportunities.
- $20,000 to The Enterprise Center for its youth-focused business education programming, which uses entrepreneurial education to provide high school students with skills in professional writing, financial literacy, higher order problem solving and public speaking.
- $15,000 to the John Bartram Association for the Southwest Philadelphia School Initiative, providing pre-school through middle school students with free bus transportation and admission to the Bartram Gardens and House, as well as hands-on seasonal lessons about botany, horticulture, birds and colonial Philadelphia history.
- $15,000 to Philadelphia Academies providing high school students with career-connected education, industry and college tours, and college prep activities.
- $15,000 to Philadelphia School Partnership for its Great School Compact, a joint commitment of the School District of Philadelphia, area charter schools, the Mayor's Office and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to expand the availability and types of high-quality options and to dramatically reduce the number of chronically underperforming schools in the City of Philadelphia.
- $12,500 to Children’s Village to support early childhood education and after-school programs for youth in Chinatown.
- $12,500 to Philadelphia READS to help strengthen the literacy skills of elementary students in Philadelphia through mentoring, book drives, summer reading and parent literacy workshops.
- $10,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern Pennsylvania to extend its successful school-based mentoring program in Philadelphia public schools.
- $10,000 to Need in Deed for Service Learning programs targeting students ages 8-14 and cultivating academic connections to challenging social problems facing urban populations.
- $10,000 to Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for the Green City Teacher program, which trains and supports Philadelphia educators to introduce horticulture and environmental education to their students and start or expand school gardens.
- $7,500 to Wagner Free Institute of Science for GeoKids, a natural sciences education program for students in four North Philadelphia elementary schools.
- $5,000 to Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia for after-school programming for elementary and middle school students at its West Kensington branch.
- $5,000 to Mighty Writers for its after-school literacy programs and writing workshops, helping students improve their writing skills.
- $5,000 to the Pennsylvania Council on Economic Education for financial literacy programs that promote economic and financial education from kindergarten through high school, including enhanced curriculum support and teacher professional development.
- $5,000 to Springboard Collaborative to support its intensive summer reading instruction program for teachers, parents and students in low-performing schools.
About Lincoln Financial Group
Lincoln Financial Group has set aside almost $10 million of its pre-tax earnings for charitable causes that support philanthropic endeavors in the communities where its employees work. Lincoln Financial allocated more than $2.1 million to support nonprofits in Philadelphia in 2012. Since 2006, Lincoln Financial has contributed more than $17.4 million to Philadelphia-area nonprofits. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) and its affiliates. With headquarters in the Philadelphia region, the companies of Lincoln Financial Group had assets under management of $186 billion as of March 31, 2013. Through its affiliated companies, Lincoln Financial Group offers: annuities; life, group life, disability and dental insurance; employer-sponsored retirement plans; savings plans; and comprehensive financial planning and advisory services. For more information, including a copy of our most recent SEC reports containing our balance sheets, please visit www.LincolnFinancial.com.
Contact: Byron Champlin
Lincoln Financial Foundation
(603) 226-5554
