Entergy Charitable Foundation Issues $1 Million in Grants

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 50 nonprofit groups have been selected to receive $1 million in grants from the Entergy Charitable Foundation.

Among the Entergy shareholder-funded grants are a $100,000 grant to Loyola University to support the school's environmental studies program and a $100,000 grant to City Year, Inc. for its Whole School, Whole Child program that helps students stay in school. It is run in partnership with the Recovery School District in New Orleans.

As part of the Whole School, Whole Child program, City Year "corps members" spend 10 months tutoring students in the city's poorest performing schools, running afterschool programs and teaching students about social issues such as the environment, poverty and violence.

Among the other education-related grants is a $60,077 grant to Catholic Charities in New Orleans for its six-week "Summer Witness" program for at-risk children.

In addition, the foundation gave $112,500 to Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana to support the expansion of the group's Community Kitchen. The kitchen allows the organization to produce up to 2 million meals a year for feeding programs aimed at children, the elderly and disaster victims. The group distributed 24 million pounds of food last year and has a goal of doubling that total by 2013.

Other grants included:

• $50,000 to Education's Next Horizon of Baton Rouge to support that group's work to improve access to quality pre-school education, improving the academic performance of older at-risk students, and reducing the dropout rate.
• $60,000 to the Teaching Responsible Earth Education's "Lost Treasures" program, which teaches second- and third-graders the basics of environmental science.
• $30,000 to the Peekskill City School District for revamping the science curriculum and the purchase of laptops for use in science classes.

The Entergy Charitable Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation wholly funded by Entergy Corporation shareholders. The goal of the foundation is to support initiatives that help create and sustain thriving communities. ECF has a special focus on low-income initiatives as well as educational and literacy programs and efforts to protect the environment. The ECF accepts applications three times per year. For more information or to access an application form from the Entergy Charitable Foundation, look under "Our Community/Corporate and Foundation Giving" at www.entergy.com.

Entergy is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.

Entergy's online address is www.entergy.com

SOURCE Entergy Corporation