Helping Latino Students Stay on the Road to Graduation

Ford Motor Company Fund and LULAC Announce Ten Winners of New Program to Address Dropout Rate

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ford Motor Company Fund and the League of United Latin American Citizens have announced the ten winners of the Ford Driving Dreams through Education grants. Under the program, each LULAC council will receive $20,000 over a two-year period to implement solutions that address high school dropout rates among Latino students in their communities.  

Every 26 seconds another student gives up on school, resulting in more than one million high school students who drop out annually, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education. A Pew Hispanic Center Study also indicates that despite lower enrollment and attainment rates, young Latinos are just as likely as other youth to say a college education is important for success in life. Nearly half of Latino students don't complete high school on time.

"At Ford, education is a top priority," said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. "We are proud to support local efforts that will inspire Hispanic students to achieve their dreams and build better futures for them and their communities."

The ten grantee recipients are the following:

• LULAC Cesar E. Chavez Council #1086 (Mesa, Ariz.)
• LULAC #1083 (Phoenix, Ariz.)
• LULAC Salinas Council #2055 (Salinas, Calif.)
• Santa Ana LULAC #147 (Santa Ana, Calif.)
• Midwest City LULAC #19002 (Midwest, Okla.)
• Central Texas LULAC #4734 (Temple, Texas)
• Collin County LULAC #4537 (Plano, Texas)
• Greater Houston LULAC Council #4967 (Houston, Texas)
• LULAC Council for Justice, Equality and Business Development #4782 (Farmers Branch, Texas)
• Milwaukee LULAC #326 (Milwaukee, Wis.)

"Education is a critical component to the future success of Latino youth," said LUAC National Executive Director, Brent Wilkes. "LULAC is excited to be working with Ford and our councils to implement local solutions to help more Latino youth graduate from high school."

The grant selection process considered best practices for engaging students, such as mentorship programs, after-school volunteer and extracurricular activities and parental involvement. In addition, each grant recipient developed sustainable programs that reflect the local education landscape and rely on partnerships with local education institutions. The LULAC councils will begin implementing their programs this fall.

For more information on Ford Driving Dreams, please visit www.lulac.org.

About Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services

Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services partners with communities through programs that strengthen innovation in education, driver safety, American heritage and community life. Made possible by funding from Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Company Fund celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2009.  National programs include Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies, which provides high school students with academically rigorous, real world learning experiences, and Ford Driving Skills for Life, which teaches safe driving skills to teenagers through interactive web-based learning and hands-on driving clinics. Each year the Ford Volunteer Corps provides more than 100,000 hours of volunteer support from 20,000 Ford employees for community projects in more than 40 countries.  For more information, visit www.community.ford.com.

About the League of United Latin American Citizens

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.

SOURCE League of United Latin American Citizens