Entergy Corporation : Entergy Charitable Foundation Grants $355,000 to Teach For America in South Louisiana

Funds to Support Local Teaching Corps and Deepen Organization's Impact in South Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS, La., December 6, 2011 -- Teach For America has been awarded a $355,000 grant from the Entergy Charitable Foundation, the organization recently announced. The funds primarily will help continue Teach For America's work in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as well as other communities in south Louisiana, to support effective teachers for high-need schools. The announcement was made last week during a visit to 2010 Teach For America corps member Kyle Coleman's 2nd grade classroom at KIPP Central City Primary School.

Entergy has long been a leading local contributor in expanding the city's efforts to revitalize its education landscape. Since Hurricane Katrina, Entergy has given nearly $1.7 million to Teach For America in south Louisiana and has donated more than $8 million to other local education efforts.

"We're incredibly excited and grateful for Entergy's generous investment in our efforts alongside communities in New Orleans and other communities in south Louisiana to ensure every student receives an excellent education," said Katie Walmsely, managing director of development for Teach For America-Greater New Orleans. "These critical funds will enable Teach For America to continue training and supporting effective teachers to become champions of educational equity and excellence for kids in under-resourced classrooms across our state."

Teach For America partners with communities to provide an additional pipeline of effective teachers for our country's highest-need schools. This school year, more than 9,000 corps members from all academic and professional backgrounds, are working alongside local efforts to close the achievement gap in more than 2,600 schools across 43 regions.  Additionally, two-thirds of the organization's nearly 24,000 alumni are working full-time in education, including more than 550 alumni serving as school and system leaders and many others launching innovative efforts to expand educational opportunity.

Currently, Teach For America's Greater New Orleans region is home to 370 corps members who are impacting about 24,000 students daily. More than 600 alumni of Teach For America live in Greater New Orleans; working alongside other members of the community to ensure all children have access to an excellent education. Additionally, Teach For America's South Louisiana region in Baton Rouge supports 150 corps members who are impacting close to 10,000 students. More than 100 alumni call the Capitol region home and continue working from all sectors to expand educational opportunity.

"We are happy to help support the good work that Teach For America does in our local communities," said Charles Rice, president and chief executive officer for Entergy New Orleans, Inc. "The corps members from Teach For America have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of students and play an important role in the community at large."

Teach For America alumni in Louisiana are playing important leadership roles as founders and directors of some of the state's highest-performing public schools serving low-income communities. For example, the school principal and eleven teachers at KIPP Central City Primary School, where today's announcement was held, are Teach For America alumni, as are the principal and 22 teachers at KIPP Central City Academy. 

About Entergy Charitable Foundation

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 forms for the Entergy Charitable Foundation, look under "Our Community/Corporate and Foundation Giving" at .

About Teach For America

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today more than 9,000 corps members are teaching in 43 regions across the country while nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit .