National Grid Boosts Support For City Year With A Multi-year International Commitment

BOSTON, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- City Year, an education-focused nonprofit organization that unites young leaders for a year of service to keep students in school and on track to graduate, today announced a renewed, multi-year international commitment from National Grid, an international energy delivery company in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.  National Grid will help support City Year programs at schools in Boston, Providence, Brooklyn and London.

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In Boston, National Grid will continue to sponsor City Year AmeriCorps members at the Blackstone Elementary School in Boston's South End, where they help students improve attendance, behavior and educational performance. The sponsorship also includes numerous volunteer opportunities for National Grid employees.

"We are passionate about investing in the communities we serve.  City Year has a proven track record of keeping at-risk children in school and on-track to graduate.  We're hard pressed to think of a better investment than that," said Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts.  "It's an honor to sponsor the dedicated corps members who work tirelessly with students to provide the skills and motivation they need to get ahead."

National Grid has been active with City Year since 2002, supporting various programs designed to remove barriers to achievement for young people in the communities it serves. 

"We are grateful to National Grid for its $1 million commitment and unwavering dedication in helping build the urban graduation pipeline," said Michael Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of City Year. "The company has stepped up as a leading corporate sponsor and is helping us to grow in local communities.  Their support has allowed us to deploy more teams of City Year AmeriCorps members whose civic energy and idealism are transforming the schools in which we serve."

In Massachusetts, National Grid will donate $300,000 to City Year over three years. City Year also received grants from National Grid in NY, Rhode Island and London, bringing the total company contribution to $1 million.

City Year AmeriCorps members serve full-time in schools implementing the Whole School Whole Child model to advance school-wide reform practices and provide individualized academic and social-emotional supports to students exhibiting any of the early warning indicators of poor attendance, disruptive behavior and course failure in math and English – the factors that are the strongest predictors of a student's risk of dropping out of school.  Whole School Whole Child strengthens tiered student supports, improves coordination of teaching and learning, increases teacher effectiveness by allowing more time for differentiated instruction, and expands and optimizes learning time with before- and after-school tutoring.

About City Year

City Year is an education-focused, nonprofit organization founded in 1988, that partners with public schools to provide full-time targeted intervention for students most at risk of dropping out.  In more than 20 communities across the United States and through two international affiliates, our teams of young AmeriCorps leaders support students by focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class tutoring, mentoring, and after school programs that keep kids in school and on track to graduate.

NATIONAL GRID

National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE:NGG) is an electricity and gas company that connects consumers to energy sources through its networks. The company is at the heart of one of the greatest challenges facing our society - to create new, sustainable energy solutions for the future and developing an energy system that underpins economic prosperity in the 21st century. National Grid holds a vital position at the center of the energy system and it 'joins everything up.'

In the northeast U.S., we connect more than seven million gas and electric customers to vital energy sources, essential for our modern lifestyles. In Great Britain, we run the gas and electricity systems that our society is built on, delivering gas and electricity across the country. 

National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island. It manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), and owns over 4,000 megawatts of contracted electricity generation, providing power to over one million LIPA customers. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in northeastern U.S., serving approximately 3.4 million customers in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

For more information please visit our website: www.nationalgridus.com. 

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SOURCE City Year