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 Louisiana

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kaitlin Gastrock | Teach For America
646.315.1396 | kaitlin.gastrock@teachforamerica.org

BATON ROUGE, La., January 24, 2012—The Entergy Charitable Foundation announced today that it has donated $355,000 to Teach For America in Louisiana to support the nonprofit’s work in communities in and around Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Entergy has given nearly $1,700,000 to Teach For America in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, and over $8,000,000 to local education efforts more broadly.

Entergy’s investment will support Teach For America’s effort to recruit, train, and support top college graduates and professionals to teach in high-need local schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort for educational excellence and equity. This year, more than 150 Teach For America teachers, also known as corps members, are reaching more than 9,000 students in local classrooms. Another 100 Teach For America alumni call the Capital region home and work from all sectors to expand educational opportunity.

Entergy has long been a leading local contributor in expanding the region’s efforts to revitalize its education landscape. 

Today, Bill Mohl, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C., visited the classroom of Teach For America alumna Anne Lyneis at Children’s Charter School in Baton Rouge to see Teach For America’s educational efforts in action and read with the class of fourth-graders.

“Education is a key driver of economic sustainability and critical to strengthening our communities in Louisiana,” said Bill Mohl. “We’re proud to support Teach For America’s efforts to give every child the excellent education that will open the doors to their future success.”

“We’re grateful for Entergy’s ongoing support for Teach For America-South Louisiana and the effort to expand educational opportunity for our kids no matter what their zip code or family income,” said Michael Tipton, executive director of Teach For America in South Louisiana. “Entergy is a valued member of the education community here in Baton Rouge and across Louisiana.”

Beyond their two-year corps commitment, 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. Alumni like State Education Superintendent John White (Greater Newark ‘99), New Schools for New Orleans founder Sarah Usdin (South Louisiana ’92), and Children’s Charter School principal Mark Comanducci (South Louisiana ’04) are among the many leaders who began their careers in education through Teach For America.

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 www.entergy.com.

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 www.teachforamerica.org.

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