NEWARK, N.J., July 23, 2012 - The Prudential Foundation recently awarded $1.25 million in new grants to YouthBuild Newark (YBN), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the Financial Clinic and the Newark Trust for Education, which support Newark community development, public school education reform, youth development and financial empowerment services for the working poor.
“The mission of The Prudential Foundation is to promote strong communities and improve the social outcomes in the places where we work and live,” said Lata Reddy, vice president, Corporate Social Responsibility at Prudential and president of The Prudential Foundation. “We are pleased to continue our support of these four outstanding nonprofit organizations that are delivering holistic services to help our neighbors in Newark achieve brighter futures.”
In Newark, more than 7,000 youth aged 16 to 24 are not enrolled in high school or college and are unemployed. To help address this challenge, the Foundation awarded a two-year $400,000 grant to YouthBuild Newark, which serves as an alternative vocational school integrating academic instruction and hands-on construction training. YBN will use the funds to increase the number of youth it serves and build its organizational infrastructure. Since YBN’s founding in 2002, 80 percent of its students have earned high school equivalency diplomas, and 83 percent have become gainfully employed and/or enrolled in post-secondary education and training. The Prudential Foundation previously awarded $1.19 million to YBN.
The Foundation also awarded a two-year $300,000 grant to LISC for its assessment of its Building Sustainable Communities initiative aimed to transform disadvantaged neighborhoods in Newark and several other cities around the country into appealing places to shop, play and learn with easy access to jobs and social services. LISC’s Research and Assessment department will use the grant to develop a reporting and analysis framework to measure the impact of the Sustainable Communities programs.
The third approved grant totals $300,000 over two years for The Financial Clinic, which helps the working poor face immediate financial challenges and set long-term goals for financial mobility. With support from The Prudential Foundation, the Clinic launched a Fellowship Program last year, placing two Fellows in Newark who have helped hundreds of people create financial plans, increase their credit scores, reduce their debt, open savings plans, complete federal student aid forms and increase the use of mainstream banking services. The new grant will help the Clinic expand the Fellowship Program in Newark and manage its organizational infrastructure.
The Board also approved a $250,000 grant to the Newark Trust for Education (the Trust), an independent local education fund dedicated to ensuring a quality public education for all Newark children. The grant supports the Trust in managing the Newark Model Schools Investment Fund (the Fund), a special purpose fund to support new and innovative public school models in Newark. In 2009, The Prudential Foundation made a $1,000,000 leadership contribution to launch the Trust and an additional $250,000 in 2011 to create the Fund to support high quality school options for all Newark Public School students.
The Prudential Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported by The Prudential Insurance Company of America, a subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc. The Prudential Foundation focuses its grant making strategy in the areas of education, economic development and arts and civic infrastructure; and it supports community engagement efforts of Prudential employees through Matching Gifts and other programs that recognize their volunteer work.
Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $943 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2012, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com.
