Verizon Awards $20,000 in support of the PLC

Representatives from Verizon today announced grants totaling $120,000 to support Communities In Schools in North Carolina (CISNC).  Today, they presented a $20,000 check to Communities In Schools (CIS) of Cape Fear at the Mary S. Mosley Performance Learning Center (PLC).  CIS of Cape Fear is among five CIS affiliates each receiving a Verizon Foundation grant of $20,000.

“In a world moving at the speed of technology, better equipping at-risk students with technology-based education programs will help them succeed in the classroom and prepare them for life after graduation,” said Mike Bickel, Senior Vice President of Client Services with Verizon, and new Board Member to CISNC.  “We’re thrilled to assist Communities In Schools Performance Learning Centers with funding and programs like Thinkfinity.org to help educators access the resources needed to improve student achievement.”

Performance Learning Centers are nontraditional high schools and have, for the last five years,  secured the graduation of some of our state’s most at-risk students—young people who have fallen behind their peers due to earlier difficulties in learning and attendance, personal problems or plain-and-simple marginalization by their traditional schools.

The Verizon Foundation grant will help provide online books, career and college exploration activities, service learning opportunities, innovative math and science activities and, more generally, a better learning environment for these specific students in New Hanover County.

“This partnership with Verizon could not come at a better time,” said Linda Harrill, CISNC President & CEO.  “If we want a well-educated workforce, then we must invest the resources necessary to provide all of our students the chance they need to reach their potential, especially those whom some might dismiss as lost causes. The PLCs show that there is no such thing as a lost cause: every child has value, potential and can thrive under the right educational environment.”

For more information about Performance Learning Centers, visit www.cisnc.org/initiatives/performance_learning_centers.

The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, uses its technology, financial resources and partnerships to address critical social issues, with a focus on education and domestic violence prevention. In 2010, the foundation awarded nearly $67 million to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation’s largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered nearly 6 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

Communities In Schools of Cape Fear is part of the national CIS group, the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization, and the only one proven to both decrease dropout rates and increase on-time graduation.  During the 2009-2010 school year, the CIS network in North Carolina worked with 140,000 youth and their families across the state, empowering more than 98 percent of its high school students to remain in school.  For more information, please visit www.ciscapefear.org or call 1-910-343-1901.