Entergy Corporation Commits $150,000 to KIPP New Orleans Schools

75 Entergy Executives Spend Day Sprucing Up KIPP Central City

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Jun 15, 2011, 12:00 ET

NEW ORLEANS, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Approximately 75 Entergy Corporation executives turned up at KIPP Central City campus on Wednesday armed with paint brushes and a check for $150,000 to help KIPP New Orleans Schools build on its record of success.

The Entergy volunteers spent most of Wednesday painting, mulching and generally sprucing up the campus of KIPP Central City Primary and Academy schools on Thalia Street.

The executives were also on hand for a brief ceremony Wednesday morning announcing the new $150,000 grant to help fund KIPP New Orleans Schools' plan to add five more schools by 2014.

The latest grant brings to $520,000 the amount Entergy has donated to the group since 2008. KIPP New Orleans Schools currently operates seven charter schools serving 1,800 students and plans to open two additional primary schools in August. Once it expands to 12 schools in 2014, KIPP schools will serve 5,300 students, or 13 percent of the public school population in New Orleans.

"Entergy's support of and investment in education and community reform in New Orleans is having a demonstrable impact on the lives of so many children, families and the city in its entirety," said Rhonda Kalifey-Aluise, Executive Director, KIPP New Orleans Schools. "We're gratified to have Entergy as a partner in our charge – and look forward to continued collaboration with the company as we carry on in our quest to see legions of students to and through college."

Patty Riddlebarger, director of corporate social responsibility for Entergy, said, "KIPP New Orleans Schools is creating a network of schools that is unrivaled in this region. Its students prove every day that children from low-income neighborhoods can outperform their peers academically.

"We hope our most recent donation helps them achieve their expansion plans so more of our children in New Orleans can have access to these tremendous schools," she said.

KIPP, which stands for Knowledge Is Power Program, is a national network of free, open-enrollment charter schools that provide college-preparatory curriculum to students in underserved areas.

Entergy executives, in New Orleans for a company leadership conference, spent about six hours Wednesday at KIPP Central City painting doors, spreading mulch on the school playground and assisting with other projects.

Entergy is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas,

Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $11 billion and approximately 15,000 employees.

Entergy's online address is entergy.com

SOURCE Entergy Corporation