Pearson Congratulates Jumpstart on Prestigious Philanthropy Award

NEW YORK, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Preschoolers from low-income communities across the U.S. will be the real winners today when Jumpstart CEO Rob Waldron accepts the Directors Nonprofit Excellence Award given annually by the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy.

The $25,000 winner's check, presented by CECP co-founder Paul Newman on national "Philanthropy Day" will go straight to fund Jumpstart, a national non-profit that trains college students to provide a year of one-to-one tutoring to preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Jumpstart was founded by concerned students at Yale University who thought they could make a difference with preschool children at New Haven Head Start. Eleven years later, this simple idea has grown into 2,100 college students working with 8,000 children in 24 states and Washington, DC.

Jumpstart recruits college students to mentor an at-risk preschool child for a full school year. The student gets paid a Federal Work-Study salary for the community service and the child gets something you can't put a price on -- personal attention in developing his or her literacy skills and a better chance to succeed in school.

"All of us at Pearson are thrilled that the incredible work being done through the Jumpstart program has been recognized by this prestigious group," said Bill Barke, President and CEO of Addison Wesley Higher Education, a division of Pearson PLC . "We know the value of early intervention, and are proud to be partnered with a group that is working within our communities to address the needs of children at risk."

He continued, "Frankly, the stakes are high: studies show that 50% of low income children enter first grade up to two years behind their peers in preschool skills; research tells us that three-year-olds from middle-class families have greater vocabularies than the parents in our very poor communities; and we know that many states project the number of prison cells for the future by the literacy rate of students in the third grade. We hope that through our support of Jumpstart we can help change all of this." Pearson's partnership with Jumpstart includes the Pearson Teacher Fellow program which provides financial support, training, and mentoring to graduates who sign on to teach in Head Start and other preschools serving low-income communities.

Jumpstart CEO Rob Waldron said, "We're honored to receive this prestigious award on Corporate Philanthropy Day, and thank the CECP for recognizing the value of the work we are doing with young children. We could not have taken the great strides we have these past couple of years without the encouragement and support of our corporate partners -- both Pearson and Starbucks -- and we thank them for nominating Jumpstart. Their dedication and support to our mission, and the involvement of their employees across the U.S., has been critical to the growth of Jumpstart and has dramatically increased our ability to impact those children who most need our help."

In announcing the award, Charles Moore, Executive Director of CECP said, "We encourage nonprofit organizations to reach out to corporations in their communities to build lasting partnerships. Jumpstart's ongoing relationships with Pearson and Starbucks embody the best practices that CECP believes are essential to a healthy, effective and sustainable nonprofit sector." The CECP Directors Award recognizes a non-profit organization that has distinguished itself by building an effective partnership with a corporation in its community.

About CECP

The Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) is the only national forum of business CEOs and Chairpersons with an agenda exclusively focused on corporate philanthropy. The Committee's mission is to raise the level and quality of strategic corporate giving nationally and globally by identifying, educating, promoting, and recognizing best practices and measurements of corporate philanthropy. CECP's members embrace and encourage other business leaders to promote the case for corporate philanthropy. For more information, visit http://www.corphilanthropy.org/.

About Jumpstart

Founded in Boston in 1993 and now active in 24 states, Jumpstart is committed to developing the language, literacy, and social skills of low- income pre-school children to ensure that they have the needed skills to succeed in school. Jumpstart recruits and trains college students to mentor preschoolers, while encouraging families to get involved in learning. Maintaining excellent corporate partnerships is of foremost importance to Jumpstart, which has ongoing relationships with Starbucks, Pearson, American Eagle, and Monitor Group. These business partners have provided invaluable lessons in branding, defining strategic goals, recruitment, and enterprise scaling. By reaching out to corporations that share a passion for children, Jumpstart helped more students than would have been otherwise been possible. Jumpstart was nominated for The Directors' Award by Starbucks and Pearson. For more information, visit http://www.jstart.org/.

About The Pearson-Jumpstart Partnership

The Pearson Teacher Fellowship is at the heart of the Pearson-Jumpstart partnership. This two-year fellowship program in early childhood education creates a career path for Jumpstart graduates. The Pearson Teacher Fellowship enables bright, dedicated Jumpstart alumni to enter the teaching profession by providing a stipend, intensive training, mentoring from a Pearson professional and numerous other resources intended to ensure the Fellows' success as new teachers.

The Pearson Businesses -- The Financial Times, The Penguin Group and Pearson Education -- support Jumpstart's mission by publishing books for and inspired by Jumpstart, providing educational materials to Jumpstart-affiliated schools, and sponsoring local fund-raising events. The company's volunteer programs give Pearson employees across the country the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of Jumpstart's children. Through activities such as readers' programs, local playground builds and school clean-up days, book and supply drives, and mentoring, Pearson employees become directly engaged with the many communities Jumpstart services. For more information, visit http://www.pearson.com/pdfs/2004/jumpstart_20040428.pdf

About Pearson

Based in London, Pearson is an international media company with market leading businesses in education, business information and consumer publishing. Its primary operations include Pearson Education, The Financial Times Group, and the Penguin Group. For more information, visit http://www.pearson.com/.