Pompano Beach, Fla., Oct. 09, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Waste Management, the leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services in North America, announced on Oct. 9 a $5 million donation to Step Up For Students, helping lower-income children attend the K-12 school that best fits their learning needs.
The contribution was celebrated at Highlands Christian Academy in Pompano Beach with an engaging activity, teaching students about recycling. Third- through fifth-grade students learned what items can and cannot be recycled, and to help with the activity, Waste Management brought out its recycling robot, Cycler.
During the event, Dawn McCormick, Waste Management director of communications & community relations, presented the $5 million check to Step Up. The donation will fund 744 K-12 scholarships for the 2018-19 school year through the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, which serves lower-income children in Florida so they can attend the school of their choice.
Since first partnering with Step Up in 2007, Waste Management has contributed $42 million, providing 8,237 scholarships.
“We are proud of the impact we’ve had on Florida schoolchildren through our contributions to the Step Up For Students Scholarship Program,” said McCormick. “Waste Management takes pride in helping our communities become better places to live and work and we know this partnership is doing just that.”
Pompano Beach Mayor Lamar Fisher attended the event and thanked Waste Management for giving back to the community. Mayor Fisher, an alumni of Highlands Christian Academy, shared the impact of the Step Up Scholarship in Pompano Beach.
“In Pompano Beach, 590 students at 9 participating schools are using scholarships provided by Step Up For Students,” said Mayor Fisher. “Thanks to companies like Waste Management, families in our community have more educational options.”
Step Up helps administer the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, allowing recipients to choose between a scholarship that helps with private school tuition and fees, or one that assists with transportation costs to out-of-county public schools. The program is funded by corporations through dollar-for-dollar tax credited donations.
“Thanks to Waste Management, more schoolchildren will have the opportunity to attend the school that fits the way they learn, regardless of where they live or their parents’ income,” said Anne White, chief operating officer of Step Up For Students. “On behalf of Step Up and the families we serve, we thank Waste Management for their generosity and their commitment to support our mission.”
For the 2018-19 school year, Step Up is serving nearly 98,300 students throughout Florida with tuition scholarships valued at up to $6,519 per student for kindergarten through fifth grade, $6,815 for sixth through eighth grade, and $7,111 for ninth through 12th grade. More than 1,800 private schools participate in the scholarship program statewide. In Broward County, more than 8,900 students at over 150 schools participate in the Step Up For Students Scholarship Program.
About Step Up For Students
Step Up For Students is a nonprofit organization that helps administer the income-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Students who qualify for the national free or reduced-price lunch, or those who are homeless or in foster or out-of-home care, may qualify. The scholarship program provides tuition assistance to the private school of their parents’ choice or financial assistance to offset the transportation cost to an out-of-district public school. Since 2001, Step Up has awarded more than 680,000 scholarships.
A first-of-its-kind study on the long-term effects of the scholarship program by The Urban Institute found that students who use the scholarship four or more years are up to 43 percent more likely to go to college and up to 29 percent more likely to earn an associates degree than their peers.
Step Up also helps administer the state-funded Gardiner Scholarship for Florida students with certain special needs, plus two new scholarships, the Hope Scholarship for public school students who are bullied and the Reading Scholarship Accounts for third- through fifth-grade students enrolled in public school who struggle with reading.
For more information, visit: www.StepUpForStudents.org.
About Waste Management
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management environmental services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides collection, transfer, disposal services, and recycling and resource recovery. It is also a leading developer, operator and owner of landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The Company’s customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.
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