Post-News Charities Awards $300,000 in Charitable Grants

Post-News Charities Awards $300,000 in Charitable Grants

DENVER, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Post-News Charities, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, today awarded $300,000 to eight metro-Denver nonprofit agencies that positively impact children, youth and literacy.

Agencies receiving Post-News Charities grants are the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Central City Opera, The Children's Hospital, The Children's Museum of Denver, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Emily Griffith Foundation, Opera Colorado and Regis University.

Throughout the year, Post-News Charities raises money through special events and event partnerships with local nonprofit agencies. All funds raised, as well as matching funds from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, are given to charitable organizations in the metro-Denver area through a grant process. In 2003, more than $1.5 million was distributed.

"We're thrilled to be able to give such a significant amount of money to Denver-area organizations that produce meaningful and worthwhile programs for children and literacy," said Tracy Ulmer, director of promotion and community relations for the Denver Newspaper Agency, who distributed the grant checks during a luncheon earlier today. "These agencies do important work that benefits the entire community."

Following are brief descriptions of the organizations and programs being supported by the Post-News Charities grants:

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities has been serving the community for over 25 years, striving to make the arts an integral part of people's lives. The Center's children's theater productions and Arts Day programs offer experiences that teach students about the wonder of the stage by involving them in the creative learning process. Each year, over 75,000 students experience the Center's award-winning children's theater productions and Arts Day program, a hands-on, educational field trip experience.

For 25 years Central City Opera's education and community service programs have operated year-round, augmenting school music programs with interactive educational presentations in which students learn about and participate in musical theater. This grant will support their efforts to make community-based programs available to students who might otherwise find opera to be economically or geographically inaccessible.

The Children's Hospital is a private, not-for-profit pediatric health care network dedicated 100% to caring for kids. It has been ranked one of the best children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report for more than a decade. Children's will be using this funding to help build the new Children's Hospital on the Fitzsimons biomedical campus, a site that will help the hospital meet the needs of the next century.

The Children's Museum of Denver is the only facility of its kind in the Rocky Mountain Region that is dedicated to providing a rich and nurturing play environment for newborn through eight-year-old children and their caregivers. This grant will support "Get Caught Reading Month," a program designed to enhance young children's early literacy development and to provide caregivers, teachers and parents with tools that foster literacy development.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science's mission is to promote the study, understanding and enjoyment of the universe, nature, science and human culture. In addition to an expansive collection of objects, an extensive library, permanent and temporary exhibitions, and IMAX(R) films, the Museum has a major focus on educational programs, which reach approximately 400,000 people annually through school tours, adult lectures, children's workshops and outreach. This grant will enable the Museum to continue delivering exciting hands-on science education to diverse youth in our community, building confidence, enthusiasm and competency.

Last year more than 7,000 clients/students were served through Emily Griffith Foundation programs or projects, which include a literacy program that will be supported by this funding. The goals of this program are to provide literacy and basic skills training to adults; to increase literacy skills to allow adults to enter career and technical training programs; and to provide tutoring services to help students succeed and complete their training.

Each season, Opera Colorado produces three mainstage productions in addition to providing education and outreach programs for Colorado's school children and adults. These education and outreach programs introduce children who otherwise may not have access to such programs to the many aspects of opera production. Nearly 20,000 students were served by Opera Colorado's education and outreach work last year.

Regis University recognizes the importance of literacy education in our community and has a long history of serving those who may not have access to the best educational opportunities. The Reading with Meaning in Mind summer program engages at-risk children in one-on-one reading improvement. The program also involves elementary and middle school teachers, who learn new skills and strategies for teaching reading comprehension through working with these at-risk readers.

The mission of the Denver Newspaper Agency's community relations division -- Post-News Community -- is to improve the quality of life through support of programs that benefit children, arts and culture, education and literacy, and the provision of basic human services. Post-News Community accomplishes this through the implementation of various community-giving programs including Post-News Charities and Post-News Season To Share, funds of the McCormick Tribune Foundation; sponsorships by The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, and the DNA ACTS (Denver Newspaper Agency Assisting the Community Through Service) employee volunteer program.


Source: Denver Newspaper Agency

CONTACT: Jim Nolan, Director of Communication, +1-303-892-2900, or cell,
+1-303-981-3356, jnolan@denvernewspaperagency.com, or Kristin Stork, Community
Relations Manager, +1-303-892-2928, kstork@denvernewspaperagency.com, both of
Denver Newspaper Agency

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos available upon request.

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