5.15.2008 - 10:35am ET

(CSRwire) NEW ORLEANS, May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Entergy Charitable Foundation today announced grants of more than $2.1 million to 78 organizations throughout Entergy's operating area. Almost half of the total funding, approximately $1 million, is earmarked for education programs in south Louisiana.

The largest grant, $500,000, is going to the St. Bernard Parish School Board to help fund construction of the Chalmette High School Community Learning Center. The center is part of the rebuilding program at the high school. It will feature meeting rooms for community organizations, a health care center, a community performance theater, and possible shared library facilities as well as a full-scale cultural arts program for all of St. Bernard Parish children.

The other large education-oriented grant was $350,000 to the Teach for America program operating in south Louisiana and New Orleans. Adding to the education grants were smaller awards given to KIPP New Orleans Inc., the United Negro College Fund, Inc., and the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation.

In other areas Entergy serves, grants were awarded to the Hendrick Hudson School District in Montrose, N.Y.; the Edison Plaza Museum in Beaumont, Texas; and the Boys & Girls Club of Phillips County, Ark.

"The goals of the Entergy Charitable Foundation are clear-cut. We help the communities Entergy serves through grants that strengthen education and help break the cycle of poverty," said Patricia Riddlebarger, Entergy Corporation's director of corporate social responsibility. "It's part of our longstanding commitment to the people we serve."

The Entergy Charitable Foundation is a private, not-for-profit foundation wholly funded by Entergy Corporation. The foundation's purpose is to help low-income families and individuals escape poverty by providing them with tools such as education, job training and placement, literacy programs, affordable housing and helping them build assets.

The ECF accepts applications three times per year. For more information or to access an application form from the Entergy Charitable Foundation, look under "Our Community/Corporate and Foundation Giving" at http://www.entergy.com.

Entergy Corporation 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 14,300 employees.

Entergy's online address is http://www.entergy.com.

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