1.24.2005 ET

(CSRwire) STAMFORD, CT) - Keep America Beautiful, Inc., America's leading nonprofit community improvement organization, has been awarded $100,000 from the Toyota USA Foundation to launch the Clean Sweep U.S.A. Environmental Education Program. This program will support Keep America Beautiful's new Clean Sweep U.S.A. science education Web site.

The award is one of four that the Toyota USA Foundation board of directors announced recently at its semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C.. The grant will provide a means for promoting use of the newly-established Web site among teachers, the development of math and science classroom materials, and a teacher training initiative that will reach 50,000 6th through 9th grade teachers and 1.2 million students.

"We're very excited about being partners with such an outstanding organization as Keep America Beautiful," said Atsushi "Art" Nimi, president, Toyota USA Foundation, in announcing the award. "This innovative Web site and education program are being developed to help both students and their families understand about the enormous waste problems facing not only the United States but the entire world. On the Web and in the classroom, students will become better informed about such things as garbage, source reduction, composting, recycling, waste to energy and landfills," he added.

"We are thrilled that the Toyota USA Foundation is supporting Keep America Beautiful's educational programs," said G. Raymond Empson, president of Keep America Beautiful. "This generous donation reflects Toyota's commitment to environmental education, and it will help us continue to provide Internet resources to students, teachers and families about how to reduce and manage waste in America's communities. The Clean Sweep U.S.A. program is all about building knowledge and critical thinking skills regarding environmental responsibility. The Toyota USA Foundation's grant will help us make a positive impact on communities today and for generations to come."

A portion of the Toyota funds will go to designing, creating and producing an environmental education poster that will be mailed to over 50,000 teachers to coincide with Earth Day 2005. The poster, which will contain classroom science activities, will also introduce teachers to the new Web site.

Since 1953, Keep America Beautiful has been engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their local community environments. Through its national network of nearly 1,000 affiliates and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful helps communities prevent litter and reduce, reuse, recycle and properly manage waste materials. Its signature event is the Great American Cleanup™, the nation's largest community improvement program, which takes place annually from March 1 through May 31. More than 2.3 million volunteers in 15,000 communities from coast to coast took part in 2004 Great American Cleanup community improvement activities.

Joining Keep America Beautiful, Inc., in receiving awards were the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy, Los Angles, CA, the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI, and Earth's Birthday Project, Santa Fe, NM.

The Toyota USA Foundation is a $40 million charitable endowment created to support innovative education programs serving kindergarten through 12th grade in the United States, with special emphasis on mathematics and science.

For more information please contact: