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Alcoa Foundation Launches 2006 ''Safe At Home'' Partnership With Rebuilding Together

Alcoa Foundation Launches 2006 ''Safe At Home'' Partnership With Rebuilding Together

Published 02-15-06

Submitted by Rebuilding Together, Inc.

Alcoa Foundation has expressed interest in ensuring low-income families live in safe and healthy homes. That interest has prompted Alcoa Foundation into a partnership with Rebuilding Together, whose mission is to provide home rehabilitation services to low-income elderly, disabled and families with children, at no charge to the homeowner.

Launched as the "Safe at Home" partnership, Rebuilding Together will provide home modifications in four communities where Alcoa has operating locations such as St. Charles, Louisiana; Waco, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Atlanta, Georgia. Alcoa Foundation, in addition to providing funding support for home modifications will also be collaborating with Rebuilding Together on a co-branded "Safe at Home" brochure designed to give hints on how to create a healthier home environment for low-income families with children.

Patricia Riley Johnson, President & CEO of Rebuilding Together, commented, "It is private sector involvement and commitment, like that of Alcoa Foundation, that enable us to do our job. The need in this country is at a critical level. Substandard housing has a detrimental impact on the health and well-being of low-income families. For families with children, the effects are alarming. The asthma rates among children are at an all time high. The side effects of asthma complications include 10 million lost school days every year, 2 million emergency room visits a year, and an incalculable loss of learning, physical exercise and healthy development for low-income children."

"Alcoa Foundation is pleased to partner with Rebuilding Together because their work exemplifies the fundamental tenets of one of our four Areas of Excellence-- Safe and Healthy Children and Families. It is important that we support organizations that strengthen our communities and provide necessary services to improve the quality of life for those in need." said Velma Monteiro-Tribble - Chief Operating Officer of Alcoa Foundation."

Currently 5.5 million low-income families live in dilapidated housing. Many of these families are forced to spend more than half their income on housing and must make critical decisions about how to spend the rest. Decisions include choosing between food and medications; heat or electricity. The choices rarely include the needed repairs to their homes such as fixing leaky roofs or running faucets, deteriorating pipes and crumbling paint, or installing devices such as grab bars, hand rails or tacking down loose carpeting. Alcoa Foundation's Safe at Home grant and Rebuilding Together will make a difference for the people we can help and in the communities in which they live.

About Alcoa Foundation
Established in 1952, Alcoa Foundation is a global resource that actively invests in improving the quality of life in more than 32 countries around the world where Alcoa operates. The Foundation's grants address global and local needs in Areas of Excellence that include: Conservation and Sustainability, Global Education and Workplace Skills, Business and Community Partnerships and Safe and Healthy Children and Families. Alcoa Foundation manages Alcoa's ACTION and Bravo! programs which recognize the volunteer efforts of employees with grants to the organizations they serve. For more information about Alcoa Foundation, visit www.alcoa.com, under Community.

About Rebuilding Together
Rebuilding Together is the nation's largest non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and revitalize houses and communities to assure that low-income homeowners, particularly those who are elderly and disabled, live in warmth, safety and independence. Through 2005 Rebuilding Together has rehabilitated over 96,120 houses, utilizing 2.5 million volunteers for a market value of $905 million. For more information on Rebuilding Together, call 1-800-473-4229 or consult www.rebuildingtogether.org.

Rebuilding Together, Inc. logo

Rebuilding Together, Inc.

Rebuilding Together, Inc.

Rebuilding Together is the nation's largest non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and revitalize houses and communities to assure that low-income homeowners, particularly those who are elderly and disabled, live in warmth, safety and independence. Through 2005 Rebuilding Together has rehabilitated over 96,120 houses, utilizing 2.5 million volunteers for a market value of $905 million.

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