Entergy Donations to Group Top $1 Million with Latest Gift NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Entergy Charitable Foundation today announced a gift of $355,000 to Teach For America, the national corps of top recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. The gift brings the Entergy foundation's total investment in Teach For America to $1.3 million since 2002; the bulk of this investment, $1 million, has been given since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The Teach For America grant will help fund approximately 650 teachers working in public schools throughout the Greater New Orleans and South Louisiana regions. It is one part of nearly $1 million in grants recently announced by the foundation. Most of the grants are earmarked for education programs. "Our corps members go above and beyond to ensure that students succeed," said Kira Orange Jones, executive director of Teach For America-Greater New Orleans. "Entergy's efforts to support us in these years of rebuilding are just as extraordinary. We're extremely grateful for their leading investments since the storm; their championship has been critical to our ability to continue to bring our cohorts of teachers to Louisiana each year and our efforts to serve the youth in our community." Michael Tipton, executive director of Teach For America-South Louisiana said, "I also think it's appropriate that we applaud Entergy's long-standing support of education in this region. This is the second year in a row that Entergy has donated $355,000 to Teach For America in Louisiana, and the effects of these investments are not only felt in Greater New Orleans, but throughout South Louisiana. Entergy's substantial support of our efforts is an illustration of their deep commitment to communities throughout Louisiana and is helping to catalyze even more of the support for educational reform and progress". Patty Riddlebarger, Entergy's director of corporate social responsibility, said, "We're committed to helping fund innovative and creative programs to help our customers and others reach their potential through education, and Teach For America certainly fits that bill. The program has done so much to help inject energy and new ideas into Louisiana and New Orleans public schools." Among the other education-oriented grants was $75,000 to the United Negro College Fund to provide scholarships for students attending historically black universities. In addition, LSU will receive $45,000 as a match toward the cost of developing a curriculum to train students to work in the nuclear industry. The LSU grant is part of a larger effort to develop an educated and highly trained workforce for the energy industry. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that by 2012 large numbers of energy industry workers will be eligible for retirement, including: -- More than half of all non-nuclear power plant operators; -- 52 percent of generation technicians; -- 40 percent of all line and field workers; and -- 46 percent of engineers. "Obviously, our industry is in need of workers to replace those of us who are close to retirement. Just as importantly, we have to prepare a new generation of workers to take on the challenge of efficiently producing clean energy in what is to likely to be a carbon-constrained world," Riddlebarger said. The Entergy Charitable Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation wholly funded by Entergy Corporation. The goal of the foundation is to support initiatives that help create and sustain thriving communities. ECF has a special focus on low-income initiatives as well as educational and literacy programs and efforts to protect the environment. 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 $13 billion and approximately 14,700 employees. For more information about Entergy, visit entergy.com. DATASOURCE: Entergy Corporation CONTACT: Michael Burns of Entergy Corporation, +1-504-576-4238, Web Site: http://www.entergy.com/

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