From left: Gloria Harvey, Jobs for Mississippi Graduates board president; Dr. Joe Haynes, executive director, JMG; Alice Gaulden, program manager, JMG; Pete Walley of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and JMG board member; Gloria Johnson, director of customer service, Entergy Mississippi; Evelyn Edwards, vice president of community development for BancorpSouth and vice president of the JMG board; and Lucy Ferron, program manager, JMG.

Mississippi students who lack money, decent grades, basic skills and good English are getting a little help from Entergy. 

So are kindergartners in Warren County, families in a Jackson neighborhood and those in Port Gibson who are interested in art and culture.

All four groups are served by Mississippi non-profit organizations that won a grant from the Entergy Charitable Foundation.

“The Entergy Charitable Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation that’s funded entirely by Entergy Corporation shareholders,” said Liz Brister, Entergy Mississippi manager of external affairs. “The foundation’s goal is to support projects that improve our communities. Special focus is on projects that address low-income needs, protect the environment or improve literacy and education.”

Winning organizations are:

• Jobs for Mississippi Graduates—a $9,000 grant will fund drop-out prevention efforts for selected students in grades nine through 12.
• United Way of West Central Mississippi—A $2,500 grant from Entergy Charitable Foundation and Entergy Nuclear will put community volunteers in every public, private and parochial school in Vicksburg and Warren County. They will read to every kindergarten class, talk about why and how reading is important, and give each student a picture book to keep.
• North Midtown Community Development Corporation—a $2,000 grant will help create a network of paths and zones in the neighborhood for exercise and recreation.
• Mississippi Cultural Crossroads—a $20,000 grant will fund the continuation and expansion of several community art and cultural education programs in Claiborne County.

“The Entergy Charitable Foundation accepts applications three times a year, and these grants represent the foundation’s second cycle of giving for 2011,” said Brister. “Anyone who wants more information or an application form should go to entergy.com, look under the headline tab named ‘Our Community’ and click on ‘Corporate and Foundation Giving’. 

“They’ll find information on this and all of Entergy’s various grant programs.”

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to more than 435,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. 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.