Entergy announces $300K donation
to Mississippi Building Blocks

From left are: LeRoy Walker, Entergy Advisory Board, Don Meiners, Entergy Advisory Board, Jason Dean, Mississippi Building Blocks Board, Tom Pittman, Entergy Advisory Board, Laurie Smith, Executive Director of Building Blocks, and Bill Sones, Entergy Advisory Board.

Executive Director of Mississippi Building Blocks Laurie Smith accepts a $100,000 check from Entergy CEO Haley Fisackerly. This check is the first of three installments to fund the early childhood education program.

 

 

Grant will help fund early childhood education project statewide

Jackson, Miss. – It’s a basic rule of economics: Wise investments made early in the game can pay off in the future with big dividends.

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. is applying the same philosophy to Mississippi’s future. Today, the company announced a $300,000 grant to Mississippi Building Blocks. The early childhood education program aims to improve the quality of pre-kindergarten and build a stronger future work force. Today’s $100,000 gift is the first of three installments to be invested in the program over three years.

“Supporting Mississippi Building Blocks is an investment that will pay off in long-term benefits for our state,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Mississippi, Inc. “More and better early childhood education directly affects the success of our children, our communities and our economy. This initiative is critical in Mississippi, where there is no statewide pre-K program.”

Mississippi Building Blocks is a three-year pilot program that will serve some 50 child care centers and 150 early education classrooms throughout the state. Over the life of the pilot, $10.5 million of funding is required, all to be contributed by the private sector.

“Thoreau wrote that a corporation can have a conscience only if it is run by conscientious leaders,” said Blake Wilson, president of the Mississippi Economic Council. “The fact that this new initiative is funded by the conscience of the corporate community sends a clear signal about how important early childhood education is to Mississippi’s future.

“Entergy Mississippi has also sent a positive signal to its customers and employees that it cares about making a difference in our children’s lives.”

Momentum Mississippi, which is designed to implement the findings of the MEC-backed Blueprint Mississippi Plan, partnered with Leadership Mississippi to focus on bringing business and education leaders together around the issue of early childhood education. Leadership Mississippi is a program of the M.B Swayze Educational Foundation which is a subsidiary of the Mississippi Economic Council. As a result of this partnership, a forum was held in December 2008 where it was announced that an important new statewide program called “Mississippi Building Blocks” would work to improve school readiness in Mississippi child care centers. Earlier this year, Dr. Laurie Smith was appointed as executive director of the early childhood education program.

“Mississippi Building Blocks is committed to improving school readiness and work force development,” said Smith. “Entergy Mississippi’s generous donation will help us meet this commitment by enabling us to purchase needed classroom materials and promote teacher training within participating child care centers.

“Good corporate citizens like Entergy Mississippi are vital to the successful fulfillment of Mississippi Building Blocks’ mission, and I am grateful for their support.”

Mississippi Building Blocks’ goals are to:

•  increase the number of centers that participate in the Mississippi Child Care Quality Step System program,
•  improve teaching and learning in licensed centers,
•  strengthen parenting skills, and
•  improve school readiness factors for young children.

Program organizers will provide incentives to child care centers for participating. These include on-site mentors, classroom materials and scholarships to help pre-school teachers obtain Child Development Associate certification and associate degrees in child development technology.

Business consultants will provide financial management assistance, and parent advocates will educate parents about appropriate developmental stages for their children and help them become more engaged in their early education.

“We’re very excited that Entergy Mississippi has made it a priority to help boys and girls in our state get a great start in life,” said Dr. John Jordan, interim state superintendent of education. “Teachers and school leaders work hard to prepare students for their future endeavors, but they can’t do it alone. Mississippi Building Blocks is a wonderful example of how Entergy Mississippi and other business leaders are supporting our children and helping prepare them to enter the work force. This grant is a great investment in Mississippi’s future that will pay dividends in a stronger economy and better quality of life for all.”

At the Mississippi Building Blocks forum held in December 2008, the following donations were announced for the initiative:

• The Phil Hardin Foundation: $600,000
• The MS Power Educational Foundation: $1,000,000
• The Barksdale Foundation: $3,000,000
• Barksdale Reading Institute $900,000