RIDGELAND, Miss. – April 16, 2015– The Butler Snow Foundation has awarded grants to community organizations in the Nashville, Birmingham, the Mississippi Delta and Denver areas. Denver’s local recipient is Summer Scholars’ Scholars After School Program at Oakland Elementary School, which received a portion of the donated funds toward its work with students in the Denver community.
Summer Scholars is recognized as a national leader in the extended learning field and was honored with the 2005 Excellence in Summer Learning Award from the Center of Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. More than 20,000 young people have participated in Summer Scholars programs over the past 15 years, and Scholars After School effectively doubled the amount of tutoring hours available to students. The Family Literacy Program, including adult education and parent and child time together, successfully engages parents in a manner proven to enhance student achievement.
“So many deserving groups are doing so much good in our communities,” said foundation chair and Butler Snow attorney Tommy Williams. “We are honored to deliver the foundation’s contributions each year, and it is certainly one of the most enjoyable things any of us does.”
Foundation donations for 2015 are focused on benefitting HIV/AIDS patients, community gardens and after school programs.
The Butler Snow Foundation was established in 1997 by a generous gift from a client of the law firm Butler Snow. It funds worthy causes or social services organizations in communities Butler Snow serves. Since its inception, the foundation has supported organizations such as Mission First, Habitat for Humanity, Youth Life Learning Centers, Mississippi Episcopal AIDS Committee, Hands-on-Memphis and the Boys & Girls Club of the Gulf Coast.