KEEP TEXAS BEAUTIFUL AWARDED $75,000 GE FOUNDATION GRANT
TO EXPAND ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR TEXAS STUDENTS

(Austin, Texas) - Keep Texas Beautiful (KTB), a statewide grassroots environmental organization, was awarded a one-year, $75,000 grant from the GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of the General Electric Company, to enhance and invigorate the Keep Texas Beautiful Environmental Education Program. The grant will support the purchase of Waste in Place curriculum and materials, provide Environmental Education Kits and statewide training opportunities to formal and informal educators, and to hire an environmental education coordinator at the organization. As a result of this grant, an estimated 6,000 Texas youth will receive environmental education.

Through a “train the trainer” education program, KTB will train volunteers in the Waste in Place curriculum which focuses on litter prevention and solid waste management. Keep Texas Beautiful Environmental Education Kits provide ready-made lesson plans and other resources for teachers and will be produced and used to train educators who will instruct thousands of students throughout the state.

The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of the General Electric Company, marks its 50th anniversary of philanthropic giving in 2003 and continues to support initiates that improve educational opportunity and strengthen community organizations in GE communities around the world. All told, GE, the GE Foundation and GE employees and retirees contributed over $120 million to community and educational institutions last year.

Keep Texas Beautiful, the statewide grassroots environmental organization and affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, strives to empower Texans through education to take responsibility for enhancing their community environment. KTB uses Keep America Beautiful’s Waste in Place, a hands-on environmental curriculum for grades K-8, and its own Environmental Education Kit to promote awareness about solid waste, litter, and beautification issues.

KTB works with volunteers, elected officials, businesses and state and federal agencies to ensure that every Texan has the opportunity to take individual responsibility for making Texas the cleanest, most beautiful state in the nation. For more information on programs and events, call 1-800-CLEAN-TX or visit www.ktb.org.

- 30 -