9/6/2000 The Irvine Company And Donald Bren Foundation Announce $25 Million For K-12 Education Enrichment and Excellence The Irvine Company and the Donald Bren Foundation today announced commitments totaling $25 million to support educational enrichment programs in local K-12 schools and to recognize and reward educational excellence. The funds -- $15 million from the Donald Bren Foundation and $10 million from The Irvine Company -- will primarily focus on programs that benefit students who reside in the local communities on the Irvine Ranch. The new commitments build on a 40-year history of educational philanthropy that began with The Irvine Company's 1960 donation of 1,000 acres to the University of California to establish the UC Irvine campus. Over the last 20 years, The Irvine Company and Bren Foundation collectively have donated approximately $138 million to enhance local K-12 and higher education, including the new contributions. These charitable gifts are above and beyond the required funding that The Irvine Company has provided to local school districts for K-12 facilities to serve new residential developments under the master plans of the cities on the Irvine Ranch. Charitable gifts from The Irvine Company and Bren Foundation have supported a diverse group of initiatives, ranging from elementary school science enrichment programs in Irvine to the establishment of the Bren Fellows program to support faculty research at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions such as Chapman University and Caltech. "The future of our community as well as our state will be affected most by the quality of education we provide to today's children," said Donald Bren, chairman of The Irvine Company. "I am very pleased to expand The Irvine Company's and Bren Foundation's longtime support of education, and strongly hope that it will encourage others in the private sector to create partnerships with schools that will benefit students and teachers." The Educational Enrichment Fund of the Donald Bren Foundation will focus on awarding grants to support programs that provide students with expanded educational opportunities in the sciences, technology, music, and the visual and performing arts. The Irvine Company's commitment of $10 million to its Educational Excellence Program will focus on projects that encourage, recognize and reward educational excellence in local K-12 schools. In addition to continuing The Irvine Company's programs of providing scholarships and leadership awards to local students, teachers and principals, the Educational Excellence Program will seek out and support other programs and initiatives that will enhance excellence in K-12 schools. |
