Bush Foundation Grants $5 Million To Storm-Ravaged Schools on Gulf Coast

The Bush Foundation has awarded $5 million in unrestricted grants to two private, historically black univerities and a college to support their efforts to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Dillard University and Xavier University, both in New Orleans, will each receive $2 million; Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss., will receive $1 million.

"The Bush Foundation has had long relationships with Xavier, Dillard and Tougaloo," said Anita M. Pampusch, foundation president. "We believe that it is very important and necessary for them to continue their important work of developing African-American leadership through higher education. We hope that our grants, coming at this time, will speed their recovery from the hurricane and its aftermath so they can return to their critical education missions."

Other notable grants from its November round of grantmaking:

• St. Olaf College: $300,000 for faculty development

• Ready 4 K: $331,200 to continue work on school-readiness programs for young children.

• Minnesota Institute of Public Health: $465,650 to continue its educational work with users of agricultural pesticides

• Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy: $285,000 to advance the adoption of clean energy policies and increase production of community-based renewable energy

• Children's Defense Fund: $210,000 to expand its tax and benefit outreach program further into rural Minnesota

• Initiative Foundation: $300,000 for a program to combat methamphetamine production and use in rural Minnesota

• Penumbra Theatre Company: $75,000 as part of the Regional Arts Development Program

The foundation awarded 62 grants totaling over $14 million at its November meeting of the board of directors. To see a complete list of grants, visit the Bush Foundation Web site.

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