FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               Contact:

September 15, 2004                                           Cindy Reynolds

                                                                        Communications Manager

                                                                        (714) 541-8314 ext. 19

Saint Joseph Ballet Announces $100,000 Grant from

The Annenberg Foundation

Grant will support underserved youth in Orange County

Santa Ana, CA, (September 15, 2004) – Saint Joseph Ballet announced that it has received a generous $100,000 grant from the Annenberg Foundation toward its year-round program that offers 400 students ages 9-19 up to nine years of continuous and progressively challenging artistic and mentoring programs. The Annenberg Foundation’s gift supports Saint Joseph Ballet’s comprehensive year-round program that combines dance, academic and family programs to provide youth with consistent encouragement and support that challenges them to set and achieve goals, and to learn responsibility and accountability – critical skills that are transferable to all facets of their lives. 

Saint Joseph Ballet’s Executive Director Steffani Francis said, “We are very thrilled and honored to receive such a generous gift. By supporting the mission and work of Saint Joseph Ballet, The Annenberg Foundation is giving 400 low-income, at-risk youth an opportunity to reach their fullest potential.”

Founded in 1989, the mission of the Annenberg Foundation is to advance public well-being through improved communication.  Through its grant-making, the Foundation encourages the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge, and focuses on four major program areas: education and youth, arts and culture, community and civic, and health. 

The Foundation provides funding for programs likely to produce beneficent change on a large scale.  In addition to the national Challenge Grant for Public School Reform, a $500 million matching grants program of 18 locally-designed projects, the Annenberg Foundation and its predecessor organizations provided support for a 20-year partnership in educational programming with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Other major grants have been made to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Metropolitan Opera, and the Music Center of Los Angeles County.  Some recent awards support major design and construction projects, including the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC, the Liberty Bell Pavilion and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, and The British Museum in London.

 “The Annenberg Foundation, through its bighearted generosity, will be touching the lives of underserved youth during the years when they need support the most. Their financial support helps to open up a world of possibilities previously unattainable and unimagined for our students,” said Saint Joseph Ballet Board Chair Ernie Vasquez.

Saint Joseph Ballet was founded in 1983 to empower low income youth from diverse backgrounds to strengthen self-esteem, self-discipline and a sense of accomplishment through dance, academic and family programs.  Today, Saint Joseph Ballet is one of the region’s oldest and largest nonprofits coupling arts, academics and mentoring programs that nurture and empower      at-risk youth.  Saint Joseph Ballet has touched the lives of more than 50,000 youth, giving them the tools and skills to build a future for themselves, their families and their community. 

###