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Airbus and United Way Announce National Education Partnership

Pictured from left to right are: 2014 UWSWA Chairman of the Board and Site Director of Airbus Americas Engineering, Inc. David Trent, Leader of the Accelerated Reader program at Gilliard Elementary School Liz Curl, Principal of Gilliard Elementary School Debbie Boldin, UWSWA President and CEO Alan H. Turner II, Ryan New of BBVA Compass, Instructor for the B.C. Rain Aviation and Aerospace Academy Don Jones, Mobile Area Education Foundation CEO Carolyn Akers, B.C. Rain High School Principal Marlow Firle, and Kristi July from B.C. Rain High School

This morning, at Airbus America’s Mobile Engineering office, Airbus and the United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) announced the creation of a national education partnership between the organizations. David Trent, Site Director at Airbus Americas and 2014 Board Chair of the United Way of Southwest Alabama restated Airbus’ commitment to education. He shared that Mobile is one of five locations within the United States, where local Airbus facilities have formed an official partnership with their local United Way, to focus on community programs and services that have a positive impact in student education.

“Airbus places a high value on achieving a quality education,” shared Trent. “By partnering with United Way we feel we can soundly invest in local programs that are making a positive impact and will achieve quality results. The $12,000 investment we are announcing today will go to programs that will help students attending, or who will attend, schools in the area around Airbus’ location in Mobile and address student needs from pre-school to high school.”

The programs that have been identified to receive funds are:

  • $4,000 Gilliard Elementary School’s Take Flight Through Reading, an accelerated reader program
  • $3,500 Mobile Area Education Foundation’s Engaging Youth Through Engineering at Pillans Middle School
  • $2,500 Jubilee BEST Robotics, Inc., a program at B.C. Rain High School
  • $2,000 Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to assist in expanding the free book program to the 36605 area

Locally, Airbus and UWSWA formed an education committee to invest funds in education programs that make a positive impact toward our educational goals. The funds come from a donor match by Airbus Americas. For each dollar Airbus employees pledge in the United Way workplace campaign, Airbus Americas’ corporate office will invest 50 cents to the Education Partnership. Airbus Americas will invest another 25 cents on every dollar pledged by employees to UWSWA’s annual campaign.

“Being a good corporate partner and a good corporate citizen is important to us,” said Barry Eccleston, President of Airbus Americas. “We are excited to team up with United Way across the country to address the educational goals in the communities where we have a physical footprint. From the Flying Challenge in Wichita to the various afterschool programs in Washington D.C. and to programs being discussed today in Mobile, our investment, coupled with the funds that the Airbus Corporate Foundation has invested throughout the world, will help thousands of students excel in school.”

“This partnership only builds on the local support that Airbus gives the southwest Alabama area,” stated Alan H. Turner II, President and CEO of United Way of Southwest Alabama. “The local employees already lend their time as Reading Buddies, participate in workplace campaign and get involved in several volunteer projects throughout the year. We are very thankful to have the opportunity to work with Airbus on our newly created education committee. We will continue to work with them to support programs and services that can help our community hit our education goals in school readiness, reading and math scores and most importantly increasing the graduation rate in Mobile County schools.”

During the UWSWA’s 2013 annual meeting, Stacey D. Stewart, U.S. President of United Way Worldwide, not only congratulated United Way and local businesses on their success, but also announced that UWSWA had been selected to participate in a new Graduation Initiative Partnership. During the last 16 months, UWSWA and other United Ways in the partnership worked collaboratively, shared resources and focused on specific goals to address the critical issue of improving high school graduation rates and other educational goals, local and nationwide.

“The United Way’s Graduation Initiative Partnership brought several United Way leaders together to think about how the United Way network could work more effectively with our corporate partners,” Stewart said. “The creation of this nationwide partnership is a testament to the work of all those involved, and to Airbus’ commitment to help advance the common good in our local communities. I am very grateful for all that Airbus does to help United Way and, more importantly, our students.”

About United Way of Southwest Alabama
The United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) serves Mobile, Washington and Clarke Counties.  Created in 1926, as a Community Chest, the UWSWA’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the community.  The vision is that the organization will strengthen communities by focusing on uniting and mobilizing resources in support of the building blocks for a better life: Education, Financial Stability, Health, and Essentials.  The UWSWA has raised and invested more than $235 million to help strengthen the capacity of positive community progress.  Many of the issues that affect our community are addressed through funded programs and initiatives that help more than 600,000 local people each year.  For more information about United Way of Southwest Alabama, please visit www.UWSWA.org

About Airbus Americas

Airbus Americans locations in Herndon, VA; Atlanta, GA; Miami, FL; Wichita, KS; and Mobile, AL have partnered with The United Way of the National Capital Area, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, United Way of Miami-Dade, United Way of the Plans, and the United Way of Southwest Alabama, respectively. With a team of more than 60,000 people, Airbus manufactures the most modern and eco-efficient family of airliners available, ranging from 100 to over 500 seats. In addition to assembly facilities in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Tianjin, China; construction is underway of Airbus’ first U.S. assembly line, in Mobile, Alabama. Airbus has spent more than $154 billion in the U.S. since 1990 – $14.4 billion in 2013 alone – with hundreds of American suppliers in more than 40 states. For more information about Airbus, please visit www.Airbus.com.

About United Way Worldwide

With more than 2.8 million volunteers and 9.7 million donors worldwide, and more than $5 billion raised every year, United Way is the world’s largest privately-funded nonprofit. It is working in nearly 1,800 communities across 41 countries and territories to create community solutions that improve life for everyone. Across the world, United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, civic and faith organizations, as well as educators, labor, health organizations, government and more. For more information about United Way Worldwide, please visit www.unitedway.org.