STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Thursday more than 900 buildOn citizens came together at the iconic Waldorf Astoria to recognize the incredible work buildOn has done here in the United States and around the world over the past 25 years to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. At the gala, buildOn dedicated its 1000th school to General Electric (GE) for their support of the organization since its inception.
Earlier this month, GE employees traveled to Senegal, Africa to inaugurate the 1000th school. The team also broke ground on a new buildOn school, working in partnership with the community whose children will benefit from the school.
At the event, buildOn celebrated their historic past. Over the past 25 years the organization has worked through civil wars, through Al-Qaida terrorist attacks, and through two of the worst earthquakes in recorded history. buildOn has worked through the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and the crack epidemic here in New York. These challenges, though serious, and immense have informed their work.
buildOn announced at the gala that by 2041 the organization hopes to raise high school graduation rates by 50% in every buildOn partner city in the U.S. Furthermore, they pledged to ensure that every girl and boy will have a seat in a school in every buildOn partner country.
The evening raised $3.4 million to support this vision.
The night was sponsored by GE, Jones Day, Ogilvy & Mather, Rodan + Fields, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Kiernan Herner LLP, KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Synchrony Financial.
Others in attendance included Jeff Bornstein (CFO of GE), Jim Bell (Executive Producer of NBC Olympics), Diahann Billings Burford (Executive Director, Corporate Responsibility at Time Warner), and Fatima Ptacek (DORA THE EXPLORER, Oscar winning film CURFEW, buildOn Ambassador).
To find out more about the buildOn gala or to request an invitation to next year's event, please email Jacquelyn.horstmann@buildon.org
ABOUT buildOn: At home or abroad, buildOn's goal is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. Across the U.S., buildOn empowers urban youth to transform their neighborhoods through intensive community service - working with senior citizens, the homeless, and younger children. These same students help build schools in some of the economically poorest countries in the world. Our students have contributed more than 1.8 million hours of service in the U.S., and have helped build over 1,020 schools in Burkina Faso, Haiti, Nicaragua, Nepal, Senegal, Malawi, and Mali. For more information, visit www.buildon.org . buildOn has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator
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Jacquelyn Horstmann
