FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: USE THE NEWS FOUNDATION REACHES A LANDMARK

Sponsorships of NIE Programs Reach New Level

(San Francisco, CA, June 1, 2000) Use The News Foundation is pleased to announce that it has exceeded the $150,000 mark in total grants and contributions that support Newspaper in Education (NIE) programs internationally.

“The funds that the Foundation have secured in grants and contributions have benefited thousands of students internationally,” said Dr. Betty L. Sullivan, President of Use The News Foundation. “The Foundation provides the assistance needed to help companies and newspapers partner to create NIE programs. These partnerships are invaluable to schools where NIE materials are an important contribution to education curriculum.”

Use The News Foundation was founded in August 1998 as a nonprofit benefit corporation that fosters partnerships with schools, NIE programs and their business sponsors. The Foundation’s services have been used in seven countries and by more than 700 newspapers and their NIE programs in the United States, reaching more than 67,000 classrooms.

Use The News Foundation provides fiscal sponsorship that aids NIE programs in the receipt of tax-deductible donations for their educational work. Foundation staff provides technical assistance on strategies, grant proposal development, identification of partners and project verification for NIE programs. It also provides training and consulting services on a variety of fundraising themes. Topics such as “The Nuts and Bolts of Grant Writing” and “How to Gain Tax-deductible Donations for NIE” have been presented at regional NIE conferences and for family-owned newspapers and corporate newspaper groups. The Foundation has also assisted a number of newspapers in obtaining grants for special projects.

Use The News Foundation seeks to develop educational projects that will provide resources addressing human rights issues such as diversity and the elimination of prejudice, character education, health and nutrition, safety, disaster preparedness and the environment.

As an information clearinghouse, Use The News Foundation makes available research on Newspaper in Education to NIE managers, journalism students and scholars. In its first year, the Foundation processed requests for article reprints from over 35 NIE programs in the United States, as well as from Antigua, Brazil, Canada, France, Sweden and other countries.

Use The News Foundation has hosted international guests from the media industry and facilitated their contact with NIE programs here in the United States. In the past year, the Foundation hosted Naraa H. Nararjargal of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, President of Globe International, providing her with NIE materials and information about recent NIE developments in the United States for use in Asia. In September 1999, the Foundation’s president, Dr. Betty L. Sullivan, was a featured speaker at the World Association of Newspapers Third International NIE Conference in Paris, France. Her speech, “Sex, Lies and Videotapes: Tough Topics in NIE,” examined headline stories and was reprinted in industry publications.

Founders of Use The News Foundation include Dr. Betty L. Sullivan, Dr. Edward F. DeRoche and Dr. Sherrye Dee Garrett. A complete list of officers and members of the Board of Directors is available upon request.

For more information on Use The News Foundation, call (415) 503-1375 or e-mail: bettysnie@aol.com.