Kellogg Foundation Gives $1.6 Million to Leverage President Obama's United We Serve Program

United We Serve is a nationwide initiative that begins today and will run through the National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11th to help encourage Americans to commit themselves to community service.

"The President has made a bold call to service and Americans are ready to respond," said Nicola Goren, Acting CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. "We salute the Kellogg Foundation for its early and generous support of the President's United We Serve initiative."

"Investing in United We Serve is an opportunity to align our work with Congress and the new administration," said Sterling Speirn, the foundation's president and chief executive officer. "It will allow us to leverage resources and strengthen our place-based partnerships."

The Kellogg Foundation will invest $400,000 in each of three geographic locations that it has identified as priority areas for focused grantmaking - the states of New Mexico, Mississippi and Michigan. A similar investment will also be made in the city of New Orleans, where the Kellogg Foundation is continuing to support long-term recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

The investments were announced today during the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco, the world's largest gathering of volunteer and service leaders from the nonprofit, government and corporate sectors.

"Our organization's commitment to national and community service goes back many years," Speirn said. "We have long believed that the giving of time, talent and resources is essential to the common good and have encouraged such giving throughout our 79-year history."

Volunteer service and leadership are essential to building communities and creating conditions that help children and families succeed, Speirn said. And propelling children to success - particularly those who are most vulnerable - is the primary mission of the Kellogg Foundation, he said.

The Kellogg Foundation investments will be made in partnership with grassroots nonprofit organizations and state service commissions. They will take the form of direct funding to grassroots organizations in the priority locations listed above. While the foundation is in the process of identifying community-based partners in New Mexico, Mississippi and New Orleans, the Michigan investment will begin in the organization's hometown with HandsOn Battle Creek, a local organization aimed at engaging young people in community service.

"The W.K. Kellogg Foundation's civic and philanthropic engagement strategy is rooted in investing in leadership at the community level," said Anne Mosle, vice president for programs at the Kellogg Foundation. "In these tough times, it is even more important to tap the energy and passion of youth through service."

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Established in 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and southern Africa.