Frontier Donates $25,000 for Scholarships

January 3, 2009: Frontier Communications, the nation's second largest rural local communications company, has provided $25,000 in scholarship support to school-aged children through The Community Foundation of Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties. The scholarship funds, which are part of the company's participation in the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (PA EITC), will provide the opportunity for eligible children served by The Community Foundation to receive tuition assistance to attend Kindergarten through Secondary Schools. During the 2008-2009 school year, The Community Foundation provided scholarships to pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students residing in its two-county service area who attended 25 schools or educational programs in four northeastern Pennsylvania counties.

The PA EITC offers tax credits to eligible businesses contributing to a state-approved scholarship organization, an educational improvement organization, or a pre-kindergarten scholarship organization. The businesses may direct their donations to specific scholarship organizations from a list of eligible participants listed on the PA EITC website. The Community Foundation administers all three aspects of the EITC Program.

"Frontier prides itself on giving back to the communities in which we live and work," said Elena Kilpatrick, Frontier's Area General Manager for Pennsylvania. "We are pleased to support programs such as the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit program and its mission to give deserving children a chance to experience private education."

Since 2007, Frontier Communications has donated $70,000 to The Community Foundation, which has helped almost 80 local children attend pre-kindergarten programs and close to 140 children in grades K-12 achieve their educational goals. Some examples of these programs include tuition assistance for private schools, the Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center, or for High School students completing college coursework. Without the assistance of corporations like Frontier, some of these children wouldn't be given the chance to reach their full potential.

The Community Foundation of Susquehanna & Wyoming Counties has administered the EITC program for six years, and through the generous support of businesses such as Frontier Communications, has been able to provide tuition assistance to hundreds of students. Peter Quigg, Director of Development for The Community Foundation, stated, "We very much appreciate Frontier's substantial support this year. Many of our rural families are eligible for this assistance; however most of our local smaller businesses don't have the means to support these scholarships. Donations such as this from Frontier are very helpful."