Member Spotlight: PPL

BY MELINDA RIZZO

 
Empowering youngsters is the juice PPL Foundation generates to help build thriving communities.

The community and philanthropic arm of PPL Corporation in Allentown provides grant money to schools and non-profit organizations across Bucks County and beyond to support 21st century science, engineering, technology and math programs (STEM).

“They [PPL] are engaged and understand the need to [support] young people,” said Marissa Christie, president and CEO of United Way of Bucks County.

The programs and funding are aimed at providing the tools to meet challenges and kindle interest in current and emerging careers among the youngest learners.

“We support education as a way of building a strong foundation for the success of today’s students,” said PPL Electric Utilities Regional Affairs Director for the Southeastern Region Carol Obando-Derstine.

Obando-Derstine said PPL Foundation provides grants to various community programs with a particular emphasis on STEM learning and innovation.  

From summer literacy programs to the unveiling of Deibler Elementary School’s “Fab Lab Incubator” classroom in Pennridge School District. A $1,000 PPL Foundation Empowering Educators Grant contributed to the Fab Lab Incubator funding.
During the year, PPL Foundation gave $25,000 in $1,000 grants across several programs to help support STEM classroom learning.

And while STEM programs are familiar to most the next generation of STEM - called iSTEAMM, is trailblazing those core subjects while adding arts and manufacturing to the mix.

“The iSTEAMM [program] is the next level of STEM, by incorporating these elements, the arts and manufacturing, we see them as economic drivers,” Christie said.

Through partnerships with non-profit organizations like United Way of Bucks County in Fairless Hills, preschool aged children through primary and secondary grades benefit from PPL’s commitment to the communities it serves.

Christie said adding art elements including design and creative thinking, as well as high tech manufacturing to core STEM curricula, even broader educational innovation is available to young learners.

“Applying creativity and design thinking with high tech manufacturing…is good for the entire community,” she said.

PPL Electric Utilities also helps fund local nonprofits through the Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credits (EITC) program. By contributing to educational improvement organizations and Pre-K organizations, PPL continues to help children succeed.  

EITC donations are open to any business with more than $10,000 in state income tax liability, Christie said.

Administered through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, EITC offers business tax credits that may be applied against the tax liability for the year in which the contribution was made.

PPL Electric Utilities EITC contributions directly support youngsters in Upper Bucks, according to Christie.

“Research shows about 90 percent of the [human] brain is developed by the age of five. Partial scholarships help parents afford high quality programs and benefit children,” Christie explained.

EITC Tax Credits help offset preschool programs, which Christie said can cost up to $12,000 per year.

Learn something new at the UBCC.

In September PPL will host a “Partnering with Energy Efficiency Program” Lunch and Learn program at UBCC’s offices located at 21 N. Main Street in Quakertown.

Free admission to Lunch and Learn programs for members is one of the many benefits of being a valued UBCC member.

The informational “Partnering with Energy Efficiency Program” will offer no cost tips businesses can use to be more aware of energy consumption patterns, as well as the process to access available energy rebates.