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Regence Names SMART Community Partnership Organization
$230,000 Grant Will Fund Infrastructure and Program Needs
Portland, Ore. –Start Making A Reader Today (SMART), Oregon’s largest volunteer-based early literacy nonprofit program, announced it has been named as a new Community Partner Organization (CPO) for Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon. The three-year partnership was announced during SMART’s annual fundraising breakfast on Tuesday, March 8, in Portland.
As part of the Regence CPO program, SMART will receive $230,000 over the next three years to help the organization achieve game-changing improvements in programming and infrastructure statewide. The grant will be applied toward investments in the SMART program, strategic planning for the organization, and marketing.
“We are so thankful to have been selected as one of Regence’s Community Partner Organizations,” said SMART Executive Director Chris Otis. “Regence’s contributions will have very tangible impacts on charting a course for our future – helping to innovate and bolster our programming, as well as boosting general awareness about SMART around the state.”
In addition to the significant financial investment by Regence, employee volunteerism is also a component of the partnership. Regence has made a commitment to enlist 100 Regence employees as SMART readers in the coming year.
“Community Partner Organizations are an integral part of our community giving program,” said Lynn Harden, assistant director of community investment at Regence, “Through financial support and employee volunteerism, our goal is to help our partner nonprofits grow, innovate, and be stronger than when our partnership began.”
About SMART® (Start Making A Reader Today)
SMART, Start Making A Reader Today, is a statewide nonprofit organization that envisions an Oregon where every child can read and is empowered to succeed. We partner with schools around the state and engage community volunteers to read one-on-one with K-3 children, helping strengthen literacy skills and encourage a love of reading. Over the past two decades, SMART has steadily grown to become Oregon’s largest volunteer literacy program. In 2010-2011, we will serve 7,000 children statewide with the help of 5,000 community volunteers. Children in the program receive 14 new books throughout the school year to keep and read with their families. Together, with support from communities and schools around the state, SMART is improving the reading capacity of Oregon’s children. Visit www.GetSMARTOregon.org or call 1-877-598-4633 to learn more about SMART.