FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2002
CONTACT: corprel@freddiemac.com
or phone (703) 903-3933

FOUNDATION CONCLUDES 10^th YEAR BY INVESTING $3 MILLION IN PROGRAMS THAT PREVENT ABUSE AND FIND HOMES FOR CHILDREN
4Q Giving Includes Large Grant to Grow Community School

McLEAN, VA – The Freddie Mac Foundation awarded grants totaling nearly $3 million, concluding its 10^th anniversary year, a year in which Freddie Mac’s philanthropic giving topped $100 million. The grants are helping better the lives of children in Washington, DC, in cities of Freddie Mac’s regional offices, and nationwide. With more than three million cases of abuse and neglect are reported annually, resulting in 550,000 children in the foster care system, the Foundation’s role in strengthening families and communities has never been more important.

“For the past decade, the Foundation has been part of this region’s landscape. Through our funding and involvement, we’ve worked to change lives and create hope for children and their families. Our grants this quarter conclude our anniversary year by continuing our tradition of making a difference by caring about our community and its children,” explained Maxine B. Baker, president and CEO, Freddie Mac Foundation.

The Foundation, which is dedicated to opening the doors to hope and opportunity for children and their families, approved 70 grants in this round of grant making. In 2001, the Foundation granted approximately $20 million to organizations working to strengthen families by preventing child abuse and neglect, finding homes for foster children and supporting transitional housing for homeless children and families.

A majority of the fourth quarter grants made enhance the lives of children in the District of Columbia and neighboring areas. The National Center for Children and Families (NCCF), a private, nonprofit child and family welfare agency, received $400,000 to continue its role as lead agency in providing services to the J.C. Nalle Elementary School in the District. The Foundation has invested nearly $2 million since 1997 to help this full-service community school which offers a full-range of services that children and families need. NCCF is working with the school faculty and parents to combine curriculum innovations with the services such as health and dental care, preventive social services, summer programs, tutoring, parenting classes, job training classes, cultural programs, and recreational programs.

Another large grant went to the National Child Day Care Association (NCDCA), dedicated to providing quality Head Start and day care services to low-income children and families in the District. NCDCA received $300,000 to conduct programs designed to educate and expose children in grades 1-8 to information and computer technology through its Freddie Mac Foundation Computer Learning Center. NCDCA’s educational programs will be conducted in partnership with Crawford/Edgewood Managers, Inc., and will serve families in the Washington Heights area of DC.

The Foundation extended grants to several other DC area organizations including For Love of Children (FLOC), which received $100,000 to expand its family support and transitional housing program offered to District families and their children; Community of Hope, which received $50,000 to expand its after-school program, and the Consortium for Child Welfare, which also received $50,000 to continue to advocate for changes in policy and practice in the District’s Child and Family Services Agency. In Maryland, the Family Services Agency was given $100,000 to help support its programs designed to promote well-being in the home, school, workplace and community.

Grants also benefited non-profits in Freddie Mac’s other regional cities. In Chicago, a $45,000 grant will support Big Brothers, Big Sisters mentoring efforts with children in the North Lawndale community. The Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment in Los Angeles received $150,000 to support the South Central Youth Empowered thru Action program that works to improve the academic performance of students. A creative project by Developing Hearts Systems, near New York, received nearly $10,000 to edit and produce, in both English and Spanish, a video that explains to illiterate parents how to “read” baby books to their infants and toddlers. Dallas CASA, Inc., an adoption service in Dallas, TX, received $50,000 to help them provide guidance and support to foster youth. In Atlanta, Emory University received $93,020 to build greater awareness about the child welfare and foster care systems. On a national level, the San Diego Hospital was awarded a $100,000 grant to continue a national dialogue and search for solutions on child abuse and neglect.

Click here for a full list of grants made during 4th quarter 2001.

Created by Freddie Mac in 1991, the Freddie Mac Foundation is dedicated to opening the doors to hope and opportunity to children and their families. As one of the largest corporate funders in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation have invested more than $100 million in nonprofit organizations serving children and families.