FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 18, 2005
CONTACT: corprel@freddiemac.com
or phone (703) 903-4384

$1 MILLION FREDDIE MAC FOUNDATION GRANT TO HELP BUILD DC-BASED SCHOOL FOR SEVERLY DISABLED CHILDREN
St. Coletta to Reach Underserved Children Where They Live

McLean, VA – The Freddie Mac Foundation has made a $1 million grant to help St. Coletta of Greater Washington build a new school in southeast Washington, D.C. serving children with mental retardation and autism. Slated to open in mid-2006, the school will be located at a site adjacent to D.C. General Hospital and near RFK Stadium. St. Coletta is the area's most prominent school and resource for children and adults with moderate to severe cognitive disabilities.

"We believe in encouraging talent, celebrating success and building self-esteem. Having the whole family engaged in the educational process is imperative to St. Coletta’s success. For many families, being involved has been very difficult since their children travel from the city to the suburbs for schooling. The Freddie Mac Foundation’s support will ensure that more families reap the full benefits of our program by bringing our services closer to them," explained Sharon Raimo, executive director, St. Coletta.

"The Freddie Mac Foundation is focused on strengthening families and helping children and young people reach their full potential. Ensuring that children with severe disabilities and their families have access to educational opportunities is critical to creating stronger families. Our grant to St. Coletta reflects our determination to invest in children so that they may have brighter futures," explained Ralph F. Boyd, chairman, Freddie Mac Foundation.

With the help of this grant, St. Coletta is constructing a state-of-the-art, 99,000 square foot facility to house a special education charter school and private school serving 260 children.
The Foundation's investment will also help increase enrollment by 100 children and improve the educational and therapeutic efforts with better-designed and equipped classrooms, music/art studios, physical/occupational therapy areas, and vocational training stations. The majority of the student population will be physically closer to their homes and community, allowing St. Coletta to incorporate the families and caretakers more fully in students’ education and overall development.

Currently, St. Coletta serves 165 students from throughout the region at its location in Old Town, Alexandria – 68 percent of whom are from D.C. Nearly 25 percent of their students are in the foster care system and an additional 25 percent live with only one parent or an extended family member.

The D.C. Public School System has more than 2,400 cognitively disabled students. As a charter school, St. Coletta will be the first District facility to offer school choice to parents and caretakers of children with severe cognitive disabilities. Families of these children will now have the ability to enroll them as they would in any public school. St. Coletta's new facility will be fully accessible, providing an excellent alternative to helping this vulnerable population.

Founded in 1959, St. Coletta provides functional academics with life skills and vocational training to children and adults with mental retardation and autism to help them gain independence. A majority of St. Coletta students graduate and receive exemplary life skills training necessary to successfully transition to adulthood – which complements the Freddie Mac Foundation's mission to provide hope and opportunity for children and youth. Typically, the Foundation supports programs that strengthen families by preventing child abuse and neglect, finding homes for foster children, and developing youth to their fullest potential.

Another highlight of this project is that Michael Graves, a nationally and internationally recognized architect, designed the building to capture the spirit of St. Coletta's mission and the children served. While working on the design, Graves became paralyzed through illness and must use a wheelchair. His new perspective influenced the project's design. To see renderings of the school, visit www.stcoletta.org.

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 the largest corporate funder in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Freddie Mac and the Freddie Mac Foundation have invested more than $320 million to help children and families.