NEWPORT NEWS, December 11, 2024 – Today, the BayPort Foundation, Ferguson, Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of HII, and Virginia Natural Gas announced that the Newport News Education Foundation has been awarded the $500,000 Accelerating Change Together (ACT) Grant to support the Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) New Teacher Institute (NTI) program. The ACT Grant extends the four companies’ existing charitable giving and social impact efforts to its education and workforce development mission.
The three-year, $500,000 step-down grant will provide the funding necessary for NTI to answer the regional call to build a workforce pipeline to expand its new first—and second-year teacher programs. It will also fund the development of a model program, provide credentialing assistance, and invest in Career and Technical Education and English as a Second Language teachers.
The ACT Grant will assist the Newport News Education Foundation in raising funding to guarantee support for the NTI program. The expiration of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds could have several consequences as districts look to trim expenses and consolidate operations. ESSER was a one-time emergency relief program designed to support K-12 schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty-one nonprofits submitted an ACT Grant application. The Contributions Committee selected the Newport News Education Foundation application based on its ability to address the specific needs outlined in the ACT Grant application, including a sound financial investment and an original, innovative, and sustainable project plan to impact a target population/community.
The ACT Grant initiative launched in 2022, and the first recipient was the Virginia Beach Education Foundation and Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) new two-year, half-day Advanced Technology Center Renewable Energy Technologies program.
For additional information on the ACT Grant, please visit actgrant.org.
B-roll of the NNPS NTI program facility and check presentation is available upon request.
Pictured from left to right: Emily MacCartney, Community Affairs Manager, Virginia Natural Gas; Dr. Latitia McCane, Director of Education for The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding; Jim Mears, President/CEO of BayPort Credit Union; Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones; Dr. Michele Mitchell, Superintendent of Newport News Public Schools; Dale Mingilton, Executive Director of Newport News Education Foundation; Gary Artybridge, Jr., Manager of Corporate Citizenship & Education Outreach, Newport News Shipbuilding; Melissa Hazelwood, Director of Social Impact, Ferguson; and Nancy Porter, VP of Marketing, BayPort Credit Union.
About BayPort Foundation
BayPort Foundation is the charitable arm of BayPort Credit Union, headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, and was established to extend the credit union’s philosophy of “people helping people.” The Foundation is an extension of the credit union’s charitable giving. BayPort Credit Union commits more than half a million dollars in annual corporate donations and pays all the Foundation’s overhead to ensure that 100% of the Foundation donations support its mission. For more information, visit bayportfoundation.org.
About Ferguson
Ferguson (NYSE: FERG; LSE: FERG) is the largest value-added distributor serving the specialized professional in our $340B residential and non-residential North American construction market. We help make our customers’ complex projects simple, successful, and sustainable by providing expertise and a wide range of products and services from plumbing, HVAC, appliances, and lighting to PVF, water and wastewater solutions, and more. Headquartered in Newport News, Va., Ferguson has sales of $29.6 billion (FY’24) and approximately 35,000 associates in nearly 1,800 locations. For more information, please visit corporate.ferguson.com.
About HII
HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HII’s mission is to deliver the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating an advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world. As the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML, and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII’s workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, please visit hii.com.
About Virginia Natural Gas
Virginia Natural Gas is one of four natural gas distribution companies of Southern Company Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). Virginia Natural Gas provides natural gas service to nearly 300,000 customers in southeast Virginia. Named a Top Workplace in 2024, Virginia Natural Gas has also been recognized as one of the safest, most reliable, and customer-focused natural gas service providers and is consistently ranked in the top quartile for customer satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit virginianaturalgas.com.
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