TEP Awards $250,000 in Grants for Environment, Education, Assistance Programs

TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tucson Electric Power (TEP) awarded $250,000 in grants today to help 12 local nonprofit groups improve education, protect our environment and provide community assistance.

TEP’s Community Impact Grants will fund home repairs for 175 limited-income families, develop new solar energy resources, expand opportunities for thousands of underserved students and provide other critical services to local residents.

“We’re excited about these new opportunities to create a positive impact in our community,” said David G. Hutchens, TEP’s President and CEO. “TEP is committed to improving our customers’ quality of life, and our grants are an important part of a philanthropic program that provides nearly $1.5 million each year to support local charities.”

TEP’s Community Impact Grants greatly expand the resources previously provided through TEP’s Grants that Make a Difference program, which awarded $101,000 last year in amounts up to $10,000. Five of this year’s grants exceeded that level, including a single grant of $75,000.

The 2016 TEP Community Impact Grants include:

Community Assistance

• $75,000 to Community Home Repair Projects of Arizona (CHRPA) for repairs of approximately 175 limited-income households through the Safe at Home Coalition. CHRPA will work with the American Red Cross of Southern Arizona, Habitat for Humanity and the Pima Council on Aging to identify seniors whose homes are in need of smoke detectors and basic interior repairs required for safe, healthy and energy-efficient independent living. Funds will also be used to make cosmetic and accessibility improvements outside seniors’ homes.
• $30,000 to Our Family Services, Inc. to provide temporary housing, food, clothing, furnishings and household goods to hundreds of homeless families and children through the organization’s New Beginnings Shelter & Housing Programs.
• $17,650 to the Sahuarita Food Bank and Good Shepherd United Church of Christ for expansion of its backpack food program, which will feed an additional 85 children from limited-income families during the school year.
• $10,000 to Casa de los Niños Crisis Shelter Program, which will offer an additional 220-230 nights of respite care to families facing personal crises, poverty, homelessness, job loss, domestic violence or other unsafe conditions at home.
• $5,000 to Handi-Dogs, Inc. for its Rescue to Service Dog Program, which identifies dogs that need homes but demonstrate the potential to provide service or therapy for people with disabilities.
• $5,000 to Southern Arizona Children's Advocacy Center to upgrade cameras, computers and other equipment used to diagnose and document medical conditions of abused and neglected children.

Education

• $20,000 to the City Center for Collaborative Learning’s CommunityShare program, which matches teachers and students with community members who offer real-world learning experiences. Funds will help pay for staffing to boost outreach and increase use of a new online platform.
• $10,000 to the Act One Field Trip Program so that approximately 800 students from underserved schools can visit local performing arts productions. Funds will be used to pay for tickets, transportation, books and other educational materials.
• $10,000 to JobPath, Inc. for its Ensure Success program, which will provide financial support to unemployed or underemployed Pima County residents enrolled in college-level education and job-training programs.
• $10,000 to the YMCA of Southern Arizona so that dozens of children at multiple Tucson-area locations can participate in the Summer Learning Loss Prevention Program, which provides literacy activities, organized play and nutrition classes for six weeks during the summer.
• $7,000 to Sonoran Art Foundation, Inc. for its Youth Education Program, which will provide glass art training to approximately 600 underserved youth. Funds will be used to purchase glass and other materials and to pay for kiln operation.

Environmental Protection and Sustainability

• $50,350 to the Reid Park Zoological Society to help fund a solar photovoltaic system for a new animal veterinary center. Technicians for Sustainability, a local solar contractor, will install 63 solar modules that help power the new, energy-efficient facility.

TEP employee volunteers and other stakeholders selected this year’s Community Impact Grant recipients through a competitive process that attracted nearly 200 applications. Winners were chosen based on program effectiveness and sustainability, applicants’ organizational capabilities and other criteria.

TEP Community Impact Grants are available to organizations in TEP’s service territory and in eastern Arizona communities near TEP’s Springerville Generating Station. TEP Community Impact Grants, like other community investments, are funded from corporate resources, not customers’ rates.

TEP’s award-winning community service efforts include direct contributions, in-kind services and volunteer support for local nonprofit groups. In 2015, TEP and sister company UniSource Energy Services contributed nearly $2 million to charitable causes. Company employees also joined their friends and family in contributing 25,000 volunteer hours to hundreds of nonprofit groups.

TEP provides safe, reliable electric service to approximately 417,000 customers in southern Arizona. To learn more, visit tep.com. TEP, UES and their parent company, UNS Energy, are subsidiaries of Fortis Inc., which owns utilities that serve more than 3 million customers across Canada and in the United States and the Caribbean. To learn more, visit fortisinc.com.