Icouldbe.org Receives Grant From E*Trade to Mentor 650 Students Across the U.S.

Press release (Aug. 15, 2011) — icouldbe.org, an online mentoring program for at-risk middle and high school students, today announced that E*TRADE Bank has renewed its support of the nonprofit organization, marking the ninth consecutive year. E*TRADE will provide icouldbe.org with a one-year grant of $300,000 to fund the organization’s online youth mentoring programs in low-income communities in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Diego and Los Angeles.

Since 2003, E*TRADE Financial Corporation employees have supported icouldbe.org, acting as academic, career, college and financial literacy mentors and coaches for more than 6,000 of America’s most vulnerable youth. During this time, E*TRADE has donated more than $2 million to the mentoring program, and its employee volunteers have contributed 40,000 service hours mentoring at-risk youth.

“Knowing that the time they spend mentoring each week can truly change a young person’s life makes our employees proud of E*TRADE’s association with icouldbe.org,” said Celie Niehaus, Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer at E*TRADE Bank. “The online curriculum offers a convenient opportunity for many of our employees who have busy schedules yet are committed to giving back to the communities where we live and work.”

“From the perspective of our corporate volunteer and giving programs, icouldbe.org’s model allows us to reach our employee volunteer goals as well as our Community Reinvestment Act goals,” Ms. Niehaus continued.

“We have found that our partnerships with corporate institutions mutually benefit the students, employees and the company,” said Kate Schrauth, Executive Director of icouldbe.org. “E*TRADE shares icouldbe.org’s commitment to increasing financial literacy and independence. The powerful combination of sponsoring schools in the communities which E*TRADE serves and enabling their employees to volunteer as mentors has provided the emotional support and life-coaching to transform at-risk youth’s goals from hoping to graduate from high school to having fully vetted and individualized career and post-secondary educational plans.”