NAPLES — The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation has awarded The Immokalee Foundation a $150,000 grant to support the education and professional development-focused non-profit, bringing their total support of The Immokalee Foundation since 2015 to over $750,000, including an emergency $25,000 grant specifically for 2020 COVID-19 relief. These funds quite appropriately addressed the special technology needs that accompanied that very challenging time.

The funds from the Schulze Foundation grant will support The Immokalee Foundation’s Immokalee Readers program, an early childhood literacy initiative for students from kindergarten through 5th grade. The grant also earmarks support for the Foundation’s innovative Career Pathways program, a comprehensive educational curriculum that prepares middle and high school students for high-demand, well-paying jobs in Southwest Florida in four individual pathways: Business Management & Entrepreneurship, Education & Human Services, Engineering & Construction Management and Healthcare.

“Our Foundation supports high-quality educational programs that empower students to succeed,” said Mary Beth Geier, Florida Director of the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation. “The Immokalee Foundation is consistently doing great work and helping students realize their dreams. We are proud of our investment in the Immokalee Readers and Career Pathways programs. Their work with students along every step of their academic journey ensures that students are better prepared for life’s journey.”

The Immokalee Foundation’s program has a proven track record of success: 100 percent of the Foundation’s students graduate from high school, 100% percent of their students have a postsecondary plan for a professional career and ninety-two percent of students graduate with an advanced post-secondary certificate or degree.

“We are so grateful to the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation for their continued generosity over the years,” said Noemi Y. Perez, President and CEO of The Immokalee Foundation. “Their ongoing support of our mission enables us to change the lives of our students, just as these students will change the face of Immokalee. The Schulze Family Foundation helps us prove that, together, we are Immokalee.”

About the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation:

The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation was created in 2004 by Best Buy founder, Dick Schulze, to give back to communities where he and his family live and work. The Foundation looks for meaningful investments that produce specific and measurable outcomes with a focus on human & social services, education, and health & medicine within the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area in Minnesota and the five counties of Southwest Florida which includes Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, and Glades counties. In all of its activities, the Foundation embraces its founder’s vision to strengthen and support initiatives that lead to transformational change within our communities.