Waste Management, Inc. has announced that it is supporting Arete Scholars Fund to provide educational opportunities to low-income Georgia families. By pledging its financial support, Waste Management will help Arete grant need-based scholarships to more than 1,000 students for the 2011-12 school year...full article.

“We take seriously our ongoing commitment to communities," said Tracey Shrader, Area Vice President – South Atlantic for Waste Management of Georgia. “We believe all Georgia students should have access to quality education. Arete’s service to economically disadvantaged families complements our continuing efforts to make our communities better places to work and live.”

“Arete was selected based on its accountability and transparency standards in serving Georgia families and schools,” Shrader said. 

Arete Scholars Fund awards scholarships based solely on financial need and determines eligibility based on the income guidelines from the federal free and reduced lunch program. During the 2010-11 school year, Arete's first year of operation, the Dacula-based nonprofit awarded 262 scholarships worth an average of $4,577 to students attending 38 schools throughout the state. This year the organization expects to award more than $6 million in scholarships to students who face the greatest obstacles to academic achievement.

“Arete was selected based on its accountability and transparency standards in serving Georgia families and schools,” Shrader said. “The organization’s responsible approach to the tax credit scholarship program aligns well with our own standards for excellence.”

Under the Georgia Tuition Tax Credit Scholarship Program, corporations like Waste Management may donate up to 75 percent of their Georgia state income tax liability to authorized student scholarship organizations and receive a tax credit in return.

“We are honored to have Waste Management as a team member in our work to provide educational opportunity to at-risk Georgia students,” said Derek Monjure, executive director at Arete Scholars Fund. “The big winners are the students who will find a learning environment that helps them reach their highest potential.”

Other Arete corporate and organizational partners include The Home Depot Foundation, Newell Rubbermaid, Balfour Beatty Construction, Walgreens and The Walton Family Foundation.

About Waste Management, Inc.

With more than 700 employees serving customers in Georgia, Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Our subsidiaries provide collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. We are also the largest residential recycler and a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy facilities in the United States. Our customers include residential, commercial, industrial and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more about Waste Management, visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.

About Arete Scholars Fund

Arete Scholars Fund is a Georgia Student Scholarship Organization that supports public education by providing need-based private school scholarships to low-income Georgia families. An initiative of the Georgia Tax Tuition Scholarship Program, Arete raises funds primarily through the private donations of corporations. Arete (ah‐reh‐tay) is a Greek word that means "the pursuit of virtue, goodness, and excellence with the aim of reaching one’s highest human potential." Visit Arete Scholars Fund online at www.aretescholars.org.