Citi’s Support for Education

Education is the key to enabling the next generation of American progress-makers. At Citi, we have a long history of supporting education in the U.S., from financial literacy and college savings programs to financing the construction of schools themselves. In 2011, the Citi Foundation invested more than $8 million in programs that will ensure that close to 15,000 students are on the path to earning a college degree.

Enabling College Success

Central to Citi’s goal to expand financial inclusion and economic empowerment is our support for programs aimed at increasing the number of first-generation college students, and students from low- to moderate-income families, who enroll in college and complete a degree. We know that paying for and earning a college degree is the best way to access a path to financial mobility and long-term financial security. Innovative programs supporting this mission include:

• Kindergarten to College, a partnership between Citi and the City and County of San Francisco, was launched in 2011 as the nation’s first universal college savings program. By the end of 2011, 3,300 accounts were opened, all with seed and matching deposits, and by the end of 2012 every kindergartner entering the city’s public schools will receive an account. The savings incentive is paired with classroom-based financial education, where kids learn hands-on about managing their own accounts.
• Partnership for College Completion brings together KIPP, the United Negro College Fund, and the nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development to give students an incentive-based matched savings tool - combined with a financial education and college readiness curriculum - to help families save and prepare for college. A $7.5 million investment from Citi and the Citi Foundation seeded the program at KIPP urban charter schools in Washington, Chicago, Houston, New York and San Francisco. By the end of the 2012 academic year, the program will have expanded to at least 6,000 students and 28 schools.
• Financial Aid U is a national effort to support low-income and first generation students and their families with the assistance they need to find financial aid resources that will help them pay for post-secondary education. A partnership with the National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC), the program has expanded to 10 of the largest markets in the United States through a $1.5 million grant from the Citi Foundation.

Financing the Places Where Young Minds Grow

In 2011, Citi Community Capital lent and invested more than $3.4 billion dollars in 147 transactions with communities in the United States, including notable transactions dedicated to building facilities where our leaders of tomorrow can learn and thrive:

• Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund: In 2011, Citi made the lead investment of $50 million in the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund. The first of its kind in the U.S., the fund is financing the development of high quality educational facilities in distressed urban communities. The fund aims to finance the development of over 75 urban school sites for best-in-class charter school operators, creating new facilities for approximately 40,000 students over the following three to four years.
• South Dakota School Rehabilitation: Nearly $30 million in Citi Community Capital lending and investing is helping to repair and expand two dilapidated schools on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one of the country’s most impoverished communities. Each facility, one in Rockyford which opened in August 2012, and the other in Batesland, will serve a growing school population and provide modern facilities and enhanced technology, helping to improve the quality of education.