LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- City National Bank is now accepting applications from educators for grants to support literacy-based projects at elementary, middle and high schools in California, New York and Nevada.
The online application can be accessed by visiting www.readingisthewayup.org/literacy.asp. Any full-time teacher, librarian, administrator or school media specialist at a school in the county of New York, or in one of the 11 California or four Nevada counties in which City National has offices is eligible to apply. California counties include Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Ventura. The Nevada counties are Carson City, Clark, Douglas and Washoe.
About 150 grants totaling up to $75,000 may be awarded. Grants will provide up to $500 for the recipients to create, augment or expand literacy projects that are adjudged to be creative and engaging, and that may help improve student achievement. Awards can be used for books, videos, CDs, DVDs, computer software or hardware, or in other ways so long as the recipient shows that the project for which funds are sought will support literacy.
City National's Reading Is The Way Up(r) program will award the grants. Applications will be accepted through November 19, 2008 and awardees will be notified in March, 2009. Grant funds must be expended by December 31, 2009.
Applicants may apply individually or as part of a team. To ensure that grants are distributed to a wide range of schools, multiple grants are not likely to be awarded to applicants at the same school. However, applicants from the same school applying as a team for the same project can submit up to a maximum of three applications (for a total of $1,500).
This is the fourth year City National has awarded grants for literacy projects through the bank's Reading Is The Way Up program. In 2005, City National awarded $31,000 to Orange County educators in honor of the bank's 30th anniversary in Orange County. The program was expanded throughout Nevada last year, when the bank awarded $65,000 to more than 100 educators.
Past grants have been used for everything from literacy computer programs to art/reading projects to field trips. In one case, an elementary school used the funds to enhance literacy for struggling English language learners through the art of puppetry.
For more information about the Reading Is The Way Up Literacy Grants Program, visit www.readingisthewayup.org or send an e-mail to rwu@cnb.com.
About City National
City National Bank is the wholly owned subsidiary of City National Corporation (NYSE:CYN). It is backed by $16.3 billion in total assets, and provides banking, investment and trust services through 62 offices, including 15 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada and New York City. The company and its eight majority-owned investment affiliates manage or administer $53.5 billion in client investment assets, including nearly $34 billion under direct management.
For more information about City National, visit the company's Website at cnb.com.
The City National Bank logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3143
About Reading Is The Way Up(r)
Seeking to better the education of California's future leaders, City National in April 2002 launched a multi-faceted initiative to restock the state's school library system. Since then, the award-winning program has:
* Donated more than 35,000 books to California and Nevada
school libraries.
* Awarded more than 275 teacher grants.
* Helped open 20 new elementary school libraries through
its partnership with The Wonder of Reading in Los Angeles.
* Raised over $175,000 in charitable gifts from colleagues
and clients through its Reading is the Way Up Fund.
The Reading Is The Way Up Fund is a 501(c)(3) administered by the California Community Foundation, and serves as a funding resource to purchase books for school libraries in California. For more information, visit www.readingisthewayup.org.