State Farm donates $4,500 to WWU's Woodring college

Bellingham Business Journal, Sept, 2008

Western Washington University has been awarded a $4,500 grant by State Farm for the Future Teachers of Color Promise Scholarship program at Woodring College of Education.

The grant is the third from State Farm's Good Neighbor Citizenship philanthropy program to support a total of eight Promise Scholarships from State Farm since 2006.

Bellingham State Farm agent Jim Harber worked with the company to secure the grants. Harber is a member of Woodring's Community Leadership Advisory Council, whose mission is to create a collaborative network through which members of the community and Woodring faculty, staff, and students engage in partnership activities to support children and families.

"State Farm is very supportive of efforts that provide students the opportunity to reach their greatest potential, and Promise Scholarships are designed to do just that," Harber said in a press release.

Woodring's Promise Scholarship program supports students just prior to entering Woodring and may be renewed for their first year in the teacher preparation program. To date, $70,500 from various private funding sources, in collaboration with the Western Washington University Foundation, has been awarded to 28 students.