CHICAGO TRIBUNE CHARITIES ANNOUNCES GRANTS OF $950,000 TO CHICAGOLAND AGENCIES COMMITTED TO LITERACY

CHICAGO, January 8, 2007–Chicago Tribune Charities, a McCormick Tribune Foundation Fund, announced that 41 programs committed to building adult and children’s literacy in the Chicago metropolitan area will receive grants totaling $950,000. Chicago Tribune readers’ gifts through the newspaper’s annual Holiday Giving campaign are a key source of funding for these grants. Grants are approved by the McCormick Tribune Foundation board of directors based on recommendations from the Foundation staff and a Chicago Tribune Charities advisory committee, which consists of Chicago Tribune employees.

Chicago Tribune Charities literacy and reading grants support the education of functionally illiterate adults and promotes literacy for children who are at risk of illiteracy or are below-grade-level readers.

“Literacy is such an essential building block for success in today’s complex world. Funding organizations that teach and promote reading and writing skills to children and adults is an important way Chicago Tribune Charities supports our community,” said Janet Dobbs, Chicago Tribune director of development and co-chair of the Chicago Tribune Charities advisory committee.

The following adult literacy programs received grants totaling $465,000:

• Aquinas Literacy Center
• Blue Gargoyle Community Services
• Carole Robertson Center for Learning
• Centro Romero
• Chicago Commons Association
• Coalition of African, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois
• Dominican Literary Center Aurora
• Greater North Pulaski Development Corporation
• Heartland Human Care Services, Inc.
• Indo-American Center
• Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, Inc.
• Jane Addams Resource Corporation
• Jewish Vocational Service & Employment Center
• Learning Center House of Connections
• Literacy Connection
• Morton College
• People’s Resource Center
• Polish American Association
• Safer Foundation
• Township High School District 214 Community Education Foundation
• Waubonsee Community College

The following children’s literacy programs received grants totaling $280,000:

• Carole Robertson Center for Learning
• Centro Romero
• Changing Worlds
• Chicago Commons Association
• Chicago Youth Programs, Inc.
• Family Focus, Inc.
• Family Matters
• Indo-American Center
• Mary Crane League
• Pillars Community Services
• Reading In Motion
• San Miguel Febres Cordero School, Inc.

The following family literacy programs received grants totaling $105,000:

• Blue Gargoyle Community Services
• Centro Comunitario Juan Diego
• Literacy Connection
• Township High School District 214 Community Education Foundation
• Waukegan Public Library Foundation

The following training and advocacy programs received grants totaling $100,000:

• Family Focus
• Illinois Literacy Resource Development Center
• Literacy Works

“The McCormick Tribune Foundation’s communities program is a unique effort that stimulates local philanthropy and improves community life across the country,” said David L. Grange, president and chief executive officer of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. “In 2005, on the strength of people’ generosity and the role of each partner in their community, including Chicago Tribune, the Foundation was able to make 1600 grants, totaling more than $60 million.”

About Chicago Tribune Charities
Chicago Tribune Charities, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, annually raises millions of dollars from generous donors through the Chicago Tribune Holiday Giving campaign. These gifts, plus matching funds from McCormick Tribune Foundation, provide funding for grants to organizations that help alleviate hunger, promote reading and literacy, and strengthen families. Chicago Tribune and McCormick Tribune Foundation cover all administrative and promotional expenses, so that every cent of every dollar donated goes to work in supporting non-profit organizations, and 100 percent of the funds raised and matched stay in the Chicagoland area. In 2005 alone, 170 grants totaling more than $6.3 million were distributed throughout Chicagoland.

Chicago Tribune Charities represents a partnership between the McCormick Tribune Foundation and Chicago Tribune. The mission of Chicago Tribune Charities is in keeping with both the mission of the Foundation’s Communities Program, to stimulate local philanthropy and improve community life, and the company’s mission, which is to help people throughout Chicagoland engage their world and to strive every day to make a difference for the communities the company serves that goes well beyond words. For more information about Chicago Tribune Charities, please visit: chicagotribune.com/about/custom/community.

ut the McCormick Tribune Foundation
The McCormick Tribune Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to making life better for our children, communities and country. Through its charitable grantmaking programs, Cantigny Park and Golf, Cantigny First Division Foundation and the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, the Foundation is able to positively impact people’s lives and stay true to its mission of advancing the ideals of a free, democratic society. The Foundation is an independent nonprofit, separate from the Tribune Co., with substantial holdings in the Tribune Co. For more information, please visit our Web site www.McCormickTribune.org.