Voya Financial Announces Fourth-Quarter 2016 Grant Recipients

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today the nonprofit organizations selected in its fourth quarter to receive grants through Voya Foundation, the company's charitable giving arm. Voya Foundation supports local and national nonprofits with missions that align to its focus on children's education and financial literacy. Voya invests in programming to help foster healthy, sustainable communities.

Below is an overview of the fourth-quarter 2016 grant recipients:

Grace Academy 
Grace Academy is a Connecticut-based middle school serving a disadvantaged community of girls in grades 5-8. While Grace's formal education ends after 8th grade, the school recognizes that these students may need continued support in order to achieve their full potential. The grant from Voya Foundation will enable Grace to support and counsel its students beyond middle school, starting in grade 9, to ensure that they earn a high school diploma on time.            

Partnership for Afterschool Education 
The New York-based organization promotes and supports quality afterschool programs, particularly those for young people from underserved communities. Voya Foundation is expanding its partnership with PASE following a successful first year in which STEM programing was provided to more than 1,200 New York City children along with STEM teacher training for educators. For the second year of funding, Voya Foundation is expanding the partnership to focus more extensively on training for educators, and plans to reach up to 80 educators with programming to increase their effective teaching skills in STEM subjects. In addition, Voya Foundation and PASE are partnering in a new capacity as they begin to provide financial literacy training for up to 100 educators.

Patriot Oaks Academy 
Patriot Oaks Academy, located in St. Augustine, Fla., inspires good character and a passion for lifelong learning in students. The grant will support the deployment of Patriot Oaks Academy's first-ever Project Lead the Way program, focused on giving its students in grade K-5 innovative and cutting-edge materials to support experiential STEM learning. 

The Actuarial Foundation 
Voya Foundation and the Actuarial Foundation partner each year to provide free financial literacy education materials to schools near Voya Financial's office locations. This year's grant will fund additional materials to target communities serving children for whom English is a second language. 

Working in Support of Education (w!se) 
This national organization is dedicated to providing educational support services nationwide, building financial literacy, fostering business and social entrepreneurship, and preparing students for college and the global workplace. Grant funding will help develop financial literacy exams for students and instructional guides for teachers and nonprofit leaders. When applied, these exams will enable Voya Foundation to calculate the improvements in understanding of personal finance that each program has generated among its students. 

Going forward, Voya Foundation will accept grants that align with its new focus on financial resilience, which is defined as an individual's ability to make educated financial decisions, take advantage of growth and development opportunities as they appear, as well as weather difficult times.

To further the new vision of Voya Foundation, grant applications will only be accepted from organizations that: 

• Provide innovative and experiential K-8 STEM learning opportunities to promote an early interest in STEM career fields, and improve teachers' capabilities in STEM; or
                                               
• Provide financial education curriculum to students in grades 9-12 focused on navigating major financial milestones, including student debt, credit, home ownership, financial products and services/financial capability, and family needs.

In addition, Voya Foundation provides funding to a select group of partners to promote employee engagement and disaster relief as well as academic scholarships to students in higher education through the company's signature Voya Scholars program.

Media Contact: 
Mary Beth Conklin                                                                   
Voya Financial                                       
Cell:  (423) 596-1449                                                               
Marybeth.conklin@voya.com

About Voya Foundation 
Voya Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where Voya Financial^® operates and its employees and customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and children's education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our positive impact on the community. For more information, visit www.voyafoundation.com.

About Voya Financial^® 
Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $480 billion in total assets under management and administration as of September 30, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company™. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible — Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies^® by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

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SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc.