Unum will present 58 Hamilton County school teachers with more than $50,000 in mini-grants at its annual Strong Schools Grant teacher luncheon tomorrow, Jan. 8.

The grants — up to $1,000 each — will help the teachers pay for education materials and programs that engage students and improve their achievement levels.

“There’s great work being done in Hamilton County schools, but we’re recognizing the best of the best,” said Tom White, senior vice president of investor relations for Unum. “Selected out of 144 applicants, these educators will receive grants to help fund worthwhile classroom projects that will provide an even better education for their students.”

The Strong Schools Grants program is part of a multi-year partnership between Unum and the Hamilton County Department of Education. Since 2008, Unum has awarded 271 Strong Schools Grants as part of its commitment of more than $950,000 to Chattanooga public schools. In addition to the Strong Schools Grants program, other initiatives include:

-- Elementary School Technology Grant: In the first phase of the partnership, Unum awarded seven well-performing elementary schools with two state-of-the-art Promethean Collaborative Teaching Systems each. These systems are interactive whiteboards that engage students with vivid images, video and audio.
-- Technology Challenge Grant: To encourage other businesses, organizations and individuals to give, Unum used this grant to match donations to schools specifically for Promethean technology. Fifty-nine Technology Challenge Grants were awarded in the first phase of the partnership.
-- Mentor Program: Through a partnership with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Unum employees are trained and matched with sixth-grade students at two middle schools.
-- Principal Leadership Academy: The company has given $300,000 to fund a program to train prospective principals in the county school system on how to be strong leaders and effectively manage their schools.
-- STEM High School: Unum provided $100,000 to help fund the build out.

The Strong Schools Grant luncheon will be held in room 151 at Unum from 11:45 am to 1 pm Tuesday, Jan. 8. For more information about the program, please contact Unum employee Cathy Barrett at (423) 240-6741.
Unum invests $50,000 in Hamilton County Classrooms