For Immediate Release

ASQ Awards Grant to Help Improve School District Quality

Non-Profits Invited to Apply for Future Community Good Works Grants

Milwaukee, Wis. July 30, 2009 — ASQ (American Society for Quality), a global membership organization of quality professionals in all industries including manufacturing, healthcare, education, government and service, has awarded a $15,000 Community Good Works continuation grant to the Partnership for Education in Ashtabula County (PEAC), located in Ashtabula County, Ohio. 

This grant, the largest education grant ever awarded by ASQ, is the second presented to PEAC for continued work on its Community Partnership Initiative, which supports countywide engagement of communities in the success of their schools.

The ASQ Community Good Works program provides financial support and ASQ member expertise to help nonprofit organizations nationwide improve operations and performance by using quality management principles.

PEAC’s program, now in its fourth year, is helping to forge meaningful relationships with parents and families in five separate Ohio school districts.  The program uses tools such as public hearings, polls and surveys, media campaigns, roundtable discussions and key leader briefings to engage the community about crucial issues related to its schools.  Goals include increasing public confidence in district schools, improving student achievement and creating a clearer vision for the districts.

"It is truly an honor to receive a second funding award for our partnering school districts in their quality improvement endeavors, said Louise Casagrande, PEAC’s executive director.  "We look forward to continuing our collaboration toward performance excellence."

"More school districts are finding that quality improvement methods are a very effective way to help teachers and administrators raise student achievement and enhance accountability," said Roberto Saco, ASQ chair.  "Our hope is that more educators will discover ASQ’s Community Good Works grant as a way to help support these truly worthwhile efforts."

ASQ invites other non-profit organizations across the country that have instituted or will be instituting a community-focused quality improvement initiative in their organization to apply for the Community Good Works grant. Grant applications are currently being accepted.  For more information about the Community Good Works grant criteria and application process, visit www.asq.org/communities/good-works/.

ASQ, www.asq.org, has been the world’s leading authority on quality for more than 60 years. With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement and knowledge exchange to improve business results and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners and everyday consumers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., ASQ is a founding sponsor of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.