Yesterday in celebration of World Kindness Day and as part of JetBlue For Good Month, JetBlue announced the winners of the JetBlue For Good Grants contest – Behind the Book in New York City, the Detroit Public Safety Foundation for the Detroit Police Department’s Sisterhood: No Boundaries Youth Program and Heal The Planet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Selected from thousands of entries from community members, each of these nonprofit organizations received a $25,000 grant from JetBlue to continue their work helping others within their local communities. The designated charities each represent one of JetBlue For Good’s three pillars: youth and education, the community, and the environment.

“JetBlue For Good Month is an exciting celebration of service, kindness and good deeds that lives well beyond just 30 days,” said Icema Gibbs, director corporate social responsibility, JetBlue. “We took time on World Kindness Day to spread even more good and honor three deserving charities. Aligned with our mission of inspiring humanity, these grants will provide much-needed funds to help these organizations continue to make an impact in their local communities and beyond.”

JetBlue For Good Grant recipients include:

• Behind the Book – New York: Aligned with JetBlue For Good’s youth and education pillar, Behind the Book brings authors and their books directly into New York City public school classrooms as part of a comprehensive literacy program to get students excited about reading and writing. Through a series of workshops, students read a book, meet that book’s author, learn about the writing process and create final art and writing projects. Since the organization’s founding in 2003, they’ve served more than 14,500 students and donated more than 40,000 books.
• Heal The Planet – Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Much like JetBlue For Good’s environmental pillar, the mission of Heal The Planet is to educate and inspire the next generation of children and adults about the power of their daily choices and the huge impact these choices have on their own health and the well-being and sustainability of the planet. The organization creates innovative partnerships and education and community programming aimed at inspiring a generation of leaders empowered to Heal The Planet.
• Sisterhood: No Boundaries – Detroit: Aligned with JetBlue For Good’s community pillar, the mission of Sisterhood: No Boundaries Program is to prevent violence in Detroit through positive youth development and engagement. In collaboration with the Detroit Police Department and the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the Sisterhood is a female youth development program designed to promote resilience and positive life outcomes for girls age 14-19 living in extremely challenging environments. With help from this grant, this program will utilize prevention and intervention strategies and community partnerships to support high school girls and their families. The program will mitigate the number of risk factors for violence that these girls face and strengthen protective factors.

The JetBlue For Good Grants were the latest efforts of JetBlue For Good, the airline’s platform for social impact and corporate responsibility. During November, JetBlue hosts JetBlue For Good Month, a month of kindness and good deeds. This year’s celebration included the JetBlue For Good Grant contest which also builds on the airline’s Destination Good trip that will fly a plane full of winning do-gooders to a mystery location for a four-day volunteer experience departing on Giving Tuesday, November 27.

Giving back is part of JetBlue’s DNA and is core to its mission of Inspiring Humanity^®. Centered around volunteerism and service, JetBlue For Good focuses on the areas that are most important to the airline’s customers and crewmembers – Community, Youth/Education and the Environment.

JetBlue’s core programs and partnerships directly impact the areas where its customers and crewmembers live and work by enhancing education and providing access to those that are traditionally underserved. Signature programs include the award-winning Soar with Reading initiative which has provided more than $3 million worth of books to kids who need them most; Blue Horizons For Autism which helps introduce air travel in a realistic environment to families and children affected by autism; and Swing for Good which has raised more than $6.1 million to date for education and youth focused non-profits.

The airline is also committed to helping create a cleaner earth for future generations. JetBlue depends on natural resources and a healthy environment to keep its business running smoothly. Customers, crewmembers and community are key to JetBlue’s sustainability strategy. Demand from these groups for responsible service is one of the motivations behind changes that help reduce the airline’s environmental impact.