Boeing

SEAL BEACH, Calif., Jan. 13, 2012 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that the Employees Community Fund (ECF) of Boeing California has awarded nearly $400,000 to 11 Southern California nonprofit organizations for innovative projects that will promote environmental stewardship. The grants, known as the Crystal Vision awards, come from California-based Boeing employees through their support to ECF.

The Crystal Vision awards were created in 1990 as a way for ECF of Boeing California to provide an added boost to nonprofit organizations by seeking and funding unique projects that extend beyond the nonprofits’ core missions. The annual grants focus on a particular theme, with 2011’s being environmental education and stewardship. The grants were formally presented during a recognition event in Seal Beach in December, with the funding period extending through 2012.

“The Crystal Vision grants give nonprofits already benefiting the community an added financial boost to extend their outreach or take it in a new direction,” said Carrie Bollwinkle, ECF of Boeing California executive director. “The recipients are competitively chosen from a pool of nonprofit candidates.”

The 11 honorees for the 2011 Crystal Vision grants are:

• Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach: For the “Southern California Whale Research” project to leverage public participation to gather and model data about whale migration.
• Audubon California, Los Angeles: For the expansion of its education programs at Debs Park, in Los Angeles, and the Audubon Starr Ranch Sanctuary in southeast Orange County.
• Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Huntington Beach: For the “Youth Leadership in Environmental Actions Program,” which is designed to provide middle and high school students with the knowledge and skills to serve as leaders to inspire and motivate others to protect and preserve coastal resources like the Bolsa Chica wetlands.
• California State Parks Foundation, Los Angeles: For the sustainment of its “Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students” (PORTS) programming at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in California’s Colorado Desert, and the launch of a new PORTS unit, the Desert Rover expedition experience.
• Heal the Bay, Santa Monica: For the “Creek 101” program to provide underserved high school students and their teachers with the tools needed to better understand the environmental significance of watersheds and pollution issues impacting the Compton Creek Watershed, a 42-square-mile, highly urbanized sub-shed of the Los Angeles River in L.A. County.
• Inside the Outdoors, Costa Mesa: For the “NSI: Nature Scene Investigator” (NSI), a clue-based scavenger hunt that will include kindergarten-12th grade student environmental education programs, community programs, and stewardship projects at its Orange County locations.
• LA Conservation Corps, Los Angeles: For the “SEA Lab Aquaculture Education Program” in Redondo Beach to provide a field trip experience for elementary school students emphasizing the importance of preserving the coastline and the industries that support marine life.
• Orange County Coastkeeper, Costa Mesa: For the “Inspiring Environmental Education through Natural Playgrounds” project at its Coastkeeper Garden, located at Santiago Canyon College in the city of Orange, to give families, teachers, and child care providers a learning model that can be imitated in their own backyards and play areas.
• Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, Palos Verdes Peninsula: For the “Science Students as Stewards” program, in which students are brought to the nature preserves and instructed in the sciences through inquiry-based learning.
• San Bernardino National Forest Association, Riverside: For the “Discovery Center Nature Explore Classroom” project, which will allow children to use all of their senses to explore, experiment, solve problems and enjoy the wonders of their natural world.
• Wildhaven Ranch, Lake Arrowhead: For the “Wings n’ Things Will Travel” project to give gifted students the opportunity to serve as apprentice teachers known as Associate Wildlifers.

About ECF of Boeing California
ECF of Boeing California is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization owned and operated by Boeing employees. Since 1979, ECF of Boeing California has awarded more than $100 million to charitable agencies to help strengthen the health and well-being of local communities. Boeing pays for the administrative costs of ECF so that 100 percent of every dollar Boeing employees give to ECF is invested in the community.

About Boeing
The Boeing Company is the world's leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft. With customers in more than 90 countries, Boeing is a leading global corporate citizen driving positive change in communities around the world though its community engagement and employee volunteers’ efforts. The Boeing footprint in California is the company’s second largest after Washington state, encompassing a workforce of more than 20,000 employees and a large supplier base of approximately 5,000 businesses providing goods and services for airlines and U.S. and allied government customers around the world. For more information, visit www.boeing.com.

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Contact:

Paula R. Shawa
Boeing Regional Communications
Office: 562-797-1184
Mobile: 714-290-3975
paula.r.shawa@boeing.com