Sometimes a good idea, like well-constructed building, just needs a little updating, a bit of sprucing up, to continue making a significant impression on its community.

The five stories in this year’s Annual Report Issue are about such ideas. The subjects aren’t necessarily new – tutoring methods, mentoring models, alternative energy efforts, neighborhood development projects and community college programs – but they’ve undergone “renovations,” if you will, to make them more effective in the 21st century. The tutoring methods, for example, employ cutting-edge, “artificial intelligence” software; the alternative energy sources, such as wind power, benefit local economies as well as the environment; and the mentoring models, the focus of our cover piece, tap churches and other groups to provide youngsters with adult mentors through activities that can adjust to today’s hectic lifestyles.

Click on the link above or the photograph to the right to learn about these and other efforts that we believe are emblematic of the innovation we support through our five program areas. Also in this issue are our 2006 financial summary and a listing of grants. We hope you find each section illuminating.

Carmen Lee
Editor