Four of the region’s foremost corporate leaders announced that Philadelphia Young Playwrights is the latest nonprofit to be named a Champion in Action®. Philadelphia Young Playwrights received the Champion in Action recognition because of its effective arts education program for students in the Philadelphia region. Philadelphia Young Playwrights uses playwriting to give children a creative outlet to express their thoughts and feelings. As a Champion in Action, Philadelphia Young Playwrights will receive a $25,000 grant, media coverage, and extensive promotional and volunteer support over the next three months. Champions in Action is an innovative program that provides various forms of support for small nonprofit organizations in recognition of their contributions to communities throughout the fivecounty Philadelphia area. Since its inception in 2003, including today’s announcement, 18 Champions have been selected.

“Citizens Bank is pleased to join NBC 10, Greater Philadelphia Cares, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News and Philly.com in naming Philadelphia Young Playwrights as our new Champion in Action,” said Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, Citizens Bank President and CEO for Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. “Philadelphia Young Playwrights offers students a way to explore their own creativity and find positive ways to voice their personal feelings. The agency’s programs not only improve the students’ writing and creative thinking skills, but give them the tools to communicate effectively and the confidence to express their opinions.” “NBC 10 is proud to be a partner with the Champions in Action program,” said Dennis Bianchi, President and General Manager of NBC 10. “Strong partnerships and programs such as this allow us to demonstrate our community commitment, and give us the chance to thank local nonprofits, such as Philadelphia Young Playwrights, that do so much good work in communities across our region. Philadelphia Young Playwrights has a strong program that serves more than 1500 students in our region each year.”

“Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ curriculum partners professional theater artists with classroom teachers in a year-long in-school program” said Carol Dooling, Director of Communications and Partnerships at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com. “The curriculum’s focus on self-expression empowers children to influence positive change in their own lives and communities.”

“Volunteer support can be helpful to an organization such as Philadelphia Young Playwrights,” said Renee Archawski, Executive Director of Greater Philadelphia Cares. “We are delighted to pledge our support to help Philadelphia Young Playwrights expand their performances to broader audiences so more Philadelphians can enjoy the artistic contributions of our talented youth.”

Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ Executive Producing Director, Glen Knapp, and agency staff learned that they were selected as a Champion in Action during a surprise segment of the 10! Show on NBC 10. As a Champion in Action, Philadelphia Young Playwrights will receive:

• A $25,000 contribution in unrestricted funds from the Citizens Bank Foundation.
• Media coverage from NBC 10, including public service announcements and profiles.
• Advertising space in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and on Philly.com to promote both the program and the organization.
• Volunteer support from Citizens Bank, NBC 10 and Greater Philadelphia Cares.
• Extensive public relations support.
• Promotional support, highlighting the Champion in Action in all Citizens Bank branches.
• Exposure on the Web sites of Citizens Bank, NBC 10 and Philly.com.
• Consulting and implementation services, provided by Greater Philadelphia Cares, to leverage volunteer support that enhances impact.

About Philadelphia Young Playwrights
Founded in 1987 by Adele Magner, and led today by Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp, Philadelphia Young Playwrights is an award-winning program that taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting in up to 50 public and private K-12 schools each year. A leader in the region’s educational programs for youth and built upon its primary belief that all students have something important and valuable to say, Young Playwrights has enriched the Greater Philadelphia community, touching the lives of thousands of students, teachers and parents for the past twenty years. Since 1987, approximately 60 professional playwrights have led workshops, and nearly all of Philadelphia’s professional theater companies have participated by performing, producing, or directing student works. Nearly 60,000 students have seen peers’ work produced in class or by professionals. Young Playwrights’ Literary Committee includes more than 60 educators, writers, parents, and former Young Playwrights students who read and critique each student script submitted to the Annual Playwriting Festival. Young Playwrights is a past recipient of 2005 and 1997 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Service, a 2003 George Bartol Award for Excellence in Arts Education, a national “Points of Light” designation, and a 2004 Eastern University Award for Nonprofit Excellence. For more information, visit www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.

About Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania
Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania is a state-chartered bank with dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. It has approximately 400 branches and more than 660 ATMs throughout Pennsylvania. It also operates 15 retail branches and 32 ATMs in southern New Jersey and a commercial loan office in Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $160 billion commercial bank holding company headquartered in Providence, R.I. Citizens Financial Group, through its subsidiaries, has more than 1,600 branches, 3,500 ATMs and 24,000 employees. CFG’s two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 13-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. CFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. It is one of the 10 largest commercial banking companies in the United States ranked by assets and deposits. CFG is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). CFG’s Web site is www.citizensbank.com.

About NBC 10
NBC 10, one of 10 Owned & Operated NBC television stations, is located in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia. Millions of viewers throughout Greater Philadelphia, Lehigh Valley, South Jersey and Delaware tune into NBC 10 everyday for the most up-to-date news, weather, sports, consumer, health and traffic reports. NBC 10’s 4 p.m. news - “All That & More” - is the only fully interactive news program in the region. Viewers also tune in daily to watch the “10!” show, an upbeat, one-hour lifestyle and entertainment show featuring local, national and internationally known celebrities. The program airs Monday through Friday at 2 p.m. Recognized as the No. 1 Web site (www.nbc10.com) in the top 50 markets, NBC10.com received the prestigious National Edward R. Murrow Award.

About Philadelphia Media Holdings
Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC, is the leading media company in the Philadelphia region. Privately held and locally owned, PMH is the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, philly.com, related online products and several community newspapers. With almost one million people reading The Inquirer each day, and 1.6 million on Sundays, The Inquirer is the region’s most-read daily newspaper. Together with the Daily News, the No. 1 tab newspaper in the region, which reaches 500,000 readers each week, and philly.com, the No. 1 Web site in the region, Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC, reaches almost 2 million people each day.

About Greater Philadelphia Cares
An award-winning non-profit, Greater Philadelphia Cares is committed to empowering individuals to realize their ability to contribute to the community in meaningful ways. By providing a variety of flexible, tangible volunteer opportunities, Greater Philadelphia Cares is continuously enhancing the ability for volunteers to serve the community.