Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Invests Over $1 Million to Enable Summer Learning Throughout the Greater Boston Community

BOSTON – Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) continues to demonstrate its commitment to inspiring passionate, curious learners in its HQ city of Boston by investing over $1 million in educational organizations throughout the Greater Boston community to date in 2015.

Last week, HMH launched a new partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB) with an investment of more than $22,000 in math and reading materials and funding for its summer education program.  HMH’s Chief Financial Officer Eric Shuman and Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon joined Josh Kraft, Nicholas President and CEO of BGCB, for a tour of the Blue Hill Boys and Girls Club, before competing alongside Club members in a “Summer Success Math Olympic Pentathlon,” based on activities from HMH’s Summer Success math kits.

“We are grateful to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for their generous donation to support our efforts to mitigate the loss of learning that children experience in the summer,” said Josh Kraft.  “Working together, we can help our members, many of whom come from underserved communities and are at greatest risk of falling behind, stay on par with their peers, and ultimately close the achievement gap.”

The majority of HMH’s recent investments have gone directly to local summer learning programs to combat summer “brain drain” and encourage educational advancement beyond the classroom. Local recipients include:

• Boston Children’s Museum: Already an established partnership, HMH and Boston Children’s Museum have collaborated on a variety of initiatives, from expert panels on parenting in the digital age to family events celebrating playful learning. This summer the two Boston-based institutions are teaming up with ReadBoston to sponsor the ReadBoston Story Mobile. HMH has also donated 500 Pre-K books to be distributed at Story Mobile events throughout the summer, and will participate in reading events across the city.

Cradles to Crayons: Building upon an existing long-term relationship, HMH has invested nearly $450,000 in funding and materials to support the Cradles to Crayons’ annual Backpack-A-Thon in City Hall Plaza, one of the largest corporate volunteer initiatives in the city, providing children in need with brand new supplies to kick off the school year. This is the first time that books will be included in all 35,000 packs, in addition to traditional school supplies. College Bound Dorchester: At a recent employee volunteer event, HMH presented College Bound Dorchester (CBD) with award-winning children’s books to re-stock seven Pre-K classrooms damaged by a ceiling collapse and flood. Early learners were each able to take a book home, and HMH also contributed to CBD’s high school programming with digital curriculum and funding support. Generations Incorporated: HMH donated 5,500 books to Generations Incorporated, an organization which strives to improve the literary skills of young children through grade three. A majority of the books were given as end of year gifts to children participating in the program and the remaining titles were added to Generations Inc. libraries.

“At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, we know learning happens everywhere – from the classroom to the kitchen table to summer camp,” said Mary Cullinane, Chief Content Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs, HMH. “When we invest in local educational organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs or College Bound Dorchester, we aim to bridge these environments, making sure that all kids have access to quality educational content where they live, play and learn.”

HMH’s corporate citizenship efforts within the Boston community are part of a global corporate social responsibility program which includes partnerships focused on investing a blend of HMH resources:  funding, learning materials (including a multimillion dollar annual book donation program), employee volunteerism initiatives, employee/company gift-matching and Community Investment Councils — location-based employee committees charged with creating opportunities for colleagues to have a positive impact on the community.

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (NASDAQ:HMHC) is a global learning company dedicated to changing people’s lives by fostering passionate, curious learners. As a leading provider of pre-K–12 education content, services, and cutting-edge technology solutions across a variety of media, HMH enables learning in a changing landscape. HMH is uniquely positioned to create engaging and effective educational content and experiences from early childhood to beyond the classroom. HMH serves more than 50 million students in over 150 countries worldwide, while its award-winning children's books, novels, non-fiction, and reference titles are enjoyed by readers throughout the world. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com

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CONTACT
Leah Riviere
Manager, Communications
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
617-351-5020
Leah.Riviere@hmhco.com

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