Communities In Schools of North Carolina (CISNC), part of the national Communities In Schools network, today announced the launch of GIVE Education, an inspiring new campaign developed to increase awareness of the student dropout crisis in the United States and North Carolina, and to raise funds to help keep millions of students in school.

In North Carolina, 93 students drop out of school every school day. Nationwide, every nine seconds of any given school day, a young person drops out of high school1, and nearly one-third of high school students fail to graduate on time2. GIVE Education will raise awareness and support of CISNC, enabling it to continue channeling much-needed resources to North Carolina students who are at greatest risk of dropping out.

Consumers can take simple steps to help "School the Nation" - the rallying cry behind the campaign - and help keep kids in school through the redemption of GIVE Education brandSAVER coupons and the use of social media tools designed to support the cause and inspire others to do the same. This Sunday, July 31, the GIVE Education brandSAVER will be distributed in 50 newspapers in North Carolina and newspapers across the country, with discounts for P&G products, including Puffs ®, Bounty®, Crest®, Pantene®, Duracell®, Olay® and Tide®. For each brandSAVER coupon redeemed, P&G will donate two cents to Communities in Schools - allowing consumers to give back, while saving money. The P&G uncapped donation will help deliver human, financial and community resources to students and their families, including tutoring, mentoring, individual or family counseling, health services, food bank access, college visits and more. The donation will be based on the number of coupons redeemed beginning July 31 - the more consumers save, the more they give.

"Joining forces with Communities In Schools allows us to support the incredibly important work they do in empowering students to learn and thrive," said Jim Leish, P&G North America, director of U.S. Operations. "By focusing our social investments on improving life for children and youth, P&G and our brands are able to focus our attention on an area that is critically important, now and for generations to come."

Communities In Schools is the nation's leading dropout prevention organization, and the only one proven to increase graduation rates and decrease dropout rates. By connecting at-risk students and their families to critical community resources, Communities In Schools affiliates across North Carolina were able to serve 430 sites and nearly 140,000 students and their families during the 2009-2010 school year. Of the monitored students that participated in the program nationwide, 97 percent remained in school and 91 percent were promoted to the next grade.

"By investing time and resources in our students, we increase the likelihood that they will make positive life choices, succeed academically and finish school prepared to achieve in life," said Linda Harrill, President and CEO of CISNC. "P&G and the GIVE Education campaign are enabling Communities In Schools to touch and impact even more of our nation's at-risk youth, making students' dreams a reality.

In order to help spread the word about GIVE Education and the availability of coupons that can help others, visit GIVE Education on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pgmygive. Consumers can share content to encourage friends and family to learn more about the dropout crisis, and inspire others to get involved. Newspapers carrying the GIVE Education brandSAVER can be found by visiting www.pgeverydaysolutions.com. To learn more about the North Carolina and national dropout crisis, visit www.cisnc.org or www.communitiesinschools.org.

GIVE Education is part of the P&G GIVE program, a social sustainability platform designed to inspire and enable people to use their everyday purchases to touch lives and improve life. P&G has improved life for more than 300 million children around the world and focused its efforts on helping children in need get off to a healthy start, receive access to education and build skills for life. GIVE Education will enable P&G to touch even more lives by bringing together the power of P&G's education commitment and reach and CIS' innovative programs to help keep kids in school and achieve in life.

About P&G GIVE
P&G GIVE is a social sustainability platform designed to inspire and enable people to use their everyday purchases to touch lives and improve life. GIVE embodies P&G's deep commitment to social responsibility and is designed to touch lives and improve life through three pillars: GIVE Hope, GIVE Health and GIVE Education. Each pillar is tied to the P&G brandSAVER, where donations from each coupon redeemed are made to a charity partner, making it simple for consumers to give back without having to spend a lot of time or money. By enabling consumers to address critical social issues affecting our communities, GIVE helps P&G fulfill its purpose of touching and improving lives, now and for generations to come.

About Procter & Gamble
Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun® and Fusion®. The P&G community includes approximately 127,000 employees working in about 80 countries worldwide. Please visit www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.