CHICAGO, March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group Foundation will award $1.88 million in new grants to support early math education programs for young children from low-income communities in Illinois. These grants will be used for programs throughout the next two school years.

Grantees were selected as part of CME Group Foundation's Early Math Initiative, designed to provide educators with the knowledge, confidence and tools to teach and inspire children from infancy through elementary school about the world of mathematics. These grants bring Early Math Education Initiative funding to a total investment of $10.8 million since the program's inception in 2009.

CME Group Foundation launched its Early Math Education Initiative to aid underserved Illinois communities and as part of its efforts to advance the economy by supporting education from cradle to career. The initiative bolsters professional development for teachers of young children, improves family engagement in the learning of young children and aims to influence early childhood mathematics policies. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, nearly half of Illinois children ages 3-17 live in low-income households and just 31 percent of eighth graders enrolled in an Algebra 1 course last year received a passing grade.

"It is crucial to our economy that all children have access to quality math education," said Kassie Davis, Executive Director of CME Group Foundation. "We are proud to fund educational initiatives that elevate underserved communities because supporting educators who impact our youth at vital stages of development and ensuring access to learning tools for children who need it most, is an important investment in the future."

"CME Group Foundation's vision and willingness to do the extra work of bringing partners together has really moved the needle here in Illinois and we are so grateful," said Jennifer McCray of Erikson Institute's Early Math Collaborative. "Because of the contributions of the foundation and other like-minded funders, we have not only affected the lives and learning of thousands of children, but there is now more interest and infrastructure to help sustain the work."

For more information about CME Group Foundation, please visit the website: www.cmegroupfoundation.org. A complete list of beneficiaries follows:  

• Academy for Urban School Leadership
• Big Shoulders Fund
• Chicago Children's Museum
• Children First Fund of Chicago Public Schools Foundation
• Decatur Public Schools Foundation
• DePaul University
• Erikson Institute
• Governors State University
• Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
• McKendree University
• Teach for America Chicago
• University of Chicago STEM Ed
• University of Illinois at Chicago

About CME Group Foundation

CME Group Foundation works to advance the economy by supporting education from cradle to career. The Foundation partners with universities, school districts, charter networks and non-profit organizations that work to ensure at risk young children are prepared for kindergarten; provide effective K-12 education that prepares disadvantaged students for success in college and career; prepare university students for careers in financial services and risk management. The Foundation was created in 2008 and endowed with a gift of $16 million from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Trust, which was established by CME in 1969 to provide financial protection to customers in the event a CME member firm became insolvent or unable to meet its obligations to its customers.

About CME Group

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.  The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.  In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.  With a range of pre- and post-trade products and services underpinning the entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group also offers optimization and reconciliation services through TriOptima, and trade processing services through Traiana.

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SOURCE CME Group Foundation