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4-H Expands Environmental Science Education with $1.1 Million from Toyota

4-H₂O Community Projects is a national environmental stewardship project currently serving California, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia. Through 4-H₂O Community Projects, youth learn to protect and conserve freshwater resources by participating in activities such as water quality testing, watershed cleanup events and constructing rain gardens, while strengthening math and science skills. In its first year, 4-H₂O Community Projects saved 138 million gallons of water and with Toyota's continued support 4-H will expand the project to serve Indiana and New York City, reaching more than 14,000 youth in at least 21 communities.

"The generous and continued support of Toyota and the Toyota USA Foundation has vastly helped to strengthen and broaden 4-H's environmental science education efforts," said Donald T. Floyd Jr., president and CEO of National 4-H Council. "Through this innovative programming, 4-H continues to develop generations of great American thinkers who are ready to step up in this complex and changing world to find solutions to the problems our nation faces today."

Toyota will also join as a sponsor of the third-annual 4-H National Youth Science Day (NYSD). 4-H's premiere rallying event, National Youth Science Day will take place this year on Oct. 6, 2010 and bring together hundreds of thousands of youth from all across the nation to simultaneously complete the 2010 National Science Experiment, 4-H₂O. Toyota's sponsorship of this event will help to significantly raise the level of community outreach surrounding NYSD and expand the event's Web presence (www.4-H.org/NYSD). This year's National Science Experiment, 4-H₂O will bring youth face-to-face with a demonstration of the importance of water quality and its effect on climate change. Youth will also learn how a human's emission of carbon dioxide can affect aquatic animals, plants and other living organisms in lakes, streams, rivers and oceans.

"We are proud that in our third year of 4-H₂O we are able expand the partnership in so many ways, including bringing the water conservation programs to the new states of Indiana and New York," said Pat Pineda, group vice president of philanthropy at Toyota Motor North America. "It is truly meaningful to our company to support an organization that has such a tremendous impact on America's youth."

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 9 manufacturing plants. Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion, including sales and manufacturing operations, research and development, financial services and design.

Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where it does business and believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results. Toyota supports numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. Since 1991, Toyota has contributed more than $493 million to philanthropic programs in the U.S.

For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/community.

About 4-H:

4-H is a community of six million young people across America learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. National 4-H Council is the private sector, non-profit partner of 4-H National Headquarters located at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) within USDA. 4-H programs are implemented by the 109 Land-Grant Universities and the Cooperative Extension System through their 3,100 local Extension offices across the country. Learn more about 4-H at www.4-h.org or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/4-H.

National 4-H Council
Kristin Walter, 301-961-2973
kwalter@fourhcouncil.edu