SAN DIEGO, March 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) kicked off the 3^rd annual Inspiring Future Leaders (formerly known as Excellence in Civic Leadership) initiative, a $1 million charitable giving campaign. The initiative offers grants to non-profit organizations that focus on developing strong youth leaders by providing guidance, tools and resources to help them lead our region into the future.  

In particular, SDG&E's Inspiring Future Leaders initiative will support programs that provide mentoring; leadership and character development; college and workforce preparation; and, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs for underserved K-12 students. 

"Through the Inspiring Future Leaders initiative, SDG&E's goal is to have a meaningful impact on the community by promoting responsible leadership and the development of youth leaders who will be the decision makers of tomorrow," said Scott Drury, vice president of human resources, diversity & inclusion for SDG&E. "Partnering with non-profit organizations that are engaging the minds of the next generation of diverse leaders is extremely important as we prepare San Diego for the future."

Non-profit organizations have until March 25 to apply for initiative grants at www.sdge.com/community.  Through a competitive request-for-proposal process, the initiative will award grants up to $25,000 for individual organizations and up to $50,000 for collaborative projects to selected non-profit organizations that provide leadership programs for underserved K-12 students.  SDG&E anticipates making grant awards by mid-April 2013. 

SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides safe and reliable energy service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 860,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties.  The utility's area spans 4,100 square miles.  SDG&E is committed to creating ways to help customers save energy and money every day. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), a Fortune 500 energy services holding company based in San Diego. 

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SOURCE San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E)