Voya Financial Honors Scholarship America Award Winners

NEW YORK, May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Voya Financial helped honor eight students last night as the Master Graduate Sponsor of Scholarship America's second annual "From Dreams to Degrees" celebration.

Held at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., the event honored young adults completing their postsecondary degrees as well as those who have helped students achieve educational success. In addition to the event sponsorship, Voya Financial announced a substantial grant earmarked to fund the 2016 "Dreams to Degree" scholarships.  

During the event, Martha Kanter, Chair of the Dream Award Selection Committee, announced this year's 2016 Dream Award class – eight students from across the nation who have overcome significant barriers and have successfully started their college education. Those individuals are:

Tiffany Avalos-Lopez, Houston Baptist University Selina Ayres, Western Washington University Cecilia Cardozo, University of Utah  Amanda Condon, Arkansas Tech University  Alexis Ho Liu, Syracuse University  Felix Ricarte, University of California, Irvine Giovanni Rosas Escobedo, El Centro College Kylie Lan Tumiatti, Seton Hall University

"At Voya, we recognize that education provides the critical foundation for an individual's success and that's why Voya actively supports Scholarship America and its programs – to help more students pursue and achieve their college degrees," said Voya Financial Chairman and CEO Rodney O. Martin, Jr. "We're proud to honor these students who have the courage, drive, persistence and talent to pursue their academic goals – and achieve beyond the classroom – regardless of challenges along the way."

Voya is a long-standing supporter of Scholarship America's mission to make achieving academic dreams possible for all students. This support includes partnership on the Voya Unsung Heroes™ program, a signature initiative that provides grants to K–12 educators for their groundbreaking teaching methods and techniques to improve learning. Since the program was launched in 1995, more than $4 million worth of grants have been awarded to teachers across the country.

Through Voya Financial's charitable giving arm, Voya Foundation, the company supports programs that help young people stay in school, graduate on time and become prepared to enter the 21st-century workforce. At the core of Voya Foundation is the belief that education is the key to healthy communities, which in turn fosters the sustainability and growth of the economy.

Videos from the evening can be accessed here. Jeanne LaCour Voya Financial   Office:  (212) 309-8949 [email protected]

About Voya Foundation Voya Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where Voya Financial® operates and its employees and customers live. Voya Foundation provides grants and establishes signature partnerships in the areas of financial literacy and children's education and fosters employee engagement to deepen our positive impact on the community. For more information, visit www.voyafoundation.com.

About Voya Financial® Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), helps Americans plan, invest and protect their savings — to get ready to retire better. Serving the financial needs of approximately 13 million individual and institutional customers in the United States, Voya is a Fortune 500 company that had $11 billion in revenue in 2015. The company had $458 billion in total assets under management and administration as of March 31, 2016. With a clear mission to make a secure financial future possible — one person, one family, one institution at a time — Voya's vision is to be America's Retirement Company™. The company is equally committed to conducting business in a way that is socially, environmentally, economically and ethically responsible — Voya has been recognized as one of the 2016 World's Most Ethical Companies® by the Ethisphere Institute, and as one of the Top Green Companies in the U.S., by Newsweek magazine. For more information, visit voya.com. Follow Voya Financial on Facebook and Twitter @Voya.

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SOURCE Voya Financial, Inc.