TORONTO, Jan. 29, 2013 /CNW/ - NextEra Energy Canada, ULC announced today a new partnership with Indspire that will enable hundreds of Indigenous students to attend colleges or universities in Canada with the help of bursaries and scholarship awards.

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Under a new 20-year partnership between NextEra Energy Canada and Indspire, at least 400 students will receive financial support for post-secondary education. The most significant corporate donation of its kind for Indspire, NextEra Energy Canada's commitment to Indspire's Building Brighter Futures: Bursaries and Scholarship Awards will help transform Indigenous education and support First Nation, Inuit and Metis youth across Canada as they pursue post-secondary education.

"NextEra Energy Canada's generous contribution represents a huge commitment to our community and makes it possible for us to continue to innovate and support Indigenous education," said Roberta Jamieson, president and CEO of Indspire. "Our youth are the future leaders of their communities and the country, and we are committed to supporting them in achieving their goals."

Today's partnership with NextEra Energy Canada represents a $1.1 million commitment over the next 20 years and will enable Indspire to award bursaries to youth annually. Bursaries will be available to eligible First Nations, Inuit and Metis students from across Canada, seeking to pursue post-secondary education in engineering, science, commerce, business or renewable energy. Bursaries will be awarded on an annual basis and the commitment will see that students receive bursaries through to April 2032.

"We believe in being a good corporate citizen and actively participating in the communities in which we operate," said Mike O'Sullivan, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. "Today's announcement is the beginning of a long-term partnership with Indspire. We look forward to the success of future bursary and scholarship recipients and to supporting Indspire as they transform and continue to support Indigenous education."

Indspire is the largest supporter of Indigenous education outside the federal government and has awarded more than $49 million in scholarships and bursaries to 14,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis recipients nation-wide.

About Indspire
Indspire is the former National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. Its new name combines the key notions of Indigenous and inspiration to highlight its exciting mandate. Indspire is best-known for its many programs that help Indigenous youth succeed. In addition to bursaries and scholarships, they offer career conferences for youth, interactive classroom learning modules, the Indspire Institute and the Indspire Awards. Indspire's focus is on supporting, innovating, and fundamentally transforming Indigenous education. In 2011-2012, Indspire's Building Brighter Futures program provided a record $6,205,100 to 2,220 individual recipients.

About NextEra Energy Canada, ULC
NextEra Energy Canada, ULC is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a leading clean energy company with consolidated revenues of approximately $14.3 billion, more than 42,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and nearly 15,000 employees in 26 states and Canada as of year-end 2012. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Fla., NextEra Energy's principal subsidiaries are Florida Power & Light Company, which serves approximately 4.6 million customer accounts in Florida and is one of the largest rate-regulated electric utilities in the United States, and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which together with its affiliated entities is the largest generator in the United States of renewable energy from the wind as well as a leading generator of solar power. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com, www.NextEraEnergyCanada.com.

SOURCE: NextEra Energy Canada, ULC