MCLEAN, Va., May 09, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) today announced grants totaling $3 million to help support charter school initiatives in Orleans Parish and a wide variety of non-profit organizations that are working to rebuild and revitalize New Orleans and communities across Louisiana.

The grants include a $1 million gift to help establish the Capital One/University of New Orleans Charter School Center. Through UNO's College of Education and Human Development, the center will provide centralized operational and educational support to a cluster of charter schools managed by UNO. As they are established over the next five years in the Gentilly and Lakeview areas of New Orleans, these schools eventually will serve more than 4,000 students from across Orleans Parish.

"As part of Capital One, we are making an even stronger commitment to Louisiana communities and taking our established traditions of community support to a new level," said Herb Boydstun, Capital One's president of banking in Louisiana and Texas. "From rebuilding homes and neighborhoods to restocking libraries and helping to bring music and youth programs back to New Orleans, there are tremendous efforts under way to help revitalize and rebuild the region. We believe families do better when they are part of vibrant, functioning communities, and we're proud that our partnerships and support will help further our community goals."

$1 million to New Orleans-area non-profits

In addition to the $1 million grant to UNO, Capital One will donate $1 million to 20 community-based organizations throughout the New Orleans area. Capital One selected these organizations because it believes they are addressing strategic needs of the community in the areas of affordable housing, education, public libraries, health and social services, and more.

"New Orleans is fortunate to have a broad range of non-profit organizations that are doing wonderful work to help the region recover," Boydstun said. "This is a pivotal time for our community as it rebuilds, and we're very pleased to help support their efforts."

Each of the following 20 New Orleans-area organizations will receive $50,000:

-- Catholic Charities: Providing child-care services through the reopening of El Yo Yo Head Start, a bilingual center in the Uptown section of New Orleans, as well as healthcare and social services for the city's growing Hispanic community.

-- City Park: Rebuilding this 1,300-acre urban park, with a focus on areas that serve children.

-- City Year: Launching a New Orleans presence for this national youth service program.

-- Community Development Capital: Providing financing for the acquisition and development of affordable housing for low- to moderate-income families.

-- Delgado Community College: Repairing the hurricane-damaged library at the City Park campus.

-- Dryades YMCA: Supporting academic, recreational and life-skills services for this Central City youth program.

-- Habitat for Humanity: Constructing a home in the Upper Ninth Ward for a low-income family.

-- Friends of the Jefferson Parish Library System: Repairing and restocking the children's area of the Westwego branch library.

-- Jefferson Parish Public Schools: Providing academic enrichment programs to two alternative schools: Bunche Accelerated Academy and Bonella St. Ville Accelerated Academy.

-- Kingsley House: Providing a summer camp for inner-city youth.

-- Lighthouse for the Blind: Providing jobs, social services and rehabilitation programs for the blind and visually impaired.

-- Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra: Underwriting of the 2006-2007 season-opening concert, a weekend- long showcase of Latin-American music and culture, and the gala ball.

-- New Orleans Musician's Clinic: Providing healthcare for area musicians.

-- Neighborhood Housing Services: Providing home-ownership counseling and construction management services to low- to moderate-income families to help them return to their homes.

-- New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative: Providing affordable housing for low- to moderate-income families.

-- New Orleans Public Library Foundation: Repairing the damaged Alvar Street branch library in the Bywater section of the city.

-- New Schools for New Orleans: Start-up funding for this charter-school support organization.

-- Nunez Community College: Establishing a library fund to replace books, equipment, and technology hardware and software.

-- St. Bernard Parish Public Schools: Funding the purchase of new textbooks for Andrew Jackson Elementary.

-- Volunteers of America: Repairing a single-room occupancy facility, which provides housing for homeless individuals recovering from substance abuse.

$1 million to 10 community organizations throughout Louisiana

Through a competitive grants process, Capital One will donate $100,000 to each of 10 educational initiatives in Louisiana outside the New Orleans area. Eligible organizations must provide after-school or literacy programs that benefit children and their families.

"Across the state, non-profit organizations are making a difference in the lives of families, helping children learn to read and serving disadvantaged segments of our population," Boydstun pointed out. "Working together, we believe we can help build strong and healthy communities that are good places to work, good places in which to do business and good places to raise families."

Non-profit organizations in the following markets and parishes may apply: Shreveport (Bossier, Caddo and DeSoto parishes), Monroe (Claiborne, East Carroll, West Carroll, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita and Webster parishes), Alexandria (Avoyelles and Rapides parishes), Lake Charles (Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis and Cameron parishes), Lafayette (Iberia, Lafayette, St. Mary and Vermillion parishes), Baton Rouge (Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Tangipahoa parishes), Houma/Thibodaux (Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes), the parishes of St. Charles and St. John, and the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain (St. Tammany and Washington parishes).

The deadline for applications is June 9, 2006.

To receive guidelines and instructions on how to apply for the competitive grants pool, interested applicants should send an e-mail to Corporate-Communications@capitalonebank.com with "Louisiana Grants" in the subject line. A document automatically will be emailed to the sender. Organizations may also call 504-533-2009 to have guidelines sent to them via mail or fax.

About Capital One

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company, with more than 316 locations in Texas and Louisiana. Its principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank, Capital One, F.S.B., Capital One Auto Finance, Inc., and Capital One, N.A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had $47.8 billion in deposits and $103.9 billion in managed loans outstanding as of March 31, 2006. Capital One, a Fortune 500 company, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index.

SOURCE: Capital One Financial Corporation

Capital One Financial Corporation
Steven Thorpe, 504-533-2753
steven.thorpe@capitalonebank.com