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What do environmentalists, the police, and actuaries have in
common?
In Boston, quite a bit. They all work together with employees of
John Hancock Financial Services to give high-school students
lessons that they won't find in any textbook. "We're always
looking for ways to capitalize on John Hancock's strengths in our
outreach efforts in the community schools," explains Les Hemmings,
Hancock's General Director of Human Resources and Training.
The following programs give Hancock professionals (and some
interesting partners) a structure to help students in Boston learn
to appreciate their environment, nurture a love for math, and mold
their value systems.
- Every day is Earth Day for high-school students enrolled in
the Caring for Our World course at the Lucy Stone Elementary School.
This environmental education program combines science, art, reading,
critical thinking, and observation. Students design and teach the
classes themselves with help from teachers, Hancock executives, and
environmental experts.
- Mathematicians are hip: just ask students in The Financial
Wizard program at the Samuel Mason Elementary School. They're
studying math concepts and problem-solving from living, breathing
actuaries. While these students are learning about money,
investments, and predicting, their test scores are on the up and up.
What do the actuaries get out of it? A chance to tell students how
math is used in careers, and a much better image!
- Call the cops? John Hancock already has. The Boston Police
Force and John Hancock have established a summer activities program
for at-risk youths called The Summer of Opportunity. After
participating in a training program, young people are given
part-time jobs and mentors. President Clinton is impressed: he
praised the program during his visit to Boston in February 1997.
"Our employees speak 26 different languages. We publish
everything in English and Spanish. That still leaves 24..."
Marriott International faces an especially difficult challenge.
After ten years of supporting family involvement in education, it's
now focusing its efforts on its low-income employee population.
Out of 200,000 employees, 80% are hourly wage earners.
Donna Klein, Director, Work-Life Program of Marriott International,
says that Marriott must do more than simply teach parents why
getting involved in education is important. "Many of our employees
don't understand the U.S. educational system. They also have
different ideas about what their involvement should be. For our
programs to succeed, we must provide supports that meet the needs
of our culturally and regionally diverse workforce."
Information is just a phone call away. Employees can get advice from
counselors by calling Marriott's Associate Resource Line. It's
working: the back-to-school season always brings an onslaught in
calls about education.
Klein hopes that other corporations will embrace the idea of
supporting family involvement. "Corporate America is being called
upon to drive social change like never before. I hope companies
recognize the importance of their new role; after all, the product
of our educational system is the people that we employ. In the long
run, we're helping ourselves."
In Southern California, surf's up -- and so is involvement in
education!
"Quality education is absolutely essential to the health and
vitality of the region in which we live and do business," says
Mike Mendez, Southern California Edison's Vice President of
Regional Leadership. "And parent involvement is essential to
quality education. Partnerships between businesses and the
educational community can help quality education happen."
Southern California Edison's (SCE) support of parent involvement
dates back to 1991, when it established a program to help at-risk
students. Research suggests that family involvement in education is
the most important factor for student success. When SCE realized
this, it decided to put more resources toward parent programs.
Today, SCE offers lunch-time and after-work seminars and workshops
to teach employees how to help children become successful students.
Employees receive two floating holidays a year so they can visit
schools or attend teacher conferences. SCE also provides 3,000
copies of Education Today to employees who request it, 20
scholarships for employees' children, and matches up to $2,500 a
year for employees' gifts to schools.
SCE feels so strongly about the value of family involvement that
it actively recruits businesses and non-profit organizations to
collaborate on projects to promote this important aspect of
education. "The research we've seen," says Educational Services
Supervisor Lynda Baker, "tells us that we're on the right track."
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