• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Business/School Partnership, City Year Join Together to Better Serve Students, Create New Model in Cleveland Schools

Posted on: Monday, 1 October 2007, 12:00 CDT

The Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) Business/School Partnership Program, directed by David W. Anderson, today has integrated with City Year Cleveland to better support the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's (CMSD) goals of enhancing literacy skills, overall achievement and high school graduation rates.

The Business/School Partnership Program was created to support and facilitate partnerships between 180 area businesses and organizations, matching them with individual Cleveland schools. The City Year Cleveland group focuses on a group of young volunteers that aid in education initiatives for Cleveland's schools and neighborhoods. The result of the integration of the Business/School Partnership Program into City Year Cleveland will leverage City Year's current resources with local business partners to help the CMSD meet specific school and student academic performance objectives.

"City Year Cleveland is very excited to continue the important work of the Business/School Partnership," said City Year Executive Director Gretchen Faro. "Its mission is a wonderful fit with ours; the volunteers from the business community will not only support our work in the Success/Achievement Centers and extend our reach in the community, but they will in turn be excellent role models and mentors for our corps members."

The main goal of the collaboration is to establish school based Success Centers and Achievement Centers that operate throughout the school year to support the efforts the students make in obtaining academic excellence. The pilot centers will be established at six locations, high schools and their feeder schools, throughout Cleveland. Based on success, the pilot will expand to include other high schools and feeder schools in the future.

The Success Centers will be located in high schools and will serve as a foundation for furthering employability skills. They will provide tutoring for the Ohio Achievement Tests, teach life skills, provide community service opportunities, possible summer job placements and after school activities. The Achievement Centers will be located in the feeder schools for the high schools and will take the same approach as the Success Centers in their preparation of students for their futures in advanced schooling.

Another aspect of the integration and development of the Success Centers and Achievement Centers is that they will bring together all the resources and volunteers of City Year, along with the business partners and other achievement based programs already in existence in the schools, so that everyone can be in agreement with the school's and CMSD's performance goals.

Joe Roman, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, agreed that the new arrangement will have a direct impact on the success of students in Cleveland public school. "We were pleased to host the Business/School Partnership Program at GCP for the past few years until it could find a permanent home," said Roman. "The Greater Cleveland Partnership believes the success of students is imperative to the growth of our local economy. Collaboration between the Business/School Partnership and City Year will provide focus to the many volunteers who are helping Cleveland students succeed."

The Business/School Partnership Program was re-located to the GCP in 2005 when the Cleveland Initiative for Education (CIE) ceased operations. The Business/School Partnership program will continue to serve as a resource to the Cleveland-area companies that participated in the tutoring, mentorship and support program. The transition from the Business/School Partnership Program to City Year Cleveland will be effective October 1, 2007.

The Greater Cleveland Partnership, the primary voice for businesses in Greater Cleveland, seeks to create jobs and improve the economic vitality of the region. Its priorities include technology, innovation and high-growth businesses; connected physical development; education and workforce development; and business attraction, retention and expansion. The GCP emphasizes service to it's more than 17,700 members; advocacy on behalf of members and the region; diversity and inclusion; and internationalization of the region and its businesses. http://www.gcpartnership.com

City Year is a national program whose mission is to build democracy through citizen service, civic leadership, and social entrepreneurship. Each year, a team of sixty young adults (City Year corps members) come from all over the United States to serve for ten months as tutors, mentors, and role models in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The corps members run in-school, after-school, and Saturday programs for school children, providing safe and engaging learning environments where students can improve their academic abilities, learn important social skills, and explore opportunities for serving their communities and schools.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category