Be a Partner
Education is everyone's responsibility. Improving education starts with you. What occurs in our high schools directly affects the competitiveness of your organization, the city, our national economy and the future of American society. Academic, financial and personal success requires that students have the opportunities to prepare them for the challenges ahead. Henry Ford Learning Institute (HFLI), a non-profit organization, is working with a number of community leaders to establish a network of Henry Ford Academies across the country based on an innovative model developed by the Henry Ford Academy, the acclaimed small high school in Dearborn, Michigan.
The Henry Ford Academy, launched in 1997, is the nation's first charter school that is a partnership between public education, a global corporation and a nonprofit cultural institution. Central to the design of the new Academies is the concept of a public school as the center of a tightly knit, growth-oriented community in which local businesses and community and cultural organizations play a substantial, integrated role. Students will gain a powerful academic and real-world knowledge and skill base through regular encounters with a variety of work-based tools, projects, and contexts. The many partners who will celebrate in an Academy's success can also be confident that as an exemplary school in a national network, the success of an Academy will also ignite the growth of a powerful national movement that has a shared sense of mission, purpose, and vision about educational reform. Businesses cannot afford to overlook the role that high school plays in the development of the high caliber, high performing workforce required to achieve their overall business objectives. Here are some ways you can help:
- Donate funds to help build and sustain an Academy.
- Tap into your organization's network of relationships to provide fundraising assistance, facilitate community relationships or connect an Academy with potential suppliers and partners.
- Raise the business community's awareness about an Academy and its goals. Seize opportunities to express your vocal support of an Academy and its goals through media interviews or editorial submissions.
- Encourage employees to volunteer on company time. A wealth of guest lecturers, class consultants, tutors or content advisors in curriculum writing and implementation are needed.
- Provide job shadowing and internship opportunities to students.
- Serve on an Academy Advisory Board to guide an Academy's fulfillment of its mission.
- Fund college scholarships for successful Academy graduates, either through new programs or existing scholarship programs.
- Donate services within your specific areas of expertise. For example, an IT firm might create an Academy Web site, or a law firm could provide pro-bono legal services to an Academy.
- Work with the Henry Ford Learning Institute to help expand an Academy network. Please call Shannon A. Clements, Director of Site and Fund Development, at 313-982-6129 today to pledge resources that will help ensure exemplary student success that starts with you and affects us all.
For more information, email Shannon Clements
