Business/Education Partnership Forum Newsletter

May 2009 - v4n5

IN THIS ISSUE:

• Note from the editor
• Top articles, commentaries, and announcements from April 2009
• Upcoming events

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

And now it’s time for a long-past-due message from our sponsor: Me.

Some of you – perhaps many – have no idea who’s behind the Business/Education Partnership Forum, or why someone would donate his time to manage this online clearinghouse and publish this newsletter. And that’s a story I thought I should tell.

I got my start many years ago in magazine publishing, and after spending a few years on trade publications I became involved in community-based magazines. And with community-based publishing came community engagement: working with partner businesses to address an issue of common concern. Working in the hospitality industry, the chosen issue was hunger, and a great deal of my time went to support the local food bank, launching affinity groups, working with others on major fundraising initiatives, and providing guidance on community engagement.

During that time, I saw firsthand what can happen when likeminded people set a common goal and work together to achieve it. I also saw the difference between outreach targeted to the public, which centered on charitable support, and outreach targeted to the corporate community, which centered on ROI.

I entered K-12 education through an opportunity with a young publication but soon found myself serving as a consultant, working with national companies – starting with former clients of the magazine I had joined – who wanted to support public education. I opened my own firm, DeHavilland Associates, a few years later.

Much of my time continues to be devoted to consulting: helping business and nonprofit clients understand the K-12 education market and how they can best get involved, then managing those campaigns, usually at a state or national level.

But I have retained my interest in community-level engagement, and I continue to be surprised to see so little activity or infrastructure on this front in K-12 education. This was the motivation for the Business/Education Partnership Forum and for our other efforts, including original surveys and guides, the Effective Education Partnerships Conference, our webinars, and the new K-12 Partnership Report. I believe in the value of community engagement in education, and have devoted (and will continue to devote) a great deal of my time to highlighting the work that is being done and connecting practitioners with the resources they need.

In addition to appealing to any curiosity you may have had, I wanted to share this background for a couple of reasons:

• To let you know of our consulting services, a topic I have not broached here before. For districts, businesses, and nonprofits interested in moving forward on community/school engagement, know that we can help, whether it involves market research and analysis, strategic planning, campaign management, outreach, or research and reporting. We have a deep understanding of K-12 community engagement and can put that expertise to work for you.
• To reiterate our commitment to building a network for those involved in community/school partnerships (a topic I’ve broached many times). We continue to look for opportunities to gather information, build connections, and establish a voice in the field; if you have any thoughts on doing so, I hope you’ll share them.

As always, you can reach me at 704-940-3201 or brett@dehavillandassociates.com.

Best,

Brett

TOP ARTICLES, COMMENTARIES, AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM APRIL 2009

Selected to highlight business thinking on education or innovative approaches to engagement

• Pitfalls of Partnership - Strategy + Business (April 2, 2009)
• Program empowers parents to get more involved with children's lives - Tampa Bay Times (April 5, 2009)
• Providing a Role to Model - Washington Post (April 6, 2009)
• 25 Teachers Win National Award for Community Outreach Named 2009 MetLife Foundation Ambassadors In Education - MetLife Foundation press release (April 7, 2009)
• Older hands plant seeds of literacy - Boston Globe (April 8, 2009)
• Governor Kulongoski Signs First Oregon Career Readiness Certificates - Oregon press release (April 9, 2009)
• Ag classes prep kids for science, technology jobs - Galveston County Daily News (April 16, 2009)
• PA auto students focused on $10 million X Prize - WHPT (April 20, 2009)
• President Barack Obama Signs Historic Volunteerism Act into Law - Points of Light Institute press release (April 21, 2009)
• Paterson, Intel officials to honor NY schools - Albany Business Review (April 21, 2009)
• Helping themselves - Wall Street Journal (April 22, 2009)
• Government, tech giants team up to protect kids online - USA Today (April 22, 2009)
• Today's 'home ec' students are cookin' up careers - Sacramento Bee (April 25, 2009)
• FIRST thing: Robotics in every school - USA Today (April 29, 2009)

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Powering Through the Recession, May 11, Jersey City NJ and May 15, Newport Beach CA
• Leveraging Corporate-Community Partnerships, May 13-15, Seattle WA
• NSPRA National Seminar, June 28-July 1, San Francisco CA

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