Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • April 27, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com Quality Construction + Butler Manufacturing = Repeat Customers www.borghesibuilding.com © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. 2155 East Main Street • Torrington, Connecticut 06790 317–321 Federal Road, Brookfield, CT | 2005 | 31,000 sq ft 270–290 Federal Road, Brookfield, CT 2002 | 33,000 sq ft 227-235 Federal Road, Brookfield, CT 2014 | 25,000 sq ft Contact us at 1-855-BUILD-86 or visit us on the web. Q&A Jr. Achievement aims to double its student outreach Q&A talks about Junior Achievement of Southwest New England's growth ambi- tions with Jeremy Race, the nonprofit's chief operating officer. Q: What's new with Junior Achieve- ment? How has pri- vate sector support been in recent years? A: Overall, our organization has grown tremendously thanks to our donors and volunteers. Our funding base has increased from $1 million less than 10 years ago to nearly $2 million this fiscal year, allowing us to strategically grow our staff to now 16 employees and develop systems to ensure our sustain - ability for years to come. We also have a solid group of dedicated volunteers who have helped maintain our student numbers (roughly 32,000 to 35,000 over the past few years) as we developed and piloted new, inten- sive programming. Q: What are some of your new programs? A: In recent years, we have developed three new intensive programs for high school students: • JA Global Connection — a two-year stu- dent exchange with JA China that teaches young people about innovation, entrepre- neurship and global trade, while also pro- viding a cultural exploration for both U.S. and Chinese students. • JA Entrepreneurial Academy — a 15-week afterschool program that brings together students from both urban and suburban schools to develop, create and operate an actual business. • JA Career Connections for Young Women, developed in collaboration with Junior League of Hartford — a 10-week afterschool program that allows young women to explore careers that are his- torically more male-dominated. Q: You mentioned that one of your goals is to reach more students with your various programs and services. How many students do you currently reach? What's the goal/target? A: This year we will reach about 400 stu- dents through the programs mentioned above, in addition to job shadows, student confer- ences and other special programs. However, we are serving close to 36,000 students (kin- dergarten through high school) annually with our core in-school programming. Though this sounds like a big number, it represents only 8 percent of the student population in our ser- vice area so we are aiming to have an even deeper impact in Connecticut schools. As we think about the future, we are ask- ing ourselves questions like, 'How many stu- dents could we potentially serve in 10 years — 60,000? 75,000? What do we need to do as an organization to get there? And what kind of support would we need from the community to achieve those goals?' We have a dedicated board of directors who are committed to ensuring our growth and sustain- ability as we embark on an effort to impact the lives of significantly more young people over the next decade. We are all confident that with the appropriate levels of finan- cial and volunteer support, the sky is the limit to where we can go as an organization. Q: What is Junior Achieve- ment doing to help Connecti- cut address its future work- force shortages? A: Connecticut, as we all know, has one of the most innovative and intelligent workforces in the country. But according to numer- ous demographic studies, there will be a huge short- age of qualified work- ers over the next 10 to 20 years, mostly because of the skills gaps that exist. By bringing busi- ness volunteers into local classrooms, JA helps show young people the realities of the workplace and encourages students to consider careers they may have never considered. JA programs show students the value of an education, bridge the gap of what they are learning in the class- room with the real world, and equip them with the skills and tools they need to be more suc- cessful in school and their future careers. Spe- cifically, JA has launched an initiative to part- ner with more manufacturers and businesses in other high-demand industries in an effort to keep our most-talented young people in Con- necticut and address the potential workforce shortages that are being forecasted. Q: Besides being altruistic, what benefits can employers reap by helping train/mentor the next generation? A: First and foremost, volunteering for JA is fun. We've been told hundreds of times that happy employees are more productive employees. Spending time with young people is inspiring and offers a great break from the normal day-to-day work responsibilities. Many companies also partner with JA to encourage team-building, public speaking and leadership development for their employ- ees. And volunteering for JA also provides wonderful branding and community-recog- nition opportunities for local companies. In order to serve 36,000 students this year, JA will need the volunteer support of more than 2,000 business and community volun- teers. As we look into the future, if we are going to expand our impact to reach 60,000 or 75,000 students, we may need close to 5,000 volunteers. These are big numbers. We hope more businesses and organizations in Connecticut will choose to partner with JA so we can empower more young people to own their economic success. n JEREMY RACE Chief operating officer, Junior Achievement of Southwest New England ▶ ▶ JA has launched an initiative to partner with more manufacturers and businesses … to keep our most-talented young people in Connecticut. Switch to Frontier Business Edge. AND MAKE YOUR NETWORK AS RELIABLE AS YOU NEED IT TO BE. innovative. Total Reliability is having a provider that's working whenever you are. It's having a plan that helps you work faster and more effi ciently. That's what Frontier Business Edge brings to your business. 1.800.935.8375 | frontier.com/businessedge ©2015 Frontier Communications Corporation. ROP_E_HBJ_040615 BE Connected Advanced data, voice and video solutions Wi-Fi networking BE Everywhere Seamless Cloud access State-of-the art network BE Confi dent 24/7 tech support 100% U.S.-based workforce 00508_ROP_E_HBJ_040615_F.indd 1 3/25/15 5:34 PM

• Cover