Corporate sponsorship for education: A blueprint for the future
As seen in the Triad Business Journal
Written by: Paul Lessard, Executive Director, High Point Community Foundation
Tonight, along with most of America, I found myself glued to the television watching to see who would be earning the right to play in this year's Super Bowl. As I witnessed the awesome pageantry, the drama, and the incredible athleticism I was struck by one overwhelming thought, our corporate sector really seems to believe in football. They believe in it enough that they willingly invest their time, a great deal of their money, and a tremendous amount of their resources into this great American institution.
Like all things American, this investment has paid off handsomely. The National Football League is without doubt the "gold standard" by which all other sports leagues throughout the world are measured. This commitment to excellence epitomizes the American corporate "vision" and our insatiable desire to be the best and the brightest, never doing anything halfway. It is one of the many reasons I take such pride in being an American. As the son of a career Marine officer who has lived all over the world, I have seen the huge impact this "commitment to excellence" has made in other cultures and it is something we can all be very proud of.
To date, one of our most significant achievements as a Nation has been our educational system; one that I might add was heavily subsidized in the past by the Corporate Community. In fact it has been the national resource that has positioned America as a world leader, on the "cutting edge," in science, technology, manufacturing, and medicine. I have always believed that education is indeed the great "promise" of America's greatness. As the first person in my family to earn a college diploma, my parents and I clung to the belief that everyone can rise up and better their lot if they are willing to educate themselves and work with integrity. This is the American promise that we owe to every child in these United States.
In my position as the Executive Director of the High Point Community Foundation I have spent the last five years of my life working with various educational initiatives and it has been here that I have begun to discover a tragic contradiction to this "educational promise." I have learned that not all schools are equal, that not all of our children get the same degree of opportunity, and sadly, that most of this is simply due to a lack of adequate educational funding that could and should be coming from our Corporate Community.
As a teenager I once listened to a speaker at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes Camp tell me that you can quickly learn where a man's priorities lie by watching where he spends his time and his money. If this is so, and I have found it to be true in most situations, then I fear that we have lost our way in the search for our collective national priorities. When I see the Corporate Sector spending millions of dollars on stadiums, on various athletic tournaments, on racing cars, on soccer jerseys, and then I see our schools struggling to keep up with basic computer technology needs, then I believe it's time for the Corporate Sector to reevaluate their priorities.
Imagine what could happen if every business in the Triad committed to turning over 5% of their advertising budgets to educate not only our children, but also those undereducated adults who have been left behind. Just for a moment contemplate the harvest of human potential that would take place, consider the dropouts that wouldn't happen, think about the children who could now go to college, imagine the crime that wouldn't take place, and reflect upon the positive effect all of this would have upon our tax base.
Don't get me wrong, I love athletics; I actually attended college on a soccer scholarship. I'm really looking forward to the Super Bowl (I like the Raiders' chances) and I do not believe that having a vibrant, progressive education system and heavily sponsored athletic sector are mutually exclusive endeavors. What I do believe is that our Corporate Sector does have responsibility to their community and their investment in both money and leadership is critical to the future success of our educational system here in the Triad.
I encourage every C.E.O. to consider the "5% pledge" to sponsor educational advancement. Invest it in our public schools, in our G.E.D. programs, in organizations like Communities in Schools, in quality daycare programs, and in character education programs. This will be one of the most important investments you will ever make in your future because the end product of our educational system will be your future employees.
There are many fine organizations out there that are making a huge difference in the crusade to improve our educational system (preschool, k-12, college, and beyond) in the Triad. One exciting new initiative in Guilford County is the Guilford County Educational Network that has been formed to help our community access our strengths and weakness and partner with others who are also trying to make impact. Their primary mission is to help all of us understand that we must own our educational system and that we must tend this garden if we want to be a strong, well-rounded community that will continue to attract quality people and new progressive industries.
I'm living for the day when I can see that every child and every adult is developed to their full potential. The cost of this dream is so manageable and I guarantee you this corporate legacy will last much longer than any 30 second spot playing at half-time during the Super Bowl.