BUILD Brings Skill Development to Public High Schools
By 2030, 65% of all jobs in the United States will require a post-secondary education and training beyond high school. As the economy evolves, job growth and a stagnant graduation rate will result in a shortage of 5 million skilled workers across the country. BUILD partners with under-performing public high schools with graduation rates far below the national average. BUILD targets students, in particular, who have given up on school and, in some cases, have given up on themselves. The students they serve face complex barriers on their paths to college and future success. In short, BUILD uses youth entrepreneurship to ignite the potential of youth from under-resourced communities.
Team4Tech Builds Online Capacity with Adobe Volunteers
In the spring of 2021, Team4Tech designed a project bringing Adobe volunteers to BUILD. As BUILD continues to expand its Youth Entrepreneurs program across the nation – supporting its youth to launch their businesses in a digital marketplace – Team4Tech employee volunteers from Adobe:
- Identified and created an online platform or “BUILD store” to market, advertise, and sustain their Youth Entrepreneur teams’ products.
- BUILD’s online student marketplace is now live! Be sure to check it out to support youth entrepreneurs.
- Supported BUILD’s curriculum team on empowering students with the necessary skills to build successful online businesses: marketing, sales, branding, connecting with their product’s audience, advertising, etc.
Impact Measured through Impressive Graduation Rate
Overall, BUILD has incubated over 750 youth businesses and partnered with over 30 schools in East Palo Alto, Redwood City, Oakland, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York City. The BUILD program has a proven record of success. Since 2012, 96% of students completing the BUILD program graduate from high school on time, and 98% of those students earn acceptance to at least one postsecondary opportunity, compared to a dismal national average of just 73% and 55% respectively. BUILD aims to provide educational equity to all students and prepares them to be CEOs of their own lives.
Get Involved with Team4Tech and Our Partners
Are you employed in the tech industry and looking for corporate volunteer opportunities in the Bay Area? Are you a corporation interested in increasing your corporate social impact programs? Team4Tech is continually launching new projects impacting global education and building relationships with new corporate partners who are able to lend technical expertise to the global nonprofit sector.
Interested in learning further about BUILD and their impact and more projects with Adobe?
You can learn about past tech industry volunteer experiences and how they developed leadership skills and created social impact on LinkedIn.
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