Thankful for Cristo Rey Brooklyn

I love Thanksgiving- it is my favorite of all holidays — low stress, all about the love and the food! It is just about being together as a family, and sharing all that we are thankful for.

As I reflect on 2019, one of the things I am most thankful for is the privilege of being on the board of Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School. Cristo Rey Brooklyn is one of 37 college prep high schools in the United States that serves exclusively students of limited economic means. Despite having an average family income of approximately $36,000, all graduates of CRB have gone on to matriculate in a four-year college, including schools like Georgetown, Princeton, Cornell, and Duke.

One of the core components that makes CRB a success is the Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP) — each Cristo Rey student works one full day each week at offices throughout New York City during the school year. The money the students earn in these positions is earmarked for the school to help cover the cost of their education, so the students are literally earning their way through school while acquiring the skills, credentials, confidence, and work ethic to enable them to succeed both in the classroom and eventually in the real world.

The work study program not only benefits the students — the program also benefits the corporate partners in a few different ways. First, the students perform real work, which frees up permanent employees to perform other tasks and assume greater responsibilities. In addition, the program helps fulfill various corporate social responsibility and diversity objectives while enhancing company culture and morale — employees really become invested in the growth and success of the students who work at their offices. Finally, it serves as a long-term recruiting vehicle and pipeline for future employees. And because the school has a team on their end to manage the logistics, the program is easy to administer and can be integrated into your company with minimal effort.

If you are serious about improving corporate culture and diversity, want to give back to the community, and create a corporate benefit that saves your company money, look no further than the Corporate Work Study at Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School. The kids are absolutely amazing and impressive, as is the faculty and staff. The corporate sponsors give a lot- but all of them say that they get more in return. Want to learn more? Message me!