Monday, May 7, 2012

Connect it ! School/Business Partnership Event


The Office of Innovation and Development is ecstatic to announce the joint initiative between AISD, the Austin Council Parent Teacher Association (ACPTA), Austin Partners in Education (APIE), Teacher Heaven and Horace Mann

These groups have been working together to bring AISD schools the School/Business Partnership (SBP) Event, which has been designed to foster strong partnerships between schools, parents and the local business community with the following goals in mind:  

· Create an understanding of existing support networks that are available to schools and PTAs,
· Provide coordinated training on fostering School Business Partnerships to Principals and PTA leaders,
· Establish long term school and community relationships,
· Give school and PTA leaders the opportunity to practice building partnerships with local businesses,
· Create an avenue for equitable access of support resources across the district from local businesses in the community.

What: Connect it!: A School/Business Partnership Event
Where: The Delco Center, 4601 Pecan Brook Dr. Austin, TX 78724
When: May 9, 2012 from 12:30 to 3:30 PM 

This event started with just a question that has challenged the Austin community and its educators: How do we create equitable access for all schools in the Austin area with businesses and community organizations that are willing to support excellence in education?

Innovative small businesses, such as Teacher Heaven and Horace Mann, often support schools with teacher appreciation and school event sponsorships asked this question and set out on a mission to create an avenue for equitable access for School/Business Partnerships. Additionally, PTA members, who have always been instrumental in rallying up support from families and communities to advocate for students, wanted all schools to have the opportunity to begin increasing community resources. 

Their vision was realized when Teacher Heaven, Horace Mann, AISD, APIE and ACPTA became partners in coordinating an event that could begin a movement towards creating more School/Business partners across Austin. 

APIE, with their expertise and guiding mission to create and foster effective community and school partnerships that provide all AISD students preparation for college and career, were a perfect partner to answer the question of how do schools and communities get started on School Business Partnerships.
APIE has been a tremendous support for this event by providing training to principals, ACPTA leaders, and parent support specialists on how to develop School/Business Partnerships. 

With so many esteemed partners participating in this event, we hope that Connect it! becomes a valuable asset to the educational community in Austin that we will be able to provide annually. Strengthening the Austin education and business community will allow for philanthropic outreach, creation of goodwill, support, and community/school relationship building.

If you are interested in supporting schools or seeing how it can be done, we invite you to our School Business Partnership Event. We hope to see you there!

To get a preview of what you might see at the Event, please check out our Vendor List and Raffle giveaways below!

Vendors:
1379 Family Sports Store
A+ Federal Credit Union
Abrakadoodle
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Austin Business Furniture
Badgerdog
BBVA Compass Bank
Bedrock
Bicycle Sport Shop
Bilinguistics
Concordia University
Espinoza Chiropractic
Freebirds
Girl Scouts of Texas
Horace Mann
IDRA (Intercultural Development Research Association)
Keep Austin Beautiful
Kona Ice
Lesson Up Music
Liberty Tax Service
Lush Cosmetics
Mad Science
Mathnasium
Microsoft
Nature's Classroom Institute
Rehab Sports Fitness
Say Cheese Photo Booth
Sendero Health Plans
Sustainable Food Center
Sylvan Learning Center
Target
Teacher Heaven
The Blue Shoe Project
UT COOP
Water Monster

Giveaways and Raffle Prizes
Bicycles
Gift Certificates
Visa Gift Cards
Scholarships
Ergonomic Chairs
School Supply Baskets
T shirts
Discount and Coupon Cards
Books
Goodie Bags
Back to School Breakfasts

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