Excellence in Community Service

Excellence in Community Service recognizes vendors that have provided significant investment of company resources and time in support of a community service project or initiative.

GOLD

TTEC

When TTEC employees were searching for a way to give back to their community, the company responded by starting their own search for a school where a significant impact could be made.

TTEC’s TeleTech Community Foundation, founded in 2007, was set up to provide company resources to the educational experience for students of greatest need. In 2009, the company decided to eliminate their annual holiday party in favor of “Spirit of the Season,” an event that focuses on a needy and worthy elementary school instead. Although they participated in these community initiatives, employees felt the need to give back on a long-term basis.

That’s when the Colorado-based company sought out a school in 2012 and came across University Prep. University Prep at Arapahoe Street is a tuition-free, elementary public charter school, founded to serve the diverse and economically challenged families in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, according to the application. One of the reasons TTEC partnered with University Prep is because of its motto, “college starts in kindergarten,” teaching children from a young age that a college degree is possible. TTEC employees spend time reading with students and the company hosts professional development sessions for teachers.

Since TTEC partnered with University Prep, it has been able to help the school provide funding for technology and human capital resources. It’s also been able to get a second campus up, University Prep at Steele Street. The greatest challenge the school faced was low academic performance. Eventually, it was able to turn it around, and University Prep has grown from a single campus with 180 students to two campuses with 585.

SILVER

CoreAxis Consulting LLC

Eckerd Connects, a youth services organization, needed an effective tool to deliver emotionally challenging content to employees, so it turned to CoreAxis Consulting LLC to develop learning modules.

The main goal for Eckerd Connects is to “make a difference in the lives of youth, families and communities.” Even though the company embraces industry-leading tools, systems and processes, it felt like it didn’t have an efficient training program. That’s when it turned to CoreAxis for help.

Because of sensitive content such as photos of trauma and child abuse, it was critical to have a design that presented the material in an empathetic and understanding way. CoreAxis created four modules, the first of which was an introduction to Eckerd Connects’ mission, vision and values. The other three consisted of content on how to handle trauma and child abuse.

While painful, the way the new training platform is structured solved the challenge of “delivering difficult material in a personal way, while maintaining an action-oriented approach.” The modules teach the learner how to recognize signs of trauma and abuse and what steps to take.