The Stride Center Announces 2014 Partner Award Winners
Oakland, California (PRWEB) June 22, 2014 -- The Stride Center will recognize at a June 20 ceremony three outstanding Bay Area businesses who have contributed to the well being of Bay Area communities through shared-value business strategies. The award winners are Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Apex Systems and The Glide Foundation.
The Stride Center, a nonprofit social venture that prepares low income Bay Area adults to thrive in careers in the technology field, partners with businesses that demonstrate the power of business strategies that contribute to their bottom line while contributing to the well being of the communities in which they operate. Since 2010, Stride has placed 688 graduates in 993IT jobs and internships earning an average hourly rate of $17.10.
“Recipients of Stride’s partner awards represent the new model for corporate leadership to leverage their own resources and core competencies to collaborate to build thriving communities while, at the same time, enabling their businesses to thrive,” said Barrie Hathaway, executive director of The Stride Center. Hathaway added, “There are three types of partner awards: Opportunity Partner, Employer Partner, and Internship Partner.
The Opportunity Partner Award is presented to businesses that partner with The Stride Center in multiple engagement strategies including financial contributions, hiring of graduates, employee volunteerism, electronics reuse and community visibility. This year, the top Opportunity Partner award is presented to Chevron U.S.A. Inc. for its achievement of meaningful impact in all five key strategies. “Leveraging Chevron’s strengths and resources to empower people and communities toward economic vitality is core to Chevron’s community and business strategy,” said Andrea Bailey, Chevron’s Community Engagement Manager. “Our long-standing partnership with The Stride Center allows Chevron to deepen its impact in the community well beyond financial contributions.” Among this year’s top five Opportunity Partners, in addition to Chevron, are Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Give Something Back Office Supplies and Terabit Systems.
The Employer Partner Award is presented to local employers who hire Stride Center graduates for technical positions ranging from help desk to network administrator. This year the top Employer Partner award is presented to Apex Systems who has hired seven Stride graduates in 2014. “The Stride Center graduates are skilled, loyal and passionate team players,” said Alan C. Leung, Apex’s Technical Recruiter. “The Stride Center understands how important skilled talent is to Apex. We are glad to help Stride graduates get a start in their new technology careers.” This year’s top five employer partners, including Apex Systems, Call Socket, Nelson Staffing, Experis and Insight Global have hired 24 Stride graduates in 2014.
The Stride Center also recognizes its partners who create valuable work internship opportunities for graduates and students to gain valuable work experience. For a second year in a row, The Glide Foundation is receiving the Internship Partner award. “Our Stride internship program has brought high quality technical help to Glide,” Michael Kiefer, Director of IT and Administrative Services. “We are pleased with the quality of work they deliver. Glide is proud that over 90% of Stride graduates who engaged in Glide internships went on to technical jobs in the field afterward.” Joining Glide as top 5 internship partners are the County of Alameda IT Department, Contra Costa County Health Services, OTX West and Nerd Crossing.
About The Stride Center
Founded in 1999, The Stride Center is a non-profit social venture working to empower economic self-sufficiency by providing quality technical education and work force relevant life and professional skills for low-income and under-served individuals and communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Stride Center has enrolled nearly 2000 low income adults in over 3000 courses. Nearly 80% of participants have completed courses and 75% of graduates have jobs. Through its own social venture enterprises, Stride has created nearly 200 jobs and internships for students and graduates.
Barrie Hathaway, The Stride Center, http://www.stridecenter.org, +1 (510) 234-1300 Ext: 101, [email protected]
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