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Deloitte Impact Day 2017 Transforms the Carver Community Center!

Deloitte’s annual day of service—Impact Day—is a longstanding tradition both globally and at Carver. The Impact Day at Carver is led by Deloitte employee and member of the Carver Board of Directors, and also Carver's Treasurer, Jude Earl Alaba!

SEE THE PHOTOS HERE at our Facebook photo album page. 

Today is a celebration of Deloitte’s year-round commitment to collectively making an impact that matters in our communities. It’s also one of the top reasons cited for why Deloitte was ranked No. 6 by Fortune and Great Place to Work on their 2017 list of the “50 Best Workplaces for Giving Back.”

On Impact Day, Deloitte professionals and leaders come together in 80 cities across the country to work on more than 1,000 projects for nearly 190,000 collective hours of service. At Carver, Deloitte volunteers refurbished the inside and outside of the Carver Community Center!

Together, they help tackle community and societal challenges on Impact Day—and year-round. Through these efforts, they focus on helping to strengthen our communities—whether it’s helping diverse, underserved groups reach their full potential or assisting community organizations—which in turn can help strengthen America’s future workforce and its economy.

Deloitte’s research helps show the link between Impact Day—as well as their year-round volunteerism programs—and leadership development. The results of Deloitte’s 2016 Impact Survey of hiring influencers indicated that corporate volunteer programs might be able to help employees develop stronger professional and leadership skill sets and better prepare employees for leadership roles:

  • 92 percent of respondents agreed that volunteering improves employees’ broader professional skill sets
  • 92 percent of respondents agreed that volunteering is an effective way to improve leadership skills

And they know from a separate survey of their professionals who participate in Impact Day that they value the experience. In their 2016 survey of Impact Day participants:

  • 88 percent said they would participate in Impact Day again
  • 87 percent said they would recommend Impact Day volunteering to a colleague
  • 83 percent said Impact Day increased their impression of Deloitte as being a socially minded organization
  • 81 percent said Impact Day increased their pride in working for Deloitte

Making an impact that matters is at the core of what they do at Deloitte -- and the Carver community is grateful!

Help Halstead Real Estate Feed Student Success!

We are proud of Carver's partnership with Halstead Real Estate on many projects. We write today to bring your attention to Halstead Real Estate's partnership with The Pantry @ NCC to help them alleviate the barriers of food insecurity so students can remain in school, and ultimately, earn their degrees.

Food insecurity has increasingly become an issue on college and university campuses across the country with some data showing 39-59% of college student experience food insecurity - exceeding the national average and having negative effects on a student’s GPA, levels of energy, and concentration. And while there may be community resources available, it may be difficult to access them due to transportation or scheduling, or these resources are not able to accommodate students based on their eligibility guidelines. Bringing a food supply to the NCC campus eliminates some of the barriers students may face with outside sources and encourages academic success.

What Do We Need?

While we receive a variety of items here is a list of the items most needed and used:

- rice (5 lb bags are best);
- bags of beans (especially black & pinto);
- baking mixes (pancake, cake muffin, jiffy mix); - flour
- cereals & oatmeal;
- grab and go items - snacks
- condiments (mayo, ketchup)
- peanut butter, jelly
- oils (vegetable, canola, olive)
- spices (salt, seasoning)
- apple sauce, canned fruit, fruit cups;
- pasta & pasta sauce;

- canned meats (chicken, beef, fish); - progressive soup
- coffee/tea;
- juice (100% juice preferred);

- shampoo & conditioner; - toothpaste & deodorant; - toothbrushes & floss
- wipes

- lotion
- paper goods (all kinds);
- laundry and cleaning products.

Please bring donations of non-perishable items to one of our offices:

379 POST ROAD EAST, WESTPORT 21 RIVER ROAD, WILTON

#FeedingStudentSuccess

Op-Ed in The Boston Globe: After-School Programs are a Lifeline for Kids and Parents

By Lawrence H. Summers and Emily McCann   JUNE 05, 2017 See the op-ed here at The Boston Globe.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has announced its first full budget, which calls for the elimination of federal funding for after-school and summer programs for low-income communities, known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

This cut would have drastic effects for working families. Federal funding for after-school programming supports 1.1 million students nationwide. An overwhelming body of evidence says that these programs help to close the opportunity gap in education, increase student academic and behavioral outcomes, and reduce school absences.

These programs are often a lifeline for working parents, especially working mothers. As Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen recently observed, programs that enable women to balance work and family life help foster greater workforce participation, which has real economic consequences: Increases in women’s workforce participation from 1948-1990 expanded the potential growth rate of real GDP by a half percentage point per year.

Federal investments in after-school programs yield a significant return on investment. The total cost of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is only $1.2 billion, approximately 0.2 percent of total federal spending, and only one-20th the expected cost of Trump’s border wall. Unlike the wall, federal investments in after-school programs yield a 3-to-1 return, according to state and national reports, by increasing students’ earning potential and reducing crime and other social safety net expenses.

At Citizen Schools, a national after-school organization that serves 5,000 students in five states, we have seen firsthand the difference that these programs make in young people’s lives. Consider a student named Nelson, who attends Joseph A. Browne Middle School in Chelsea. Nelson has struggled during the traditional school day. His mother works two jobs. She couldn’t afford the academic and extracurricular supports that Citizen Schools makes possible, so she relies on federal funding to ensure that Nelson is in a safe, enriching space after school. That matters, because these supports help change a student’s academic trajectory: On average, students at Citizen Schools are 25 percent more likely to go to college and twice as likely to graduate with a four-year college degree, as compared with their peers. At Citizen Schools, Nelson has thrived.

Even for those of us not currently juggling the demands of our children’s education with the obligations of work, we need to ask ourselves, as a society: Do we have a responsibility to help educate our neighbor’s children? Among those members of Congress who ultimately will be responsible for accepting or rejecting the administration’s proposal, we hope that the answer is a resounding “yes.”

We need to recognize as a nation that education is about more than the school day and school year. It is about what happens before children are ready to enter school, what happens during half the days in the year they are not in school, what happens after school ends and before a parent comes home, and about how students transition from school to work. Yes, school reform is essential. But it is not enough to meet the challenge of opportunity for the next generation. We must work more broadly to assure adequate education for all our kids.

The reality is that a significant majority of Americans support federal funding for after-school programs because those programs measurably benefit students, working families, and the broader economy — and that’s good for all of us.

Lawrence H. Summers is president emeritus of Harvard University and former secretary of the US Treasury. He chairs the Board of Citizen Schools. Emily McCann is the CEO of Citizen Schools.

Our 14th Annual Rowayton Connections Party!

We are so grateful to this year's hosts, Sarah Mulvaney and Matt Schimenti, for providing the Carver community with a stunning setting to celebrate another year of student success and for the 2017 Rowayton Connections event committee for inviting such a generous host of guests! 

Here are the photos of the party in our Facebook album.

The joyous fellowship and extraordinary giving upholds Carver's commitment to maintaining  high expectations for Carver children and youth with the goal of graduating high school on time and college-ready. The Carver mission lives on after 79 years of people like our Rowayton donors making personal commitments through the decades to help our youth succeed in school and life.

Thank you, EVERYONE!

Carver meets its summer adventure crowdfunding campaign on The Impact Vine!

See our campaign at The Impact Vine crowdfunding site to send 40 Carver summer campers on the schooner SoundWaters for a scientific adventure: today we we raised the final gifts to reach our $1,095 goal!

See this May 11th news article that describes The Impact Vine and Carver's role in its overall success.

Summer programming at the Carver Community Center and at Columbus Magnet School is among the most affordable and high-quality programs available to Norwalk students ages 5 through 13 years old.

The summer literacy program, facilitated by certified teachers, uses the Lexia Reading Core 5 software to provide personalized learning. Certified teachers also teach math sessions. Summer camp program partners include Girl Scouts, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and The Norwalk Seaport Association. Field trips reinforce learning, e.g., Peabody Museum, CT Science Center, Discovery Museum, NBC Studio Tour, Stamford Nature Center, Beardsley Zoo, Bishop Orchards, New York Botanical Gardens and Maritime Aquarium.

And now with the support of The Impact Vine we can add  the schooner SoundWaters to our field trips this summer!

From their web site, “The Schooner SoundWaters is The Teaching Vessel of Long Island Sound. A representation of a 19th century sharpie schooner, the SoundWaters is an ideal platform for learning and experience for both students and adults.

For students, this three-masted, 80’ ship, typically serving forty students, is a teaching platform for the Science of the Sound, a hands-on, science-infused learning experience aboard the Schooner SoundWaters.”

Carver kids will experience the Long Island Sound, and schooner SoundWaters educators will lead students through grade-appropriate on-board labs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S.T.E.M.) data-collection activities. Carver summer campers will learn science by using real scientific equipment to perform experiments while connecting to the natural world.