The Bulletin – Not for Profit

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Editor’s note: Back to Basics highlights business contributions to the betterment of the community as well as donations and volunteer work. Send items and photographs to drainey@delawarebusinessnow.com.

logo2Back to Basics Learning Dynamics, Inc. in a   partnership with the literacy organization Success Won’t Wait, Inc., recently provided  more than  300 books to Title 1 students in celebration of National I Love to Read Month.

Back to Basics  and Success Won’t Wait launched the “Reading is Basic Program” in 2011. Since its inception, the program has provided over 2,000 books to Title 1 schoolchildren in grades K-8.

“At Back to Basics, we strongly believe in supporting our local community, particularly in the area of literacy, which is the basic building block of education,”  says Back to Basics’ Director Beverly Stewart. “In fact, the Reading is Basic program is only one of several joint efforts between Back to Basics and Success Won’t Wait. Other literacy projects have included book drives at our Educational Facility in Wilmington, as well as the delivery of hundreds of children’s book baskets throughout the state, containing thousands of children’s books.”

Back to Basics serves more than 150 Title I students from the Red Clay, Colonial, Brandywine, Smyrna, and Appoquinimink school districts for supplemental instruction.   Using book donations from Success Won’t Wait’s collection, Back to Basics makes the age-appropriate books available to these students, which they can take home and keep. The Reading is Basic project was created in response to literacy statistics that rank access to reading materials as one of the most important predictors of a child’s future reading success.

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Noramco  prepares students

headerbgRecent reports indicate that while unemployment continues to be a challenge, young people have been especially hard hit in finding opportunities to get started in the working world.

For about  30 Newark High School students, Bridge to Employment may be just the program that gives them an advantage as they prepare to join the job market.

Employees of Noramco, the Wilmington-based pharmaceutical company  owned by  Johnson and Johnson, mentor and tutor Newark High students in their sophomore through senior years.

Beyond academics, “we focus on subtle aspects important in the working world,”  said Leo Dohan, Noramco’s program coordinator and this year’s recipient of the Exemplary Business Partner Award from Connecting Generations, Delaware’s resource for mentoring and other intergenerational programs.   The award was presented at the annual Mentoring Works Summit in January.

Located near the Southbridge neighborhood of Wilmington’s east side, Noramco employs about  160 people.

“When we started several years ago, we wanted to understand our community better, to know what’s going on and determine ways we could give back,” Dohan says.

Financial support from Noramco and Johnson and Johnson over three years provides the support and Dohan began recruiting volunteers.  “We experienced mentor training with Connecting Generations to understand how to be effective mentors, things to look for and ways to respond to young people and the results have been very positive.”

Dohan said  the high school graduation rate for Wilmington teens from the Southbridge area is very low but for participants in Bridge to Employment, “our rate is more like 75 percent.  With that success, the program is continuing.”

A special night

Elena Signs Autographs, UD Women's Basketball gameChildren in need  received complimentary transportation and admission to one of the hottest tickets in town when they attend the University of Delaware Women’s Basketball game on  Valentine’s night.

Thanks to Coach Tina Martin and the Blue Hens Women’s Basketball team  children in need, along with their chaperones and families,  were able to attend.

Children came from  The Boys and Girls Club, Latin American Community Center, Urban Promise, Dare to Care, Bethel AME Church Youth Group, and Coverdale Community Center, along with student ambassadors from Stanton Middle School.

“The kids are so excited, most of who will be attending their first college basketball game,” says Caroline Jones, founder and executive director of Kind to Kids organizer of the event. “College basketball carries a high level of skill and excitement, and to go to a game with such an excellent team… it’s a fantastic opportunity and we’ve got a lot of happy kids.”

Kind to Kids assists children living in poverty.

 

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