Since 2002, Community Partnerships for Adult Learning (C-PAL), an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE), has been exploring how to expand and improve adult education services through community partnerships. Through its Web site (www.c-pal.net), C-PAL provides resources and information about how to build and sustain effective partnerships among adult education providers, businesses, workforce development agencies, education systems, community-based organizations, and social service agencies. The Workforce Issues and Creating Communities sections address the role of business in these partnerships.

Commitment Comes in All Shapes and Sizes is a report on site visits to 12 community partnerships across the country that includes a section about how businesses contribute to and benefit from these partnerships. These 12 partnerships identified expanding business involvement in adult education as their number one priority. Businesses can play many different partnership roles, but they often don’t know where to begin. Working Together: A Guide to Business and Adult Education Partnerships provides information about the benefits of business partnerships with adult education and offers practical advice about how to get involved.    

Working Together was developed based on literature on business involvement in education, advice from members of the C-PAL Business Advisory Group, and interviews with businesses that support adult education.

Thank You! OVAE would like to thank members of the C-PAL Business Advisory Group who gave their time and expertise to the development of Working Together. The Business Advisory Group met to discuss their involvement in adult education, offered comments on a draft outline for Working Together, and provided feedback during the guide’s development.

Members of the Business Advisory Group include:

Karen R. Elzey
Vice President and Executive Director, Institute for a Competitive Workforce
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
http://www.uschamber.com/icw

Tara Greco
Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility (representing the UPS Foundation)
APCO Worldwide
http://www.community.ups.com

Deborah Knight-Kerr
Director, Community and Education Projects
Johns Hopkins Hospital & Health System
http://www.jhmi.edu

Mark Lawrance
Vice President, Corporate Development
Indiana Chamber of Commerce
http://www.indianachamber.com

Polly O'Brien Morrow
President, Pitney Bowes Literacy and Education Fund
Pitney Bowes Inc.
http://www.pb.com

Kathy Olson
Executive Director, Education, Job & Life Skills
United Way of the Midlands
http://www.uway.org

Kathy Doyle Thomas
Executive Vice President
Half Price Books
http://www.halfpricebooks.com

Denine Torr
Senior Manager, Community Initiatives
Dollar General
http://www.dollargeneral.com

Stacey Jarrett Wagner
Managing Director, Center for Workforce Success (former)
National Association of Manufacturers
http://www.nam.org

Robin Willner
Vice President, Global Community Initiatives
IBM Corporation
http://www.ibm.com