Oklahoma Corporate-Sponsored Mentoring Programs
Mentoring matters! Research shows that mentoring can help a child reach their academic and personal potential. Oklahoma businesses recognize the power of spending just one hour a week with a child and many are adopting local schools and allowing employees time away to mentor each week.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, through its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative, encourages local chambers of commerce to get involved by spreading the word that mentoring matters. Below are some examples of Oklahoma businesses already involved in mentoring. For more information or to schedule a presentation at a local chamber meeting, contact contact Beverly Woodrome, director of the Boren Mentoring Intitiative, at (405) 236-0006.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence provides this directory as a community service and does not approve and/or endorse any specific mentoring programs. Families, educators and prospective volunteers are encouraged to consider the standards and practices of each program. The National Mentoring Partnership offers these suggestions for choosing safe and effective mentor programs.
Register Your Program
To add your mentoring/tutoring program to the directory, please complete our brief online registration form or contact Beverly Woodrome, director of the Boren Mentoring Intitiative, at (405) 236-0006.
COPORATE-SPONSORED PROGRAMS
Chesapeake Energy's mentoring program was created in 1995 as one of the company's first volunteer programs. Each week, hundreds of Oklahoma City Chesapeake mentors volunteer up to an hour at one of four inner-city schools (Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School, Harding Charter Preparatory High School, Horace Mann Elementary and North Highland Math and Science Academy).
TYPE OF PROGRAM: School-based
CONTACT: Britton Green
PHONE: 405-935-3645
E-MAIL: mentoring@chk.com
Of all Devon Energy Corporation’s commitments to enhance educational opportunities in the community, none is more important and rewarding than the company’s tutoring program. Three years ago, Devon established a successful partnership with Mark Twain Elementary School, an inner-city, multicultural school located near downtown Oklahoma City. More than 200 tutors signed up for the 2005-06 school year, serving more than 150 students. Since the program began, test scores and grades at Mark Twain have increased dramatically, but it is the confidence the children have gained from the one-on-one attention that makes the program so successful.
TYPE OF PROGRAM: Corporate-sponsored, school-based
CONTACT: Macay McComas
PHONE: 405-552-6108
E-MAIL: macay.mccomas@dvn.com
INTEGRIS Health joined forces with the Oklahoma City Public School System in 1992 to launch the Positive Directions Mentoring Program. During the 2010/11 school year, more than 428 mentors participated, donating over 7,041 hours of mentoring time. The mission of Positive Directions is to provide the educational support necessary to enhance the learning experience of at-risk students. Our goals and objectives are to build self-esteem, provide positive role models, provide assistance in overcoming negative behaviors, and improve classroom participation and academic success of children. Our mentors spend one hour per week, during the school day, with their assigned student throughout the school year. Our returning mentors continue to work with their student from the previous year in order to provide the continuity these students desperately need. The program has undergone expansion over the years and is currently in place in the following schools across the state:
Blackwell Public Schools in partnership with INTEGRIS Blackwell Regional Hospital
Blackwell Elementary
Madill Public Schools in partnership with INTEGRIS Marshall County Medical Center
Madill Early Childhood Center
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Fillmore Elementary
Stanley Hupfeld Academy Western Village
Yukon Public Schools in partnership with INTEGRIS Canadian Valley Regional Hospital
Shedeck Elementary
Independence Elementary
TYPE OF PROGRAM: Corporate-sponsored, school-based
CONTACT: Kathy Lowder
PHONE: 405-717-9871
E-MAIL: kathy.lowder@integrisok.com
The Sonic Tutor Tot Program is a partnership between Sonic Headquarters and Wilson Arts Integration School. The partnership provides tutors to help young people improve literacy and reading comprehension, supplies volunteers to assist the faculty and staff and provides financial assistance for field trips, yearbooks and other school projects. Sonic employees tutor one hour every week or every other week with a Tutor Buddy, and their time at the school counts as time at work.
Each year, Sonic and its employees organize a winter holiday party during which each student receives presents, cookies and juice. Additionally, those students with a Sonic Tutor Tot, as the Sonic tutors are known, come to Sonic Headquarters for a special luncheon at the end of the school year.
TYPE OF PROGRAM: Corporate-sponsored, school-based
CONTACT: Becky Rickard
PHONE: 405-225-5608
E-MAIL: Brickard@sonicdrivein.com
These mentoring resources are provided as a service of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, and links to other mentoring programs and resources do not necessarily represent the policies and positions of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence.