Top executives from nearly a dozen of Tennessee’s top employers have banded together to form a new Drive to 55 Alliance to work in direct support of Governor Bill Haslam’s new Drive to 55 initiative, and to help recruit volunteer mentors for the new Tennessee Promise scholarship program.
The growing list of private sector business and organizations are working together to support the state’s efforts to move the percentage of Tennesseans with a college degree or certificate from 32 percent today to 55 percent by 2025.
“At AT&T Tennessee, our roughly 5,400 employees are called upon to perform more and more complex work as we deliver the technology Tennesseans demand,” said Joelle Phillips, president of AT&T Tennessee and the chair of the new Drive to 55 Alliance.
“We support Governor Haslam’s Drive to 55 because it will help Tennesseans receive their college educations and obtain the skills they need to be successful in the workplace, and by doing so, it will change lives and create greater opportunities for countless Tennessee families.”
While the Drive to 55 Alliance will actively support all facets of the Drive to 55 initiative, it will focus initially on the successful launch and implementation of the new Tennessee Promise scholarship program that provides two-years of tuition-free community or technical college to Tennessee high school graduates beginning with the Class of 2015.
An initial priority for the group is to help recruit at least 6,000 adult volunteers across the state to serve as mentors to the more than 30,000 high school seniors who have already applied for the Tennessee Promise. Tennessee’s high school seniors have until Nov. 1 to apply, and numbers are expected to grow to nearly 40,000 students in this first year of the program.
“Volunteer Mentors are crucial to the success of the Tennessee Promise program. They help students navigate the college admissions process and ensure they complete all Tennessee Promise program requirements in order to receive the scholarship,” said Mike Krause, state director of Governor Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative.
“Partnering organizations across the state will supply mentors for every student in every community. We have 4,200 volunteer mentors already recruited, but we still need 1,800 more, and we are grateful to the new Drive to 55 Alliance for getting actively involved in recruiting mentors and helping us spread the word.”
Volunteer mentors will receive training and can make all the difference for up to five students by committing to just 15 hours of mentoring over the coming year.
Other leading Tennessee employers involved in the Alliance include Nissan North America, FedEx Corp, Eastman Chemical Company, Unum, BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee, West Tennessee Healthcare, Radio Systems Corp. Clayton Homes, Caterpillar Financial Insurance Services, Bridgestone Americas, University of Tennessee Medical Center and more.
“I have signed up to be a mentor, and many of my team members have as well,” Ms. Phillips said. “All of us with the Drive to 55 Alliance encourage business owners across the state to ask their employees and retirees to be involved in this effort today, because as mentors, we can deliver on Tennessee’s Promise.”
Please visit TNPromise.gov or Driveto55.org to learn more and to volunteer before Nov. 1.