Posted by
Eric Estey in
In observation of National Engineers Week, IBM mentors reunited with their protégés from New York’s Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) for a day of learning and fun. Below, IBM Global Business Services consultant (and engineer) Eric Estey reflects on his experience as a P-TECH mentor.
If you read this blog on a regular basis, by now you have probably heard about an IBM partnership with the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) program in Brooklyn, NY. As a mentor to one of the students in P-TECH’s inaugural class, I was excited to participate in this revolutionary initiative.
I first met my protégé, Edward, at the school during the kickoff event in October 2011. He and I built upon our initial interactions over the following months via MentorPlace, but the distance imposed by conflicting work and school obligations made it impossible for mentors and students to repeat that first successful in-person meeting.
During that time, I learned of the Engineers Week program. One aspect of the E-Week program involves sending volunteers to local schools to educate students on the engineering profession and its impact on the world around us – while of course having a little fun in the process.
Towards the end of 2011, I heard that initial efforts were underway to organize an E-Week event at the school. I teamed up with Julie Arthofer, another IBM mentor and Consulting by Degrees colleague, and with the help of the P-TECH program managers we were able to spearhead the coordination for this event. Given P-TECH’s stated focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), it seemed like a perfect opportunity for IBM’s mentors to volunteer their time towards a noble cause while also interacting further with their protégés. I had graduated college with a degree in Civil Engineering, which only motivated me more to promote this event. I hope to encourage some of these high school students to choose a field of study that I have found fascinating and extremely relevant to life in our modern society.
Today’s event will bring approximately 35 IBM volunteers, 103 students, and P-TECH teachers and staff together to design, build and test “rocket ships” made of balloons. Nineteen student teams will compete to see whose rocket ship design can carry the most weight up to a certain height. I’m looking forward to watching these students use their imagination to turn tape, straws, paper clips and balloons into an unlimited number of creative designs.
Because we made a special effort to pair P-TECH mentors with their protégé’s team, I will have the opportunity to work with Edward again. I hope to get updates on his efforts to learn programming, as well as his latest basketball moves. This event will give us the opportunity to catch up on recent events in each other’s lives, and with any luck our team will win too!
Eric Estey is a Strategy & Change Internal Practice consultant with IBM Global Business Services.
Related Articles:
A Continuing Relationship: One Mentor’s Story
Posted by
Margaret Honey in
Policymakers, educators and other stakeholders agree that all students – no matter where they live, what educational path they pursue, or in which field they choose to work – need to be science literate if they are to drive future innovation and to contribute to the rapidly changing global economy. To meet this charge, schools have been challenged to redefine mathematics and science education to support multiple strands of inquiry and exploration across the curriculum. The challenge is to offer tools that help students experience excitement, motivation and interest with respect to the natural and built world; develop and use scientific explanations, concepts and models; generate scientific evidence to understand issues; reflect on science as a way of knowing; participate in science practices (e.g., presenting their findings); and identify themselves as science learners capable of doing science.
For this transformation to occur, the Carnegie Corporation’s Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education argues we must move away from the current system of “telling” students about science to one that helps students gain critical problem-solving and inquiry skills in the context of relevant, real-world, interdisciplinary problems. While it’s clear from the Commission’s research that young people care deeply about contemporary STEM-related (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) problems and are motivated to solve them (e.g., health and global warming), many teachers see such investigations as daunting to implement. Furthermore, with rapid advances in science and technology, schools often have limited access to up-to-date resources, strategies and pedagogical supports to bring such relevant content into the classroom creatively.
Posted by
Chester Karwatowski in
“Charity alone will not solve the world’s problems. Capitalism can help
and at the same time put people back to work.”
– President Bill Clinton, January 2012
“No one institution can change a complex system by itself.”
– Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School
Supplier Connection connects small business suppliers to large business buyers efficiently and effectively, while providing business value to all members of the community.
As soon as people hear about Supplier Connection, they get it. Imagine a student applying to college. The student fills out one application, a “Common College Application,” and multiple colleges will accept that application for consideration. Colleges maintain their unique selection processes, but have agreed on a streamlined, simpler and more efficient process. That is the starting point for one of the most exciting and important transformation projects that I have ever worked on.
“The process doesn’t exist today. There are no requirements. Many of the potential users are competitors. What can you do in three months?”
That was the challenge the IBM Foundation presented to a small group of IBM Supply Chain, Transformation and Technology experts in the summer of 2010. The reason was significant: U.S. unemployment was at a 25 year high, over 9.5 percent for much of the year. And there was a global financial crisis threatening to make things worse. Action was required. That call to action was compelling. Everyone who was engaged quickly realized how important this endeavor was. The challenge was great. Supplier Connection was a transformation science project! We had lots of study-based hypotheses with assumptions that we now needed to prove. I had spent my career at IBM solving vexing technical and business problems through the use of technology, complex analytics and a myriad of change-leadership techniques. But I had never experienced a project that needed more than one company to change its behavior; we needed dozens, perhaps hundreds!
Valentine’s Day, 2011
Five months after we started, we went live with Supplier Connection! We were now able to provide a “common supplier application” to small businesses. Valentine’s Day was apropos for the launch. When you go to a dance, you hope there is someone there that wants to dance with you! We were certain we could get suppliers to join, but we needed buyers at our dance! Program Manager John Dischinger was tireless in pitching the concept to CEOs, CPOs, government organizations and NGOs. It was a simple story: channel some of your existing spending to small businesses. We can help you to find suppliers you’ll like with our registration process and analytic tools. There are more than nine million small businesses in the U.S., and our mission is to help identify them, enable them, and connect them with the supply chains of large corporations.
Supply Chain “match making”
Similar to social match making, business-to-business “match making” is emerging as a process that successfully leverages social business technologies and tools. One business (buyer) seeks another business (supplier) for commerce (or vise versa). Going to an external community for this process of sharing profiles and applications and finding partners makes sense to both buyers and suppliers who have a shared vision and objective for the community.
The idea is contagious. And…you mean I can join for free?
Never before have I experienced the kind of emotional connection to a project that I have with Supplier Connection. Everyone on the team feels it. Everyone is proud to be working so hard on something so important. But we need your help. We are looking for volunteers to help us reach out to small businesses, attend match-making events in person, inform small businesses about Supplier Connection, mentor suppliers, and help us build a stronger community. If you respond to this blog, we will reach out and connect with you.
Yes, Supplier Connection is free! IBM Foundation President Stan Litow was very clear in his vision for Supplier Connection. The program is free and open to all suppliers and all buyers who commit to this shared vision of connecting small businesses with economic opportunities for growth. And the idea is contagious and growing. We now have 15 Fortune 100 companies who are part of the Supplier Connection consortium: AMD, AT&T, Bank of America, Caterpillar, Citigroup, DELL, Facebook, IBM, John Deere, JPMorgan Chase, Kellogg Company, Office Depot, Pfizer, UPS, and Wells Fargo. These companies represent more than $300 billion in buying potential.
More large companies will soon be joining us. On March 22, we announced a significant new partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. SBA Administrator Karen Mills has invited more than 50,000 suppliers to join the Supplier Connection consortium. And as more businesses join, our opportunities to demonstrate the value of this simple concept with broad socially-responsible implications will continue to grow.
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member Chester Karwatowski is the CTO and Business Architect for Supplier Connection, an IBM Foundation-led initiative designed to spur job growth in the U.S. Follow Chester on Twitter.
Related Resources:
Article: Facebook Connects with Supplier Connection
SBA Administrator Karen Mills: Making it Easier for Small Businesses
to Make it in America
Video: Perspectives on Supplier Connection
Posted by
Nan Alpay in
Not so long ago, Facebook was considered a startup, so when we see great opportunities to stimulate entrepreneurship, we’re eager to help out. That’s why we’re excited to announce today that Facebook has joined Supplier Connection, a consortium of 15 companies committed to driving small business growth in the United States by amplifying access to their combined global supply chain.
We’re in good company, too. Caterpillar, Dell, John Deere, JPMorgan Chase, Kellogg Company, Office Depot, and Wells Fargo also announced their participation in Supplier Connection today, joining founding members AT&T, Bank of America, Citigroup, IBM, Pfizer, and UPS. Together, these corporations purchase more than $300 billion in goods and services annually through their global supply chains. Supplier Connection makes it easier for small businesses to get in on the action.
In New York City, Stanley Litow (left), President of the IBM International Foundation and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Karen Mills (right) sign an agreement to launch Supplier Connection, a free web site that makes it easier for 50,000 small U.S. businesses to sell their goods and services to large companies.
Through the Supplier Connection web-based portal, small businesses have the opportunity to present their offerings to Facebook and other consortium members with the goal of winning contracts, expanding business and creating jobs. It’s a free and automated process that also enables small suppliers to learn from, collaborate with, and sell to each other so that they can become more competitive and successful in a bid with companies like ours.
Beyond this initiative, Facebook has found other ways to reinvigorate the U.S. economy:
- Our “Small Business Boost” partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business is training small business owners around the country to use Facebook to reach new customers.
- Facebook also collaborated with the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), DirectEmployers Association (DE), and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) to create the Social Jobs Partnership with the aim of facilitating employment for jobless persons through the use of social networks.
We know the challenge of providing economic opportunities and creating jobs requires innovative approaches by American companies across many industries, and we hope our involvement with Supplier Connection, coupled with other efforts, can help small businesses thrive and spur job growth for years to come.
Nan Alpay is Director of Global Source to Pay and Supplier Management at Facebook
Related Resources:
SBA Administrator Karen Mills: Making it Easier for Small Businesses
to Make it in America
IBM’s donation of 45 Young Explorer™ computer learning centers to the Early Childhood Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) and 13 additional City University of New York (CUNY) campus child care centers is helping 3- to 7-year olds get
a leg up on math and science while their parents complete their college degrees. The CUNY grant is part of IBM’s $4.3 million initiative to provide more than 1,700 computer learning centers and teaching curricula to schools and nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide services to disadvantaged students.
Standing, L to R: CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, CUNY Director of Child Care Betty Pearsall, BMCC Board Chair Dr. Emily Anderson. Kneeling: IBM Foundation President Stanley S. Litow.
With U.S. community college graduation rates averaging only 26 percent – 28 percent for New York City – affordable, high-quality child care is essential to parents pursuing postsecondary education. Thirty percent of CUNY students work more than 20 hours per week in addition to attending college, so programs such as BMCC’s Early Childhood Center can be critical to their earning a degree. The availability of affordable child care and Young Explorer™ technology enables BMCC students to train for tomorrow’s careers while their children explore math and science concepts on the same campus.
Throughout the CUNY system, thousands of young children are having fun and learning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) concepts thanks to the bilingual (English and Spanish) software that’s part of IBM’s Young Explorer™ donation. Each Young Explorer™ is a computer housed in brightly-colored, child-friendly Little Tikes™ furniture, and is equipped with award-winning educational software. In addition, the nearly 100 teachers at CUNY’s child care centers have access to online resources through IBM’s KidSmart Early Learning website.
The collaboration between CUNY and KidSmart delivers a host of social and economic benefits. Young children get an early start developing the skills they’ll need for future success. Struggling parents get the support they need to help finish their education, participate more fully in the economy, and contribute more to their communities. And teachers get access to a leading-edge educational tool to help build and sharpen their skills. It’s a smarter approach to education to help build a smarter city.
Doris González is Senior Program Manager, IBM Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs and leads KidSmart and Reading Companion – two of IBM’s global early learning and literacy initiatives.
Related Resources:
Giving Kids the Right Start with Science and Math
Improving the Technology of Learning to Help Close the Digital Divide
Posted by
Michael A. Nutter in
On March 15, 2012, IBM selected 33 cities worldwide to receive IBM Smarter Cities Challenge (#smartercities) grants during 2012.
Launched in 2011, this three-year, 100-city US$50 million program, IBM’s single-largest philanthropic initiative, funds in-person engagements staffed by teams of top IBM experts, who study and then make detailed recommendations addressing locally important urban issues.
With the announcement of the 2012 IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners — and as part of a series of Citizen IBM articles from the mayors of previous winners — Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter reflects on his city’s Smarter Cities Challenge experience as Philadelphia focuses on improving workforce development with its Digital On-Ramps initiative.
I believe Philadelphia is a great city with infinite potential. As Mayor, it’s my duty to find ways to capitalize on that potential. To do that, we have to be honest about the challenges ahead.
For Philadelphia, the major challenges center on education, literacy and workforce development. It is estimated that by 2030, approximately 600,000 Philadelphians will lack the basic skills required to compete in the global economy. Currently, two-thirds of the jobs in our city require high-literacy skills, but only one-third of our residents have the skills needed for these jobs. Unless we change this trend, many Philadelphians and their children will remain trapped in a cycle of underemployment and unemployment, working low-skill, low-wage jobs. This will have an impact on the kinds of jobs and companies that we attract to Philadelphia, limiting the potential growth for our local economy.
The lack of a skilled workforce is not unique to Philadelphia; sadly, it’s an American problem. There are nearly three million technical positions unfilled due to the skills gap. To address this problem, Philadelphia needs to transform its entire workforce development system. We need to rethink the training we provide to our job seekers. We need to implement a coordinated plan to streamline all of our workforce development organizations and programs. We need to encourage the business community to work with the City to find innovative ways to get Philadelphians working, the local economy growing, and new companies coming to the region. And, all of these changes must be cost-efficient.
After being selected as an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant winner in 2011, we welcomed a team of IBMers to the City of Philadelphia. They worked with City officials, employees and non-profit leaders to pinpoint the weaknesses in our workforce development system and create a roadmap to transform our human capital development system. In the end, our partnered effort with IBM resulted in the decision to strengthen the Digital On-Ramps initiative, a city-wide collaborative aimed at providing “anytime, anywhere” learning and workforce development.
The goal of the new Digital On-Ramps model is to be a digital learning portal: one-stop, easily accessible from anywhere and simple to navigate. This portal will connect Philadelphians to learning tools and other learners in a digital learning community. Here, we will foster collaboration and peer involvement, skills assessments, and we will provide up-to-date information on learning and training programs and resources. Over a four-year period, we aim to serve 175,000 youth and adults already enrolled in the Philadelphia learning community with the Digital On-Ramps initiative. Our goal is to create a more skilled, more prepared workforce with better employment options.
There is an old saying, “Never waste a crisis.” With the support and recommendations of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge team, Philadelphia will turn the struggling residents into the skilled, 21st century-ready workforce of the future.
The Honorable Michael A. Nutter, the 98th mayor of Philadelphia, has set a course for America’s fifth largest city aimed at growing the regional economy in a sustainable manner, dramatically improving public safety and investing in education and workforce development.
Related Resources:
IBM Names Worldwide Recipients of 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge Grants
Mayor Stephen Mandel: Building a Smarter Edmonton
Smarter Cities Challenge Team: Building a Smarter Philadelphia
On March 15, 2012, IBM selected 33 cities worldwide to receive IBM Smarter Cities Challenge (#smartercities) grants during 2012.
Launched in 2011, this three-year, 100-city US$50 million program, IBM’s single-largest philanthropic initiative, funds in-person engagements staffed by teams of top IBM experts, who study and then make detailed recommendations addressing locally important urban issues.
With the announcement of the 2012 IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant winners, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel reflects on his city’s experience as a Smarter Cities Challenge grant winner.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners of the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant for 2012! I assure you that it will be an amazing experience for your city!
I may not be the most technologically savvy person, but I do recognize the remarkable power that technology has to help us do things better, faster, and smarter.
Last year, the City of Edmonton was honored as the first Canadian city to receive an
IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant. Although we knew at that time we were on the right track when it comes to the innovative use of information technology, we realized we still had a lot of exciting work ahead in partnership with the IBM team.
We welcomed the Smarter Cities team to Edmonton for three intense weeks in June 2011. The IBM team immersed themselves in our culture which gave them the best opportunity to understand our city, the environment, and the people. I think this insight was a critical piece in the success of the partnership between IBM and City leaders to provide recommendations for our project: an integrated and safer transportation network through the smarter utilization of transportation data.
A huge advantage of our project was that it functioned like a pilot project. The data integration framework that was developed can be adopted across departments, making its impact City-wide. This framework will help the City to make more effective decisions and improve services for our citizens.
The experience has been absolutely phenomenal for our staff. It was exciting, challenging, and rewarding for everyone involved. It enabled us, as a City, to have greater confidence in the decisions we make each day. And I think that our citizens have seen the difference as well.
For instance, our work with IBM has helped us implement a better communication plan during the winter months which has previously been a challenge. Now we are reaching out through our website and social media, making sure Edmontonians know what to expect in real time. This has reduced frustration, increased safety, and generally made our city more accessible.
My advice would be to embrace the experience and think about the broader implications of the project you are working on. With a little creativity it can become a springboard to even greater things.
Serving Alberta’s Capital City for a third term, Mayor Stephen Mandel has led the
City of Edmonton since October 2004.
Related Resources:
IBM Names Worldwide Recipients of 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge Grants
How to Transform a City: Lessons from the Smarter Cities Challenge
Mayor Michael Nutter: The 21st Century-Ready Workforce
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
Visualization and Open Data in Helsinki
Posted by
Stanley S. Litow in
“Can we extract lessons from the for-profit world and apply them to philanthropy?” That’s the question being asked by Harvard Business School and other institutions that are training tomorrow’s global leaders. At the recent Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC) Social Enterprise Symposium, I spoke with University of Maryland M.B.A. students to help them understand the evolution of philanthropy, and their roles in creating sustainable value to help build a smarter planet.
Young leaders need to understand that corporate philanthropy is an integral part of a successful and sustainable business strategy. For an organization to survive, its core values must remain consistent in a world where everything else is guaranteed to change.
So when it comes to philanthropy, the phrase “from spare change to real change” must represent a values-based commitment to social responsibility. In IBM’s case, this means deploying our best technology and talent to address critical societal issues around the world.
Watch this video to learn about how programs such as the Corporate Service Corps,
P-TECH, and World Community Grid are raising the effectiveness of public-private partnerships to new levels. Read what city mayors and volunteer experts are saying
about improving the quality of life in cities – where 70 percent of the world’s population
lives. Find out how nonprofit leaders are using private-sector management skills to deliver social services more efficiently.
In the world’s most forward-thinking academic, civic, and corporate environments, tomorrow’s leaders are learning from Day One to work together to help manage global challenges. Organizations that seek to lead will attract, motivate and retain top talent by giving them opportunities for service. Meanwhile, the world’s leading enterprises will continue to adapt to change while maintaining their core values of innovation, service,
and citizenship.
Stanley S. Litow is IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs
and President of the IBM International Foundation.
Related Resources:
Download “Corporate Social Responsibility: An Integrated Approach” (presentation)
Harvard Business Review: “IBM Corporate Citizenship Efforts ‘Enrich the Ecosystem’”
2010 IBM Corporate Responsibility Report
Many companies value the importance of skills development, education and training.
Yet, few companies have made the type of commitment that IBM has.
Instead of nibbling around the edge, IBM is working to restructure the education system to better align education, work-based learning experiences and career pathways. Through the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) model – a grades nine through 14 school where students earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree – IBM is preparing students to succeed in the global economy.
By joining with Skills for America’s Future – a public-private initiative connecting businesses with community colleges to train students with the skills they need to get and keep good jobs – IBM can provide the blueprint for a replicable and impactful partnership between employers and schools.
At Skills forAmerica’s Future, we know that aligning education with employer-driven training is a surefire way to build a solid workforce pipeline. Public-private partnerships between employers and educational institutions represent a strategy to accomplish this goal. Community colleges are a key partner, since these institutions currently educate 44 percent ofAmerica’s undergraduates.
But there is also the need to bridge the gap between high school, community college and employment. This gap has been a topic of concern in the education world for some time, and continues to be an important focus for improving workforce development.
It’s no wonder that IBM’s P-TECH model has created such buzz around the country.
P-TECH confers not only a high school diploma, but a two-year associate’s degree as well. Upon graduation, students will have the academic skills and workplace experience either to enter the workforce directly or pursue a four-year degree. Most notably, students graduate with specific skills that employers value, and for which they hire. For that reason alone, the grades nine through 14 model that IBM has developed is clearly an idea worth spreading.
After witnessing the success of a P-TECH school in New York, the City of Chicago has announced plans to integrate the grades nine through 14 model into select parts of its education system. With the leadership of IBM and other key business partners, students will be trained for jobs in Chicago’s growth industries – all through one program that connects high school, community college, and employment.
The expansion of IBM’s P-TECH model is not only evidence that this works, but that it’s easy to reproduce in the hands of other willing participants. That’s why this model has the potential to be replicated around the country.
To provide information about the successful elements of the model, IBM has developed a playbook that can pave the way for other companies to coalesce around this model and partner with high schools and community colleges. This playbook can help guide other companies develop strategies to bridge the gap between education and job opportunities, and invest in their communities to create similar substantial connections.
As a national network of employers and community colleges dedicated to reforming skills training and workforce development, Skills forAmerica’s Future is an ideal partner to help IBM share this information with the stakeholders who need it most.
In this economy, it is clear that we need smart, forward-thinking solutions to meet our nation’s skills challenges. IBM’s P-TECH model provides one such a solution. That’s why at Skills for America’s Future we look forward to highlighting what works and sharing the best practices with other committed employers across the country.
Karen Elzey is Director of Skills for America’s Future, a policy initiative at the Aspen Institute.
Related Resources:
Grades 9 Through 14 School Model Strengthens Education-to-Work System
Mayor Rahm Emanuel: Building a Smarter Chicago
Student Perspective: How P-TECH Inspired New Hope After Just One Semester
STEM Pathways to College and Careers Schools: A Development Guide
An organization that focuses on helping the world’s most vulnerable people occasionally finds itself in need. When ShelterBox works in the dust and debris of disasters, we are delighted to have a partner that’s as nimble and creative as we have to be. ShelterBox delivers humanitarian aid in the form of equipment and materials to provide shelter, warmth and dignity to disaster survivors around the world. That pursuit has meant sending our response teams and iconic green ShelterBoxes to 170 disaster sites in 80 countries over the last 12 years. Now, IBMers around the globe have joined the effort.
One year ago next week, the world watched in horror as a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami claimed nearly 16,000 lives and displaced nearly 500,000 people in Japan. ShelterBox teams were on the ground within 24 hours – identifying and helping the most vulnerable families in need of emergency shelter and other life-saving supplies. But while we were coordinating our response to the disaster, another team also moved to action. IBM attorneys Katherine Fick and Theresa Mohan recognized commonalities between ShelterBox and the global IBM community and reached out to help. I still remember when someone from IBM called and said, “Our team has been trying to identify a project for our Centennial Celebration of Service, and we think ShelterBox is it.” To this day, it is difficult for me to adequately express our gratitude to those who answered our calls for help via the On Demand Community. But there was more to come.
What began as a simple offer of help in the immediate aftermath of Japan’s disaster resulted in formal projects being launched with IBM employees from varying departments and locations around the world. The global legal team took on intellectual property and export regulations projects. The Rational software team shared best practices in social media and communications improvements. Others provided guidance as ShelterBox established new affiliates around the world, and have served as a ready reserve in the event that we need contacts on the ground during another disaster response. By embracing the IBM core value of dedication to client success, these IBMers inspired clients and other partners to offer in-kind support to our organization. One such collaboration helped us educate our donors about how we use their contributions.
Our IBM partners have embraced our creative and innovative approach to disaster relief, so it should come as no surprise that some IBMers have applied to become ShelterBox Response Team members. But whether you deliver the aid we provide directly, or advance our cause by working on a desk-side project, you are making a significant difference in the lives of disaster survivors. You are raising awareness, garnering resources, and helping to ensure that vulnerable families all over the world can live with dignity and independence in the days, weeks and months following a disaster.
We are deeply grateful to those IBM employees and partners who have demonstrated their compassion for disaster survivors by joining our projects. And we invite those who are not yet involved to join us. We need you!
On behalf of those we seek and serve, thank you IBM. Not only are you “building a smarter planet,” but you are also helping communities recover during their times of greatest need.
Emily Sperling is President of ShelterBox USA.
