HOW BUSINESS PARTNERS SUPPORT JAG

• Serve on Local Business Councils. Most local JAG programs have established a business council that provides guidance and, in some cases, oversees the operations of the program to help JAG Specialists achieve program goals. Employers who serve on the business councils provide valuable guidance to JAG Specialists on local labor demands, employer interests, and employer relations.
  
  Business councils also provide access to employer contacts for classroom training, student leadership conference activities, job placements, and community recognition activities.
  
  
• Provide Financial Assistance. JAG and its local affiliates depend upon the generous financial support of JAG Business Partners to achieve program goals. To supplement limited public resources, local affiliates must rely upon the private sector for approximately 20 percent of their total operation costs.
  
  
• Provide In-Kind Services and Resources. One of the most significant ways a company can support JAG is through in-kind contributions, including time commitments of executives and employees. Examples of in-kind contributions from JAG Business Partners include sponsoring student conferences, printing certificates, and paying travel costs for students to attend JAG's annual National Leadership Award event.
  
  In addition, local affiliates rely upon Business Partners to serve as student mentors, to conduct training workshops on employability skills, to serve as judges at student conferences, and to provide career exploratory opportunities such as job shadowing and site tours.
  
  
• Provide Access to Quality Jobs. Finally, JAG Business Partners help local affiliates achieve their program goals by providing JAG graduates with access to quality jobs, either directly or through contacts with other employers.

BUSINESS PARTNER BENEFITS

• Community Recognition. As an active JAG Business Partner, your company can take credit for state and local increases in graduation rates, improvements in employment rates for the most at-risk youth, and reductions in dropout and juvenile delinquency rates.
  
  
• Employee Satisfaction. Employees of JAG Business Partners who actively support JAG programs receive a high degree of personal satisfaction from helping young people successfully make the transition from school to the workforce, especially when these young people were never expected to complete their high school education. Moreover, experience shows that active involvement in JAG Business Partnerships positively influences the morale and productivity of a Business Partner's employees.
  
  
• Access to Qualified Entry-Level Workers. As a JAG Business Partner, your company will have access to a pool of motivated, job-ready workers. Prior to referring graduates to your company, JAG Specialists prescreen students to ensure they have basic academic and employability skills required for entry-level jobs, saving costs associated with interviewing applicants.
  
  Each graduate placed by your company receives sustained support from a JAG Specialist for a one-year period after the student's graduation. In coordination with employers, Specialists ensure that students receive additional employability skills training, counseling, tutoring, and other support when necessary to overcome any deficiencies on the job.

How To Become a JAG Business Partner

If you are interested in learning more about how to become a JAG Business Partner, please contact Jobs for America's Graduates or call 972.691.4486.