A note from Ryan Hill our Chief Operating Officer

Dear partner, The 2019-2020 school-year is underway and we are very excited!  We are happy to be spending our days educating our students. In order to provide the best possible product to our 830 enrollees, we must continuously analyze our performance in relationship to our vision, mission and values.   We believe that success is measured by graduates who leave us:

1. On a journey with God = Moral Compass (Faith-Based Character Education)
2. Placed in a great company, higher education track, or both (Job Training)
3. Possessing literacy, math and soft skills necessary for employment and lifelong learning (Academics)

I find it to be true that we must have a sense of urgency to accomplish such a challenging task.  After all, systemically, our students face several critical risk factors including educational models not designed for the future, a possible history of poor academic performance, struggles in the traditional school model, unemployment or underemployment, and a lack of a moral compass.  This is where your partnership with us becomes a critical tool to empower our students with the level of urgency needed for them to be successful. The primary functions of support we need are:

1. YOUR prayers and/or the petitions of your church community
2. Access to YOUR personal networks to advance the mission including public school partnerships, government allies, faith-based support, business partnerships, fund development opportunities, non-profit collaborations, etc.
3. Story exposure on YOUR social media and marketing channels (follow, comment, like and share, advertise partnerships, etc.)

  Between July and September of this year, we were confronted with the harsh reality that three of our students were murdered.  How does this happen with record low unemployment rates, wage growth, and other important financial indicators on the rise in Indiana?  This next portion is perhaps overly simplified but let’s say the students above represent the portion of our communities, and more specifically school-aged children that struggle to find connection and purpose.  Cases like these happen because disconnected kids fall through the cracks in traditional education, faith community, and workforce development models everyday.  While we certainly don’t have all of the answers, we are finding success building a comprehensive model that integrates school with faith communities and local businesses to create an environment of training, mentoring and skill-development.  To implement our model, we focus on three things everyday:

1. Developing a student’s moral compass by embedding biblical principals that are easy to digest and non-threatening into our daily job training academic workflows.
2. Embedding students directly into the local business community via our student-operated micro-businesses or by locating our school within a business partner’s facility and integrating our students into the business’ daily operations. 
3. Through the previous two strategies, students regain hope and with the help of their dedicated teachers begin to see academic improvements.  

We believe that as we increasingly and urgently execute these strategies, and with your support, we will continue to transform our communities.  Will you help us as we re-engage students to fill future job openings in Indiana and promote a re-emergence of the hope as we work together to build a successful future for our students? For more stories please follow us on Twitter @RyanMHill2 and @RobStaley and Facebook @CrossingCEC. Your partner in promoting a hope and a future, Ryan Hill Chief Operations Officer]]>