United Way, OfficeMax Celebrate Berwyn School Initiative

Freedom Middle School in Berwyn recently hosted a community event to highlight the Berwyn Community School Initiative, a partnership between United Way of DuPage/West Cook, Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc., Freedom Middle School and Youth Crossroads.

Families, students and community members celebrated a $1 million grant the school and Youth Crossroads received from OfficeMax as part of United Way’s Education Initiative.

The hallways of Freedom school were lined with local community partners to inform families about the organizations and services being offered in their community. Participating partners included The Children’s Clinic, Pillars, MacNeal Hospital, and the Berwyn Development Corporation, among others.

Additionally, teachers opened their classrooms to talk with parents and students about their curriculum and what they can do to reinforce learning at home. The halls were also filled with carnival games for the students run by United Way staff and volunteers, and OfficeMax associates.

“It’s important to bring our families together at Freedom for a fun and educational event,” said Jim Calabrese, Freedom Middle School principal. “With the additional resources from OfficeMax and United Way, we are able to give students and families more of the support they need to transition into high school and graduate on time.  This program and support will help us reach even more students and families even sooner so that we create an even brighter future for our community.”

In a neighborhood where 63 percent of students are low income and will be entering a high school with the lowest graduation rate in west Cook County, Freedom Middle School and Youth Crossroads partnered to create The Berwyn Community School Initiative, which aims to provide the highest quality classroom and extracurricular activities to enhance the lives of students and their families.

“At United Way we believe a quality education is the foundation of lifelong learning, good health and economic success. Without an education, we know that people are far more likely to experience economic stress and poor health outcomes,” said Wendy DuBoe, chief operating officer, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. “Our vision depends on all of us. It is our hope the community will join us in our very real and measurable case for focused action.”

United Way last fall announced its 10-year vision, Live United 2020, and its Education Initiative to help 50,000 underperforming middle school students enter high school ready to succeed. Part of the education initiative supports a community school model which provides an array of on-site programming and services to support the success of students and families.

As the first corporate partner to adopt a community school, OfficeMax, through its OfficeMax Charitable Foundation, provided a $1 million grant over the next three years to support Freedom Middle School and Youth Crossroads as they seek to improve education by boosting classroom and community services for the school’s students and their families. Working with United Way is an extension of OfficeMax’s ongoing support of education. Since 2007, OfficeMax Goodworks programs have contributed more than $14 million in grants and supplies to support teachers and classrooms across the country.

“OfficeMax is proud to be the first Chicago-area company to adopt a school through the United Way’s Education Initiative,” said Carolynn Brooks, president of the OfficeMax Charitable Foundation. “We hope that our support of the Berwyn Community School Initiative helps the teachers, strengthens student education and supports the community as a whole. We’re excited to be a part of this innovative program to help education.”

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