The Chamber’s two signature volunteer programs, Corporate Volunteers and Senior Academy, see great results for the 2012 – 2013 school year.

The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce is the only Chamber in the country to have a partnership with a local school system to provide business volunteers to assist in the schools.

The Chamber’s Corporate Volunteers Program, a reading development initiative, supported 310 kindergarten – 2^nd grade students that were identified as high/moderate risk for reading deficiencies. At year-end, 56% of students reported as completing the program year had improved to moderate or benchmark levels. A total of 300 business volunteers participated in this program.

Also, during the past school year, 122 high school seniors were identified as being at-risk of not graduating and referred to Senior Academy. Program results indicate that 97% of students graduated or are on-track to graduate by the end of the summer.

“These results are phenomenal,” says Gayle Anderson, president and CEO, Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, “We are committed to making a difference in Winston-Salem’s future workforce. Our students are our most valuable asset.”

The Chamber also supports the school system’s Traditional Volunteers Program.  Within the last school year 13,831 volunteers have served in schools across the county for a total of 317,804 hours of service.