Reema Vijay: Championing Corporate Partnerships Through the Reach Foundation
Reema has always been interested in education equity and joined our foundation just over three years ago. When I asked Reema why she became involved with the Reach Foundation she responded, “I believe there’s a lot of inequality in the education field . . . and I [want] to level the playing field.”
Reema works as a director of planning and business operations at Airbnb and brings her marketing expertise to The Reach Foundation through her role as marketing director for our high school mentoring program. She currently serves as a lead high school mentor who supports mentors and their students. Reema also mentors Andrea Montoya, who has just finished her first year studying nursing at Evergreen Valley College!
Reema is particularly interested in fostering corporate partnerships with The Reach Foundation. She shares, “Corporations can give money and do a lot of good with that money, but I believe corporate service is particularly valuable when employees get personally involved with the non-profit that their company supports.” Personal involvement helps the employees feel connected to their service and is more likely to result in mutually beneficial long-term partnerships.
Reema’s views are not only based on her experiences but are also backed by academic research. Jessica Rodell of the Harvard Business Review writes, “A study I conducted in 2013 showed that the more [frequently employees] volunteered, . . . the better they performed on work tasks. It also showed that volunteers tended to be better citizens at work (helping others, voicing ideas, and so on).” These behaviors, although seemingly small, can lead to significant improvements in a company's culture and productivity. Furthermore, David Jones at the University of Vermont found that potential applicants were more attracted to companies that had strong volunteer programs and strongly associated these programs with a positive work environment.
Not all corporate/non-profit partnerships are created equal. There are many different ways for companies to volunteer. Jessica Rodell stresses that volunteer experiences need to be meaningful to truly engage employees. “[During a study that I conducted] we heard time and again that people sought to make a [tangible] difference,” she adds.
The Reach Foundation excels in creating meaningful volunteer experiences through one-on-one high school mentoring programs. Each week volunteers are trained on the week’s objectives and then meet with first-generation low-income seniors to mentor them through the complex college application process. This student/mentor relationship grows each week as they work together to get accepted into a college and secure funding to pay tuition and fees. Impressively, every one of our mentored students has been accepted into college, a significant achievement considering the national average for first-generation students.
As Reema has expressed ‘first-generation students are here and they matter!’ Please consider joining us as we leverage meaningful mentor/student relationships to help first-generation students obtain a 4-year college degree. Together, we can make a lasting difference.