KCK Public Schools, chamber to benefit from $20K AT&T contribution

The Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce Foundation has received a $20,000 contribution from the AT&T Foundation to help prepare students in Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools for success in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs of the future.

The contribution from the AT&T Foundation will go to the KCKCC Foundation to support the program "Algebra I - Tutoring for Success," a tutoring program for students at risk of not passing Algebra I in each of the four high schools of the Kansas City Kansas Public School district.

“AT&T is proud to support the great work of the Kansas City Kansas Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the students in KCK Public Schools as they prepare for the jobs of the future,” said AT&T Kansas President Steve Hahn. “One of AT&T’s signature efforts is to help prepare high school students for jobs in the STEM fields that will dominate the 21st Century workforce, and we are pleased to be able to invest in a program that will help local teens learn the skills they will need to be successful.”

The program, “Algebra 1 - Tutoring for Success," consists of two parts:

• Identifying the students who, based on previous math subject matter, are not likely to pass Algebra and putting them through a tutoring program to enable them to pass the class.

• Hiring student tutors and paying them from the AT&T contribution to tutor their peers, creating a leadership and work environment for the student tutors.

“One of the founding plans of the Foundation is to expand a ‘grow our own’ program for high school, community college, technical school, and university students to encourage them to either remain in or move back to Kansas City to start their careers, and we believe ‘Algebra I - Tutoring for Success’ is an important piece of this effort. ” said Cindy Cash, president of the KCK Chamber Foundation.  “If a student cannot pass Algebra 1, their chances for success in the STEM fields are severely limited. Due to the heavy manufacturing, bioscience, healthcare, transportation and logistics industries in Wyandotte County, this is critical to a positive outcome for our efforts.”

“Investing in our kids and preparing them for the workforce of tomorrow is critical to the success of our community today and into the future,” said state Sen. Kelly Kultala.  “We are working hard in Topeka to make sure our schools and teachers have the tools they need, but private investments such as AT&T is announcing today are a crucial component to our efforts.  I want to thank AT&T for their commitment to Kansas City, Kansas, our kids, and our schools.”