A donation of 900 backpacks filled with school supplies will help Chelsea public school students begin the academic year prepared and ready to learn. Students participating in Citizen Schools’ Expanded Learning Time program, along with other Chelsea public school students, will benefit from these backpacks containing pencils, notebooks, rulers, and additional supplies. The donation came from Kronos Incorporated, a Mass.-based global leader in workforce management solutions, working alongside partners including Cognizant, The WFC Group, Workforce Insight, and one of its leading retail clothing and accessories customers.
Through its GiveInspired corporate giving program, Kronos supports organizations dedicated to educating and training tomorrow’s workforce. The company selected Citizen Schools because of the organization’s mission to inspire and develop the next-generation workforce. The collaborative effort demonstrates Kronos’s commitment to strengthening communities through strategic philanthropic partnerships.
“fblikebutton_button” Liz Moughan, director, retail and hospitality practice group, Kronos, stated: “Kronos is excited to help Citizen Schools ensure that its Chelsea students have a great start to the school year.” She continued, “At Kronos, we value the impact of giving back to our communities and investing in the future and we collaborate with a variety of causes and organizations that focus on growing and empowering the next-generation workforce. For these reasons, we recognize and value Citizen Schools’ tremendous contribution and are humbled and pleased to organize the backpack donation.”
On Thursday, August 25 at 2:30 p.m., a back-to-school event will take place at the Williams Building, 180 Walnut Street, Chelsea, where backpacks will be distributed to students. Liz Moughan, senior director of the retail and hospitality practice group, Kronos, and Megan Bird, executive director of Citizen Schools Massachusetts, along with employees from both organizations, will distribute the backpacks. Chelsea city manager Tom Ambrosino is expected to attend the event, which media are invited to cover.
Operating from Boston as a national nonprofit, Citizen Schools provides academic enrichment and support to middle school students in high-need districts across six states. The organization’s Expanded Learning Time programs feature volunteer teachers instructing courses in robotics, financial planning, marketing, and other subjects during after-school hours. Its core mission centers on helping students from low-income districts close the opportunity gap between themselves and peers from more affluent communities.
Two Chelsea middle schools—the Joseph Browne School and the Eugene Wright Science and Technology Academy—host Citizen Schools programs serving approximately 900 students this year. The Chelsea dropout rate, at 6.4 percent, significantly exceeds the state average of 1.9 percent. During the first year of Citizen Schools’ partnership with Chelsea schools, English Language Arts proficiency rates rose by 16 percentage points. Among Chelsea’s student population, approximately 50 percent come from economically disadvantaged homes, and for 80 percent of those students, English is not their first language.
Megan Bird, executive director, Citizen Schools Massachusetts, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership: “Citizen Schools is proud to join forces with Chelsea Public Schools and Kronos. These backpacks and supplies will help prepare our students and get them excited for the start of the school year.”