Entrepreneur Kevin Pickett and attorneys Dwight Bolden and Winston McKesson are helping St. Raphael's elementary school in South-Central Los Angeles, where all three successful men graduated in 1971.
They are not alone. Also helping St. Raphael's is the charitable foundation of A.C. Green of the Lakers plus lawyers and investment experts from Brentwood and local community counselors.
The effort at St. Raphael's is mirrored at hundreds of other schools in the parochial system, in the Los Angeles Unified School District and in other school districts throughout Southern California.
It's an attempt to turn the tide against dropout students, poorly prepared employees, severe costs to business and the threat of a declining economy.
Ask any group of businesspeople in Southern California what is their chief concern or complaint and invariably the answer will be the education received by the youngsters whom the businesses must someday employ.
That's why businesspeople are trying to help schools and students with direct instruction, counseling and fund-raising. If some of the school districts would paid attention, they would pick up a few pointers on management and organization, too.
The scope of efforts to help schools is heartening. LAUSD has partnership and adopt-a-school programs with more than 500 businesses and institutions. Such firms as Edison International and the Los Angeles Times send their employees to help students with reading.
In Orange County, Irvine Co. and a local business foundation made headlines recently by pledging $3.9 million to help the Irvine schools retain teaching in music, art and science.
Among parochial schools, the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese has development councils at 12 of its inner-city schools, including St. Raphael's, and local businesspeople serving on school boards at several dozen more of its 278 campuses.
There are broader efforts, too. Junior Achievement, an 81-year-old nationwide organization that teaches economics and business skills, has 6,000 volunteers going into schools in nine counties of Southern California--from San Luis Obispo to the Mexican border--to teach five- to 10-week economics-based courses.
"Anything that acquaints students with the world of work and the broader environment beyond their town or neighborhood is helpful," says Ted Mitchell, president of Occidental College and a nationally recognized expert on education.
