What BB2C Does
Heather Miller, Outreach Coordinator
What comes to mind when you hear about Building Bridges to Careers? Internships? Job shadowing? Our Makerspace? Partnerships between schools, businesses, and civic organizations? Entrepreneurship and our Small Business Incubator? Students and young career seekers? Career choices?
If you answered 'YES" to any of the above, then you know something about our organization! But what exactly do we do? Our work can appear at times to be complex and multifaceted, because our students, businesses, and communities are complex and multifaceted.
Recently, our board and staff worked to update our mission statement to clarify what we do. You may have even noticed our new mission statement at the top of our weekly newsletter:
Building Bridges to Careers fosters student, business, and civic relationships to inspire career choices through experience, entrepreneurship, and education.
Building Bridges to Careers offers programs, projects, events and resources that bring together students, schools, businesses, and community leaders to show students and young careers seekers different career opportunities both in our community and beyond.
OUR PROGRAMS
Career Mentoring: Partnering middle school students with adults from the community who help them navigate the decisions necessary for developing their career awareness.
Job Shadowing: A one-day, onsite placement for high school students which allows students to observe what a person in a specific career does and learn how that person prepared for their career.
Internships: Hands-on experiences for 11th and 12th graders with time to reflect on what they are learning in their classroom, how it translates to what they are seeing and doing in their internship, and if it is a field they would like to continue to pursue.
Student Ambassadors: Students gain leadership skills by actively sharing the opportunities available to their schoolmates through our organization.
OUR EVENTS & RESOURCES
Discover Day Series: These one-day events happen throughout the year and take high school students on a deeper dive into a career of their choice, such as engineering, the arts, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and more.
Community Meetings: These quarterly Business Advisory Council Meetings bring together educators and employers to share news about job and career pathway trends, opportunities, as well as economic changes that will affect local career options for our students and young adults.
Education After Hours: An annual networking opportunity for businesses, teachers, and civic leaders to come together and learn more about the students, businesses, and career paths in our community.
Family Career Awareness Day: Created for middle and high school students AND THEIR PARENTS, this annual event showcases local businesses and the potential career opportunities they represent.
Professional Support for Educators: Teacher Tours, classes specifically developed for local educators, and resources such as the Problem Scenario Library, which is a classroom activity between students and business representatives, are offered to support teachers’ efforts to connect classroom learning and career exploration.
OUR PROJECTS
Small Business Incubator: Provides local entrepreneurs with resources to start or grow a business, while also connecting them with students to mentor and provide internships and job shadowing opportunities.
Makerspace: A hands-on learning space open to students and all community members who want to learn a new skill, hobby, or career path.