Ernst & Young partners with JNB and sponsors Community Campus Day 2022
We are delighted to spotlight one of our lead sponsors for Community Campus Day, Ernst & Young. EY is partnering with John Neely Bryan Elementary to create community connection and support the school in many ways, such as tutoring, mentoring, and providing learning resources. This year on Community Campus Day, a volunteer team from EY will transform a lounge into a refreshing and comforting wellness room for faculty and staff.
We sat down with James Walton, Partner at EY, and Chair of this year’s Community Campus Day. Learn about the impact of corporate partnerships and what they can accomplish!
U2L: Why should corporations work toward a more equitable education landscape in Dallas?
James: Too often in the US, a student’s or worker’s potential is limited by geography or economic circumstances. The private and public sectors are critical in the community effort to support access to education for underserved youths and develop future generations of talent. Private sector organizations can provide the vital funding, skills-based volunteerism, technical expertise and convening power to make a positive impact. Through our work we have found that intentional collaboration is most effective when it begins within a city or region. From there, integrated international collaboration fuels funding, investment, innovation and execution.
U2L: Why is it important to EY to cultivate a culture of community involvement in their employees?
James: At EY, we believe business can be a force for social good, which is why we have a goal to positively impact one billion people by 2030 through our global corporate responsibility program, EY Ripples. EY Ripples provides EY people with opportunities to use their skills, knowledge, and experience to positively impact the lives of millions. In the process, they also build their own leadership skills, broaden their mind-set and network, gain experience in new sectors and learn new perspectives. These additional growth experiences help us bring new dimensions to our people and build even more diverse, multi-disciplinary higher performing teams to deliver truly exceptional client service.
U2L: How do you hope to grow from volunteering with U2L/Dallas ISD?
James: To achieve our company’s ambition to impact one billion people by 2030, we have robust annual volunteerism goals. Our Dallas Ripples Task Force is curating monthly volunteer engagement aligned to EY Ripples, including our focus to support the next generation workforce to develop the mindsets and skills they’ll need to find and sustain meaningful work, which is why we are actively collaborating with United to Learn and Dallas ISD for a regular cadence of mentoring with Dallas youth. In our last fiscal year alone, 2,400 EY people positively impacted the lives of 30,000 Dallas youth.
Personally, I’m curious by nature, constantly learning from those around me and driven to connect others to solve problems. Volunteer opportunities like those provided by U2L and Dallas ISD allow me to learn and understand the needs in the community while doing good. Each interaction fuels me with new perspectives and understanding allowing me to convene the power of my personal and professional networks to improve, adapt and replicate solutions in our community.
United to Learn is grateful to James Walton and the team at EY for this partnership that is making a significant impact.