You can’t separate the two education and business. As you can read in our special report on manufacturing in this issue, manufacturers still have problems finding qualified employees. And it’s not just manufacturers who struggle. Those hiring in many other industries, including my own, have horror stories about employees who are so poorly prepared for the work force that it’s almost unbelievable. Without good workers, no business can function at its best level. The issue has reached a peak recently with Mayor Villaraigosa’s focus on reform of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Improving education is one of the biggest issues in the academic, political and business worlds. The Business Journal recognizes this and for the first time will publish a special report and sponsor an event in October recognizing companies and organizations that do well in promoting education locally. The Education Leadership Awards I hope will prove enlightening and show us that education is not being ignored in our local business community. There are companies that care. They provide resources to make education better and believe in promoting education within their own organizations. We will honor these firms and organizations at an Oct. 4 event and publish the special report in our Oct. 9 issue profiling these companies and their programs. We’ll tell the stories of their successes. The categories that we will focus on: Best Employee Tuition Reimbursement Program; Best Student Loan Program; Best Scholarship Program; Best Student Intern Program; Best Mentoring Program; Education Leadership Award given to an individual; Best Program to Support Education; Best Business Education Program; Best Job Training Program and Best Employee Training Program. Companies large and small are eligible to be nominated for the awards. Please tell us about people out in our community who are doing good things. A nomination form can be downloaded from our Website (sfvbj.com). Click on the “events” category. Deadline for nominations is Sept. 15. A committee of people from the community knowledgeable about education will help me choose the winners. If you don’t want to fill out the form, just give me a call and tell me what company or organization you admire and I or other staff members will fill out the form for you. Call me at (818) 316-3125 or e-mail me at [email protected] . Thanks for promoting education. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected] .
