Tipping Point Community has been a proud funder of BUILD since 2005! Suzanne McKechnie Klahr has created an organization that is smart, measurable and innovative and gives young people the opportunity to engage in business from a young age unlike any other I’ve seen. In a time when budget cuts are putting more pressure on teachers and administrators than ever before, BUILD is doing the heavy-lifting of getting more low-income students to graduate high school and go on to college. I am most inspired by the stories of BUILD students who become the first in their families to go to college. They are blazing a trail for their younger siblings and future generations; BUILD is helping families break the cycle of poverty for good.
BUILD is an amazing program that offers resources to students that would not get the support other places. Because schools are crowded and the counselors at the schools BUILD serves have large student case loads, BUILD is able to serve the students that might fall through the cracks.
The staff at BUILD genuinely cares for the students and their families. The students that enter the program are immediately considered family and there is little the staff will not do to help them succeed. I recall a time when a student needed clothing for one of the Business Plan Competitions. Without a second thought, staff and mentors coordinated to get the students clothing for the event so that they not only impressed the judges with their plan, but looked professional in the process.
BUILD shows students, through examples and unconditional love, that they can and will be successful with hard work and determination.
