Business Community
Your Business + Local Schools = A Stronger Marketplace
Empower your employees to give back | Prepare a better-trained workforce | Better inform your customer base
Dutch Bros Sticker Contest
When Dutch Bros, Alice Cooper’s the Rock Teen Center, and School Connect joined forces with the Paradise Valley School District, the result was 500 students competing to design the next Dutch Bros sticker! Fine Arts student, Cloe Bell, did not let her learning disability stop her from winning first prize – a whole year of free Dutch Bros, and the knowledge that other people believed in her! Imagine what opportunities your company could create for Arizona youth when you connect to your local schools?
Help Employees Live Out Their Purpose
For Valley Metro employee, Daryl Blazing, the experience was especially rewarding. He recounts, “To be able to get outside the walls of this building and our normal mode of operations, and to be able to supply this equipment to these kids…It was really exciting to see the looks on the kids faces, the joy in the parents faces that their kids could now do their homework at home instead of scheduling time at the library to find an available PC…What I think of as “every day” and “expected” was so much excitement!”
Make A Difference For A Child
By connecting to local schools your company can make a direct impact for the children who need it most
Inspired Employees Love To Give Back
Lend business expertise to educators and students by tutoring, joining a planning committee, or mentoring
Give Where It Counts For Local Children
Sponsor initiatives you care about to support local schools with resources and opportunities for students!
Team Builders That Make An Impact
Bring a team of employees to volunteer on a school campus for LOVE OUR SCHOOLS DAY!
How can my business or team support Arizona youth?
VOLUNTEER SERVICE DAYS, TEAM BUILDERS & SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
NETWORK & LEAD WITH PURPOSE
GIVE BACK & SUPPORT A CAUSE
“I can tell you that businesses are looking for ways to connect with schools, and they need a strategy. And what the [School Connect] Summit does is it provides a strategy and specific action steps. And here’s what’s even better – they work!”
DICK FOREMAN, PRESIDENT & CEO, ARIZONA BUSINESS & EDUCATION COALITION
CORE Construction’s John Dowd Shares Their Heart For Schools
The way we aligned with schools was we wanted to serve communities just like schools are doing. They are serving children, they are serving parents, they are serving the overall community that surrounds them. Whether it’s supporting teachers, connecting rural areas to equal opportunities, or supplying tech and connectivity to underserved areas, we want to support every teacher and every student we possibly can.
Love Our Schools Day
Become a Part of Love Our Schools Day 2026
Are you a local school with a project? Love Our Schools Day is a project-based volunteer day when the community can roll up their sleeves at a local school and make a difference where it is needed most whether it is planting a garden, painting a classroom, or fixing up a playground. Complete the interest form to get involved!
Classroom to Career Workshop
You’re invited to the Classroom to Career Workshop on September 9th!
Join education and industry leaders for an experience where partnerships form, ideas flow, businesses tap into future growth and students are connected from the classroom to cutting edge career pathways!
When the costumes get put away....
Who helps our kids see the courage they have without the cape?
The creativity that goes beyond the costume?
The gifts they haven’t quite discovered yet?
That’s where the village comes in!
A teacher notices that the quiet student has something important to say.
A business owner introduces a teenager to work they never knew existed.
A neighbor keeps showing up until a child begins to believe, “Maybe I really do matter.”
Sometimes someone else sees a possibility in us before we can see it ourselves.
Our kids are watching how we see one another, too.
There is plenty competing for our attention. Plenty inviting us to make quick judgments about people we haven’t sat down with or stories we haven’t heard. But around a school, we have an opportunity to practice something different.
We can pull up a chair.
Ask a better question.
Listen to someone whose experience is different from our own.
Find something we can do together for the children we all care about.
What might our kids learn about who they can become by watching whom we choose to be?
This Halloween, enjoy the costumes, the big imaginations, and the very serious explanations of everyone’s special powers!
But when the costumes are put away, let’s keep noticing the potential that’s already there…
A gift worth encouraging.
A voice worth hearing.
A future worth investing in.
If you`ve finished up your Love Our Schools Day projects, don`t forget this important step...
CELEBRATION 🥳
See what Shea Duryea has to say about celebrating well with your community.
Still want to get involved? Learn more about volunteer opportunities coming up in November and January at LoveOurSchoolsDay.come/Events
It`s a big weekend for Love Our Schools Day, with opportunities to volunteer at several schools across Arizona. Here are just a few!
👀 👉 🔗 See the full list of projects and events at LoveOurSchoolsDay.com
Something inspiring is on the horizon for February 2027 🔥
The School Connect Summit 2027 is coming to Grand Canyon University, with a theme that invites all of us to consider what we’re helping the next generation carry forward...
“Passing the Splendid Torch"
Every day, educators see what students need. Families bring valuable perspectives. Businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders have ideas, resources, and expertise to share. But we don’t always know one another—or know how to connect.
The Summit brings these people together to turn shared care into shared action. To build relationships, explore partnerships, and create opportunities that help Arizona students thrive—with students’ voices at the table, too.
🔥 Stay tuned for the February 2027 date, event details, and ticket announcements! 🔥
Want to help make these connections possible?
Contact Jerry Withers at jerry@schoolconnectaz.org to learn about sponsorship opportunities!
Love Our Schools Day projects are happening all this month and next!
Want to make a difference for students?
👀 Find a school near you and sign up to volunteer: loveourschoolsday.com/events
