Ruby Bantariza: Thank you both for joining me for this interview discussing NBME’s commitment to community engagement and your long-standing support of Achieve Now. Let’s start with you both introducing yourselves and your roles at NBME.
Allison Acevedo: My name is Allison Acevedo. I started at NBME five years ago. I am the Director of Community Collaborations and Contributions. Our team leads giving initiatives for the organization, and we also started and developed target giving areas for NBME. These areas are medical education, assessment research, learner support, pathway programs, and health equity. Most of the health equity work is done locally, and we use the social determinants of health to really think about how we approach this target area. The work that we do in our unit aligns with community engagement in a way that really supports communities in ways that align with both our organizational mission and vision. We also try to think about how we're providing impact, for instance, supporting employee engagement in these spaces.
Stephanie McWhite: My name is Stephanie McWhite. I am a Product Manager at NBME and serve as the Site Coordinator, managing the relationship with Achieve Now. I have been volunteering as a literacy coach for the entire 10 years I've been at NBME. This was probably one of the first programs that I got involved with very early on in my tenure with NBME. It's something that I thoroughly love because I feel like the work that we do makes a real difference and has a real impact on the lives of the kids in the city. I believe we’re setting them on a pathway to success because we know how fundamental reading is. Reading was something that my parents always fostered in us- we got library cards and would pick out books to read. The importance of developing the skillset needed to read, especially for young Black and brown children, is a foundational part of their lives.
Ruby: Thank you both for your introductions. Allison, how does NBME identify the community organizations and causes you support and what drew NBME to Achieve Now specifically?
Allison: When we started this giving area, about five years ago, we had to rely on other organizations that provided recommendations. We looked at local healthcare funders to provide recommendations about organizations that they were working with or had already vetted. We used this process as the starting point for our local giving. As far as Achieve Now, you see that Stephanie and others have had a long-standing commitment to working with Achieve Now. We've continued both pre-pandemic and post to have staff that were interested in supporting Achieve Now. We wanted to continue to support because, when we talk about pathway programs, literacy is a core foundational component to any type of pathway and particularly pathways to medicine. So really the work of Achieve Now aligns directly with our focus on pathway programs. We have a history with you and want to continue that history as well as support the interest within our community. Stephanie has done a lot to lead the demand and the work. So Achieve Now is really a choice driven by the focus of our work and also the interest of our staff.
Ruby: Thank you Allison, Stephanie, can you share a memorable experience from your time as an Achieve Now coach?
Stephanie: I used to love the in-person sessions, particularly because we would work with the same class from Penrose Elementary School every year. Even though there were more kids in the class than we had onsite volunteers, I would always have a small group of young men. They were a little rambunctious, and I just enjoyed connecting with them. I still have a lot of pictures that I would take with the kids when they would come to our building.
A lot of my coworkers still remember the days when I would have them line up in our lobby and I'm like, "Let’s tie your shoes or put your coat on right." My coworkers would always tell me that they appreciated the motherly connection I had with the kids. That was something that Ms. Hill, their classroom teacher, always mentioned too. Regardless of some of the challenges she had with some of the students, after they left our building their behavior improved. She would notice a difference in their behavior on those days when they would come to the building, and they knew that they had to see Ms. Stephanie. Through being a coach, I’ve realized how important it is not just to help them read, but to pour into them, invest one-on-one time, and to understand the difference that our interactions make in their lives.
Ruby: That’s something I’ve noticed during my time at Achieve Now, students walk away experiencing care from their coaches. That's something that lasts with them. In more recent years, we've had students who've been able to come back for a second year and just seeing them light up, being able to see their coach from the previous year says so much about the commitment that our coaches have to caring for our students. Allison, you shared why you believe it's important to invest in early childhood literacy, but I want to ask what role do you think corporations can play in supporting children's educational development?
Allison: That's a really good question. Each type of organization, whether there are corporations that have foundations or organizations like NBME, that set aside resources for giving can play a role because there is a vast amount of unmet need. In Pennsylvania, depending on what school district you're in, there are funding discrepancies for both student resources and support for teachers. Given this landscape, NBME also provides support for a STEMM teacher education and training through another initiative. The role that corporations can play is to really find out from the students, families, schools, school districts, and then the role that they can play given the resources that are available. Some organizations have millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars, and some organizations have tens of thousands of dollars. The needs need to match the resources. Sometimes, an organization or corporation may not be able to fulfill a need. This is when collaborating with other organizations and pulling funds and resources comes in to meet a need.
The underlying principle is really asking the communities what the need is instead of saying, "Well, here, we're going to come in and paint the school walls.” But nobody really asks for that, or folks want to see some other type of engagement. It's really important to figure out what the need is, what the demand is, and what the situation is from the communities that are experiencing a particular situation. This is a way to figure out what's really needed, and corporations can take a role in helping schools meet those defined needs.
Ruby: That's great, I love how you’re stressing the importance of communities being part of crafting their own solutions. Stephanie, having worked one-on-one with our students, what have you learned about the importance of literacy instruction, the impact of individual support, and how that can influence their confidence and development?
Stephanie: Literacy support is important because it's so foundational to everything that we do in life. For me, it's even more important now that kids have those foundational skills to understand how to sound out a word, how to read, and be able to read and write on a basic level. This sets the foundation for everything else that they're going to experience in life. They're never going to encounter a situation where they're not going to have to read something or know how to understand it or know how to comprehend what they're reading. That's a skill, like I said, that's going to take you through life, whether you choose to go to college or you're applying for a job or whatever the case.
It's a foundational skill that we all need, and understanding that is one of the reasons why volunteering with this organization is so near and dear to my heart. I realize that teachers have bigger classrooms, so they can't always provide that individualized attention and support that's really needed. You don't know how many of these kids have access to this level of support at home. I understand how important it is to have that consistent relationship.
To be someone in these kids' lives that they can rely and depend on
To be someone who's going to pour into them
To be someone who will be visible and show up every week
To be someone that they can look to as a safe space that's going to help them work through building those skills
I want students to know that there's somebody who's not in their family or school, who's taking the time to invest in them and be in their corner. That's an important part of building their confidence over the course of the year and helping them gain the skills that are going to help them grow to be strong leaders, I mean strong readers and strong leaders.
Ruby: The foundation of everything you just shared is our model’s focus on individualized support. You're not tasked with balancing the needs of a small group of children, but you can really focus on one student at a time, their specific needs, and fill the gaps where maybe their classroom teacher can't fill during their day. Stephanie, what would you say to a colleague who is interested in volunteering but maybe hasn't taken that step to sign up with us?
Stephanie: When I'm trying to recruit coaches every year within our organization, I let them know how important it is for us to be giving back to the community. I also share that it's not a huge time commitment, but it makes such a big difference in the lives of the students that we work with. When folks ask me, "Tell me a little bit more about volunteering, what do I have to do?" I'm letting them know it's just one hour out of your week and Achieve Now provides great support. In recent years, they've added people like you who are the Literacy Instructors who are supporting us and helping us support the students. If we say that we're invested in the local community, then this is one thing that we can do that makes a real difference.
The older I get, the more I realize that the work I do, whether it's volunteering or it's work for a full-time job, I want it to make a real difference in people's lives. It's more than just showing up and checking a box, but it's going that extra mile and making sure that you're visible in a way that makes an impact. I hope a lot of the kids that I've worked with over the years remember me and have a positive memory from our time together. I hope they remember a time when somebody poured into them, and they see the need to turn around and pay it forward when they’re older.
Ruby: Having the opportunity to work with you closely last year, your commitment and your passion for your students is so clear. There's no doubt in my mind that some of your past students are still thinking about you and the impact that you made. Allison, this last question is for you. If you could share one message with other organizations about the importance of investing in their communities and supporting organizations like Achieve Now, what would it be?
Allison: Coming off Stephanie's emotional and really thoughtful answer, I just really wanted to give some space for all her work and thank her for everything that she's done as a leader in this space at NBME. For me and for other organizations that are thinking about this space, I think it's not a difficult lift. We should think about looking at our communities and places where we sit as organizations, as corporations, as nonprofit organizations that are able to give and really think about our neighbors and our community. When we think about being in Philadelphia, there are so many places to give, so many organizations. If folks don't know where to give, they can go to local nonprofit organizations to tell them about some of the work they're doing. You can go to a longstanding organization like Achieve Now that has made gains in outcomes and truly impacted students in a number of ways, to provide guidance about how to give and where to give. As I mentioned earlier, I think it's important to look to the organizations that are doing the work and are with communities, and they can tell you where it's important to put your resources, where your staff can plug in, and where you can connect the organization and its community to other resources. It may not be that an organization has a lot of financial resources but could use connections that it has to support nonprofit work and communities who are impacted by the nonprofit.
Ruby: Amazing, thank you both so much for your time today and for this conversation! It was so insightful to learn more about NBME’s commitment to supporting local organizations that are meeting the needs of Philadelphia, as well as learning more about Stephanie’s impactful leadership in driving sustained support for Achieve Now over the past decade.
