Good Morning McLean -- September Chamber Breakfast

Join us at J. Gilbert's for our September Chamber Breakfast, sponsored by Middleburg Bank. Our speaker this month will be Jay Garant, Coordinator, Business and Community Partnerships at Fairfax County Public Schools.

Mr. Garant's presentation will consist of 3 parts:
 

1. Gone Fishing:  A colorful and fun way of explaining the relationship between the Coordinator for Business and Community Partnership and the community through metaphor.
2. Automation IN – Automation OUT:  Changes since 2007 in Business and Community Partnership.
3. Call to Action:  So many options, so little time.  A look at ways you can give and get involved.

 
Background/Additional Information:
The Business and Community Partnerships office recruits and supports partners who work with individual schools and the school system. Since 2007, the Business & Community Partnerships team helped secure more than six million dollars in donations of money and valued goods through partnerships and direct donations, not including the value of volunteer hours contributed by partners and mentors.

As of June 30, 2011, the Department of Communications and Community Outreach (DCCO) records indicate that 150 schools out of 196 (or 76 percent) have a partnership with one or more businesses or community organizations.
 
Annually the Office of Business and Community Partnerships helps develop and make official between 20 and 30 new partnerships.  (The figure does not reflect donations, one-time events, sponsorships, and ongoing partnerships.)
 
DCCO’s database lists 355 partnerships in FCPS.
 
Since 2007 the Business and Community Partnerships team has worked to automate functions and provide official guidance, including:
 
Automation                     

• Donations Portal
• Merchant Discount Program
• The Partnership Agreement and Background Check process
• Request a Perpetual Plate
• FCPS Partnership Starter
• TeachForce FCPS (Coming Soon)

 
Guidance

• Tips and Templates
• Return on Investment Measurement Ideas
• Guidelines for Faith Based Partnerships
• Organizing Your Partnership
• Regulations At-a-Glance
• Marketing (Give Me Five, and new FCPS Partner Update)

 
DCCO and the FCPS Business and Community Partnerships team is the liaison to the Fairfax Chamber’s School Construction Bond Referendum Committee, and is communications point of contact for the Bond supporting the development of the 12 page Facts brochure, a dynamic web site, and related videos including a Public Service Announcement.
 
The Superintendent’s Business and Community Advisory Council is managed out of the office of Business and Community Partnerships.  Jay Garant serves as staff liaison.
 
The office of Business and Community Partnerships and the County’s OP3 have teamed to coordinate Collect for Kids – a county-wide school supply drive initiative with aims to add efficiencies and reduce redundancies in current models.   In 2012 we aligned Collect for Kids outcomes to the FCPS Closing the Minority Student Achievement Gap initiative and started the marketing campaign.
 
The Business and Community Partnerships teams practices what it preaches and has partnership with Fairfax County’s Office of Public Private Partnerships (OP3) and Innolance.
 
Each year, the Business and Community Partnerships team conducts three events, the Celebrate Partnership Award Ceremony and fall and winter Common Grounds networking/awards events.
 
ExxonMobil’s Expanding Vision (EV) program is managed out of the office of Business and Community Partnerships.  Gabrielle Boccher manages the EV program.
 
 

About Jay Garant
Coordinator, Business and Community Partnerships
Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia

Jay Garant has 25 years of professional media, communications and business relations experience.   He has worked for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) for 17 years serving as television producer/director, communications specialist, senior communications specialist and director of communications before becoming coordinator for business and community partnerships.

In 1987, Jay graduated from West Virginia University with a B.A. in Political Science.  While earning a degree from WVU, he studied in Caen, France.

Prior to working television for FCPS, Jay worked as a reporter on Capitol Hill for WNVT in Northern Virginia, as a producer/reporter for Florida Public Television (FPTV), and in the City Manager's office for the City of Rockville.
As the school system’s Coordinator for Business and Community Partnerships, Jay works with businesses, community groups and school employees developing partnerships.  Jay recently developed and is promoting the FCPS Partnership Starter, an online tool that will help connect potential partners using key words and mapping tools.

He is currently a member of the National School Public Relations Association and its Chesapeake Chapter, a member of the Board of Directors for the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce, and a 2011 graduate of Leadership Fairfax.