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Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
MMC began partnering with StreetWise Partners in 2008 – still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Expand opportunities to engage more volunteers and trainees in the United States.
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
United States
Number of people impacted annually:
Approximately 60 colleagues and more than 40 trainees
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI) and social ROI
- Hours/number of employees who volunteer; volunteer satisfaction rates and rates of professional skills development
- Number of trainees participating, training modules delivered and learning objectives achieved by trainees
- Number of participants who find employment, receive promotions/pay increases, enrol in further education/training
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit to organization
- Indirect benefit to organization
Key Partners
Status
Start year of the initiative:
MMC began partnering with StreetWise Partners in 2008 – still ongoing.
Next steps of initiative:
Expand opportunities to engage more volunteers and trainees in the United States.
Impact
Country(ies) of impact:
United States
Number of people impacted annually:
Approximately 60 colleagues and more than 40 trainees
Time to intended impact:
Less than 2 years
Metrics:
- Employee engagement
- Reputation
- Return on investment (ROI) and social ROI
- Hours/number of employees who volunteer; volunteer satisfaction rates and rates of professional skills development
- Number of trainees participating, training modules delivered and learning objectives achieved by trainees
- Number of participants who find employment, receive promotions/pay increases, enrol in further education/training
Benefit to organization:
- Direct benefit to organization
- Indirect benefit to organization
StreetWise Partners Career Ventures Programme
Submitted by Marsh & McLennan Companies
Objective
To help disadvantaged, low-income individuals to overcome employment barriers by building skills for work, confidence for life and a path towards economic selfsufficiency.
Overview and Main Activities
StreetWise Partners provides a career mentoring programme that equips participants (trainees) with the skills, confidence and strategies needed to achieve their career potential and break their cycle of poverty. The organization’s signature programme, Career Ventures, is a three-month programme, which serves lowincome individuals and combines professional development services with 2:1 career mentoring provided by volunteer business professionals.
Trainees are selected based on a number of qualifications, including that they be low income, have a high school diploma, be motivated to make a positive change in their professional life and aspire to work in a professional environment.
StreetWise Partners’ objectives include:
- Eliminate the gap between an individual’s potential and his/her current position
- Encourage a deeper understanding of local communities
- Develop leaders in the private sector who have a keen understanding of and commitment to service to their community
- Equip programme participants to move into better, higher paying jobs with opportunities for advancement
StreetWise Partners is differentiated by three core elements: (i) relationships with corporate partners, (ii) volunteer support, (iii) and a 2:1 mentor matching programme that helps trainees proactively develop careers, not just their next jobs. Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) provides funding and volunteers in support of the shared commitment to advancing employment for low-income and at-risk populations.
MMC employee engagement includes:
- Serving as Programme Officers: Coordinating the programme and its curriculum, providing support to trainees and volunteers, and ensuring a highquality programme experience
- Serving on Boards: Contributing via a corporate seat on the Board of Directors, and junior employee involvement on both a Programme and Junior Board
- Individual Volunteering: Serving as mentors/volunteers over a 13-week period
MMC employees have the opportunity to make a tangible impact in the life of a low-income individual while building their own leadership and professional skills; trainees obtain career coaching, job training skills, and career advancement assistance through customized mentoring; and MMC is able to achieve Corporate Social Responsibility objectives.
Since its inception in 1997, StreetWise Partners has impacted the lives of over 2,600 jobseekers while leveraging the time and expertise of approximately 6,000 volunteers. In the last fiscal year, average weekly trainee income increased by 54% during the 13-week programme.
Success Factors and Challenges
Most critical success factors:
- Strategic alignment of the initiative with organization priorities and commitment to diversity
- Unique combination of central leadership and local office engagement
- Policy support (including global month of volunteering, a paid day off to volunteer, the Dollars for Doers programme, etc.)
Main challenges:
- Funding/budget support: needed to build the business case, based on metrics and goals
- Communications: requiring multiple communication channels to achieve the reach and engagement desired
- Strategic volunteering: part of a broader transformation to encourage skills-based volunteering
Recommendations for Others
Find ways to leverage employee volunteers and advocates effectively early on. StreetWise Partners has a well-structured volunteer engagement programme and offers MMC and other corporate employees a ladder of increasing volunteer opportunities, including multiple leadership opportunities within the organization, so that volunteerism never grows stagnant.
Replicability and Scalability
How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Easy: This model can be adapted to meet a variety of Corporate Social Responsibility objectives and can be tailored to engage employees at multiple commitment levels.
How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Easy: StreetWise Partners is currently limited geographically to New York and Washington DC. Opportunities exist to expand the initiative to include a larger number of trainees.
About the Organization
Website: www.mmc.com
Sector: Professional Services
Size (number of employees): 50,000-100,000
Headquarters: New York, United States
For Further Engagement
Contact name: Tara McTeague
Contact position: Programme Manager
Email: [email protected]