Cross-Country Supply Chain Outreach: A Partnership between Collegiate Students at the Arizona State University and High School Students at the Urban Assembly of Global Commerce

Over the course of 2015-2017, the ASU-SCMA/UASGC Outreach program was developed at Arizona State University (ASU) to support both high school students and college students interested in supply chain management careers. In particular, the program targets the high school students of the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce (UASGC) and the college students of the ASU Supply Chain Management Association (ASU-SCMA). High school students are partnered with college students in a year-long mentoring program that allows both parties to develop professional supply chain skills. The work of the ASU-SCMA/UASGC Outreach Program is particularly important because it provides UASGC with much needed resources to address urban poverty issues in New York using career and technical education. The Urban Assembly describes its student group as "at-risk, under-resourced youth," and of those youth: - 85% are low-income - 83% enter high school below grade level in at least one subject - 20% require Individualized Education Plans (Special Needs) (urbanassembly.org). The Outreach Program addresses the above issues by providing the high school students with collegiate mentors that develop supply chain and college readiness resources in the form of a case study, site tour, supply chain simulation and presentations. In order to be considered successful, the program must first, equip the high school mentees with tools and skills for a professional career, specifically supply chain management, that they would not otherwise be exposed to; and second, motivate the collegiate participants who are about to enter the workforce to continue to participate in mentoring throughout their careers. This program documents the efforts and results of the pilot year for the Outreach Program that took place from September 2016 through March 2017. Through this pilot program, it was determined that the ASU-SCMA/UASGC Outreach Program is effective and valuable. In fact, the program found that: - 75% of the high school students agreed or strongly agreed that the program helped them learn new business skills. - 75% of the high school students agreed that the program taught them new, interesting things about supply chain. - 75% of the high school students became more interested in college. 100% of the college mentors agreed or strongly agreed that they gained new and important supply chain and professional skills. The success of the pilot year has led to plans for the Outreach Program to become an annual project for ASU-SCMA. This is a program that will continue for the foreseeable future.