For more than 24 years, the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce has united businesses with local schools to benefit both “best.” BEST, an acronym for Business & Education Serving Together, is a workforce development initiative of the Chamber of Commerce that seeks through these partnerships to enhance the quality of life for the community and provide business support for educational programs. The ultimate goal is reinforcement of the education process and strengthening of the community’s workforce.
Whirlpool cXc (Customer Experience Center) and Lake Forest Middle School have joined forces to find ways to best benefit each other through the Chamber’s BEST partnership program. These “almost neighbors” work and study in close proximity on the south side of Bradley County.
Lake Forest, a middle school in southern Bradley County, serves over 1,100 sixth, seventh and eighth graders. Students have many opportunities to be involved at Lake Forest through academic and service clubs, fine arts performance groups and a wide range of sports. As with any public school, however, Lake Forest welcomes additional support.
“I am extremely excited about having our new friends at Whirlpool Customer Care Center,” Principal Ritchie Stevenson said. “I look forward to building a strong relationship with this Whirlpool division and consider it a blessing to have their support for our students.”
"Caring for our customers has been a long-standing tradition within the company," said Jessica Norris, US Consumer Care Team senior supervisor. "Whirlpool deeply understood that taking care of consumers was crucial and, as technology allowed, created what is known now as the first (in the industry) modern-day “1-800” customer service number in the United States, launched in 1967. This tradition of caring for our consumers continues to be a part of our overall company mission, and being available for them is a big differentiator within the industry. Based on the customer’s needs, our goal is to offer the right solutions, including such things as troubleshooting, scheduling service and product registration.”
One of two customer contact centers for Whirlpool, the Cleveland site aligns its strategy to a broader Global Strategy and centers its approach around the “4 Cs” (Consumer, Care Expert [call agents], Company and Community).
“The BEST partnership with Lake Forrest Middle School is a natural fit partnership for the Whirlpool Customer Experience Center in Cleveland because of our focus on the families within our community,” said Ms. Norris.
Whirlpool cXc kicked off the new school year by collecting backpacks and teacher supplies for the middle school. “[As the school year unfolds], we look forward to working with Ritchie Stevenson and the LFMS team,” said Ms. Norris.
Sherry Crye coordinates the BEST partnership program for the Chamber of Commerce.
“We instituted this program more than 24 years ago as a workforce development initiative to help our local schools do what they do not have the staff or funding to accomplish on their own,” Ms. Crye said. “However, BEST partnerships are not all about giving money to the schools, although that is often beneficial. They are also about giving time and skills. Long-term members of our business community, like Whirlpool, demonstrate what it means to be good corporate citizens through our workforce development program.”
According to Ms. Crye, schools in the Bradley County and Cleveland City School Systems have one or more local business partners as part of the BEST program. Private schools that are Chamber members may also participate in the program. For more information about becoming a BEST partner, call 472-6587.