Contact: Mike Wilson Rockridge Partners Phone 510 985-1644 Fax 510 740-3502

5356 Locksley Ave Oakland, CA 94618 mike@rockridgepartners.net www.rockridgepartners.net

Press Release

Local Schools Benefit from Matchmaking Site

Businesses eager to help now have direct connection to teachers and students

FAIRFIELD, CA Jan. 27 — In an effort to help local schools by connecting them with business people who want to help, the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce is testing a new service with its members called Business to Education Connect. . Similar to an online dating site, the free B2E service (www.b2econnect.com) matches people from the business community who have a special skill, talent or simply a desire to help, with teachers and administrators from local schools.

Over the next few weeks, members of the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce will be invited to post profiles that highlight their areas of expertise and specific ways they see themselves helping. Teachers and school administrators will also post profiles and list the assistance they need. No commitment is required from educators or business people as they search the B2E listings. When either sees a potential match they can indicate their interest via the web site. From that point on, the B2E service allows users to communicate with each other to work out the details.

This program is targeted to help all schools in Solano County ranging from pre-schools through college, and new schools or educational programs can be added to the system by users.

“In these times of extremely tight budgets and drastic cuts, just a couple of hours of someone’s time can make a huge difference in the quality of a student’s learning experience,” Says Janet Harden, Director of Career Technical Education for Solano County.

The B2E Connect service has been developed by workforce consultants Rockridge Partners, who offer it at no charge. “We wanted to tap into a vast resource within the business community that would help local schools, and in turn create valuable long-term relationships that bring our communities closer together,” says Mike Wilson, President of Rockridge Partners.

The Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce hopes to benefit from using the B2E Connect service in two ways. The first is to increase member participation in community service by helping schools. The second way is to track member participation, such as the number of hours members contribute and the schools they are helping. “Being able to quantify the number of hours and specifics of how our members are helping local schools lets us harness the goodwill that already exists,” says Leslie Fay, CEO of the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce.

B2E Connect will expand its offering later this year throughout California, and eventually hopes to make valuable connections between business people and local schools everywhere.