{"527871":{"#nid":"527871","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Beaulieu recognized for efforts to keep Dalton area kids focused on high school graduation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBeaulieu, a leading floor covering manufacturer headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, has a long history of supporting education throughout northwest Georgia, which is home to 13 of its plants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition, the company encourages its team members to develop creative solutions both inside and outside of their plants.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo four years ago, Angie Ledford, talent development coordinator at Beaulieu, came up with an idea that met both goals. She approached her management team with her idea of filling up some open positions at the company with high school students who were in jeopardy of not graduating.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis was not a hard sell to our team. I had people raising their hands asking how they could help,\u201d she said. For Beaulieu, the reward was twofold: The company could help students stay in school while giving them a job in the afternoon. In addition, Beaulieu could fill multiple job openings while building their team member pipeline for the future.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership is recognizing the Beaulieu team and its efforts as the April recipient of the Faces of Manufacturing Award. Beaulieu employees were presented with the award on April 19.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Faces of Manufacturing initiative highlights Georgia\u0027s manufacturing industry, which employs 365,000 and is an important sector of the state economy. The Faces of Manufacturing shows that companies have an economic impact not only on the communities they serve but also on the lives of the people they touch, from employees to customers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBeaulieu reached out to the Great Promise Partnership (GPP), an initiative to help at-risk students complete their high school education while gaining real-world job skills, to work with students and high schools in Dalton and surrounding Whitfield County. The Beaulieu initiative, now in its third year and with 20 students participating, has been a success. It\u2019s also making a substantial difference in the lives of those students.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLast year, we had a student miss 30 days of school in just one semester,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;Sheila McKeehan, a school counselor at Morris Innovative High School in Dalton. \u201cSince getting involved in this program, this student has missed just three days.\u0026nbsp;We\u2019ve had such success with the program that we have kids lining up to be involved.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut beyond the job skills learned and commitment to graduating, the students say they have experienced profound personal growth and development.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBefore working here, I thought manufacturing was people working by themselves,\u201d said Kyle, one of the students in the program. \u201cInstead, it\u2019s about people working together to create products. I\u2019ve learned teamwork, responsibility, and how to communicate with others.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2014 P\u00e9ralte C. Paul\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Each month the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership profiles Georgian who make a difference in manufacturing"}],"uid":"28137","created_gmt":"2016-04-21 18:03:47","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:21:25","author":"P\u00e9ralte Paul","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"527881":{"id":"527881","type":"image","title":"Beaulieu receives April Faces of Manufacturing Award","body":null,"created":"1461348000","gmt_created":"2016-04-22 18:00:00","changed":"1475895301","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:01","alt":"Beaulieu receives April Faces of Manufacturing Award","file":{"fid":"205622","name":"beaulieu_award.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/beaulieu_award.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/beaulieu_award.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2126674,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/beaulieu_award.png?itok=t_eEqmZE"}}},"media_ids":["527881"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/facesofmanufacturing.com\/portfolio\/beaulieu\/","title":"Faces of Manufacturing"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"139","name":"Business"}],"keywords":[{"id":"170161","name":"beaulieu"},{"id":"121581","name":"Faces of Manufacturing"},{"id":"16331","name":"GaMEP"},{"id":"171945","name":"Great Promise Partnership"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"106361","name":"Business and Economic Development"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EContact Information\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFor media inquiries contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELaura Diamond\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFor more information about GaMEP contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKatie Takacs\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGaMEP Marketing Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:katie.takacs@innovate.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ekatie.takacs@innovate.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["peralte.paul@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}