Community Involvement Application
Freescale Semiconductor is committed to partnering with community organizations and leaders to make a positive difference in the areas where we live and work. We apply our global talent and resources to three primary objectives:
1) Enhancing educational opportunities
2) Supporting health and human services and
3) Respecting the environment.
To enter data in the form, simply select the grey box & begin typing. Send the completed form and required attachments as follows:
· Americas:
· Asia Pacific and Japan:
· Europe, Middle East, and Africa:
This request addresses (check one): Education Health and Human Services Environment
Location: Austin Phoenix Asia Europe, Middle-East, and Africa Other
Do you have 501 (c) 3 non-profit certification? Yes No Does Not Apply
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(Freescale internal use only) Cost center: 2008
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Organizational Information (where applicable)
Organization/group name: Capitol BEST
Federal Tax ID Number (US only): 26-2844751
Contact name:Greg Young Contact title:Director
Organization address:154
Street: Brentwood Drive
City:Georgetown State:TX Zip:78628
Phone:512-868-8533 Fax:512-868-8533
E-mail: Website (if applicable):http://www.capitol-best.org
Please describe the purpose of your organization and its primary beneficiaries:
-----The Crisis Facing Our Future-----
- The U.S. ranks 17th in the world in the number of B.S. in engineering degrees awarded.
- “Baby Boomer” engineers are retiring in record numbers, leaving industry with rapidly growing workforce shortages—and there aren’t enough up-and-coming engineers to fill their ranks.
- The number of students entering engineering in the U.S. has remained flat for over 10 years.
- High school students lack understanding of what engineering is and how engineers impact economic growth.
- Engineering based industries are competing for the same alarmingly small number of engineers.
- We face a critical shortage of the skilled, technically proficient workforce needed to sustain existing and attract new industries.
-----The Need for a Technologically Literate Workforce-----
Business and industry leaders across the US have expressed grave concern for the current and projected future shortage of a technologically literate workforce.
Such a workforce is critical to economic growth. A technologically literate person is equipped with a working knowledge of technology and capable of using it effectively to accomplish various tasks. He or she can think critically about technological issues and act accordingly. In an age where a growing number of K-12 students are content to play videos games or surf the internet, something must be done to get students curious about and interested in engineering, science, and technology!
There are very few organized and effective efforts to attract K-12 students to these fields that directly involve business and industry. Companies haven’t latched on to that “thing”, that program that can connect them to schools in ways that impact students.
-----A Solution-----
That’s where BEST comes in. BEST is that “thing,” the vehicle for reaching students. It is a workforce development program that can create a dynamic alliance between business/industry, higher education, and K-12 schools. Such an alliance reaches across corporate, city, and county lines to develop a community based program that reaches schools—and impacts students.
BEST is not about students building robots. It’s the hands-on platform for helping them grow in their knowledge of technology and develop competencies in utilizing it.
BEST inspires students to pursue careers in engineering, science and technology. This is critical given the dearth of engineers that industry is experiencing now and will continue to experience in the future.
BEST helps prepare students to be technologically literate and thus better prepared to enter the workforce.
BEST teaches teamwork, project management, and leadership development. Students develop analytical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
BEST provides students experience in “design-to-market” product development—experience that is transferable to all disciplines and career pursuits.
BEST provides participating students recognition and acclaim typically reserved for their peers in sports.BEST enhances teacher effectiveness.
BEST is an outstanding educational program accessible to all students, schools, and communities.
BEST is free to schools. Funding from sponsors provide materials and equipment teams use to construct and run the robots.
BEST provides a vehicle for business & industry to become educational partners with education—K-12 through college.
-----The Objectives of the Capitol BEST Program----
1) Provide students with a hands-on experience, exposing them to basic engineering principles and issues such as time-to-market, design-to-cost, and achieving customer requirements.
2) Provide mentors consisting of engineering/technical professionals, teachers, and parents to GUIDE students in understanding the engineering process, project management/schedules, teaming concepts, research methods, design brainstorming, technical marketing, technical writing and public speaking. Mentors only provide guidance; students must perform all of the work.
3) Reach at least 400 students in Travis and surrounding counties.
4) Achieve at least 25% participation from female students.
5) Achieve at least 25% participation from minority and low income students
Please provide your organization’s mission statement:
Boosting Engineering Science and Technology (BEST) is a non-profit, volunteer organization whose mission is to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering, science, and technology through participation in a sports-like, science- and engineering-based robotics competition
Current funding amount request:$15,000
Please list any past support Freescale has provided:
Year2007 Amount$15,000 Year2008 Amount$15,000
If previously funded, have you submitted a final report for the funded event? Yes No
Additional Information Required: [PLEASE SUBMIT APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS WITH THIS REQUEST]
1. Evidence of tax-exempt status (copy of 501 ( c) 3
2. A copy of your organization’s annual financial statement showing operational efficiency including sources of income, expenditures and a statement of assets
3. Your current Board of Directors
4. Sponsorship levels (including current request)
5. Notification deadlines for sponsorship approval, print or advertising collateral, etc.
Overall Scope of Program/Event
Program/event: 2009 Capitol BEST Robotics Contest
Event date:Kickoff, Sep 12, 2009; Contest Day, Oct 24, 2009
Event location:Kickoff - TBA, Contest Day - Westlake HS
How many people are expected to participate in this event?400+ students, 40+ educators, 40+ mentors, 40+ event staff volunteers
How will requested funding be applied to this event?The funding will be used in the following ways:
- Purchase of kits for participating teams.
A single returnable kit is provided to every team competing in the contest. This funding will allow us to replace older equipment and restock used parts where necessary. Each team also receives a consumable kit of miscellaneous construction materials and hardware; the full cost of consummable kits is spent each year since these items are expendable. For reference, a full kit cost (returnable + consummable) is about $750 per team.
- Feld construction costs
The contest cannot be provided without a playing field. Each year a game committee designs a playing field complete with detailed construction drawings. Typically, volunteers from the Capitol BEST hub provide the labor to cut all materials and construct the field per the drawings. Funding would be used to purchase all of the construction materials necessary. The field Bill of Materials is typically less than $1500. Capitol BEST has also been selected to design the BEST game for 2010. The majority of this effort will occur in 2009. Additional funding is required to build & evaluate portions of the field and evaluate various game pieces related to this 2010 game development.
- Student/team recognition through awards/trophies
Capitol BEST recognizes and awards its winning teams with various trophies/plaques/medals to recognize their accomplishments and provide students with a tangible item to reflect upon, reminding them of their experience, and inspiring them to pursue a technical career. We had 5 teams advance to the regional contest in 2008.
- Preparation expenses for the Practice Days and Contest Day events
Event preparation expenses include items such as transportation of materials/equipment, venue charges, setup costs, rental equipment costs, volunteer lunch & recognition, etc
What percentage of this funding will go to administrative costs (vs. direct impact)? Less than 3% of the total budget typically goes toward administrative costs like postage/shipping, web hosting, and office supplies.
How many people will be affected by this funding? 400-450 students and 100-150 adults
What is this proposed line-item budget for this program/event?
Budgeted Item Budget
2010 Game Development $ 5,000
AV/Computer/IT/Software $ 750
Awards $ 2,000
BRI Board Meetings $ 200
BEST Robotics License Fee $ 2,000
Business Operations (office supplies, postage, telephone, web) $ 850
Board/Committee/Staff $ 400
Community Events (K12 Expo, FreshStart, Career Fair, etc.) $ 200
Community Outreach Program* $ 10,000
Contest Day $ 3,000
Field Construction $ 1,200
Kickoff Day $ 500
Kits – Consummables ($200 * 20 teams) $ 5,000
Kits – Returnables (new + maintenance) $ 2,720
Mall Day / Maker Faire Day $ 500
Printing $ 1,000
Promotional $ 500
Prototype Design $ 250
Storage $ 2,200
Annual BEST Conference (mainly travel to Auburn University) $ 1,000
Test Drive $ 250
Texas BEST Regional $ 500
Transportation $ 1,000
Volunteer Recognition $ 600
Restore Cash Reserves (2008 Loss)** $ 5,000
TOTAL $ 41,620.00
*The Community Outreach program will only be funded if the additional $10,000 can be raised. This will give additional community awareness to Capitol BEST and our top sponsors via local radio. We will include and recognize Freescale for their continued support as part of this program; we are not asking Freescale to contribute any additional funding for this purpose but to simply maintain the Premeir sponsorship ($15,000) level. The funding for this program is being solicited from other sources.
**We operated at a loss in 2008. So our cash reserves were diminished by $5,700. These reserves are important for us to maintain effective operations throughout the year. We desire to restore these cash reserves so that we can continue to operate at break-even.
Although our official budget is larger than in 2008, we have cut several items back this year to make room for the 2010 Game Development effort and the understanding of the tighter economic conditions. Without the Community Outreach Program, which will simply be delayed if funds cannot be raised, we will be at $31,620; very close to our typical annual budget of ~$30,000. And that includes expanding from 24 to 28 teams this year along with the 2010 Game development (a one-time cost). Our intent in designing the 2010 game is to showcase Austin in celebration of our 10th anniversary.
Collaboration
Does the program provide opportunities to collaborate with other organizations? Yes No
If yes, please describe opportunities and potential partners: Yes, there are opportunities for other organizations to participate through team mentoring and event staffing. We seek out other organizations with similar goals and initiatives to find volunteers that are excited about working with students, to provide educational opportunities, and to promote community outreach. We have on-going relationships with the Williamson County Humane Society, the UT Robotics and Automation Society, the National Society of Black Engineers, Skillpoint Alliance workforce development teams, Austin Community College and Texas State University. We are continually pursuing ways to collaborate with other non-profits that is beneficial to both organizations.
To your knowledge, are any Freescale employees involved with your organization? Yes No
If yes, please provide names and/or contact information:Judy Albright, Chris Alger, Joe Brown, Ken Burch, Sonny Diaz, Kelvin Ge, Kevin Grant, Bennett Joiner, Joel Knight, Marc Mangrum, Wesley Ng, William Polanco, Sam Stephens, Nitin Vig, Greg Young
Are there opportunities for Freescale employees to volunteer for this specific program/event? Yes No
If yes, please explain: Freescale employees may volunteer in three different ways:
- through participation on the executive committee (year round planning),
- through mentoring of a school team (6-9 weeks in the Fall), and/or
- through participation on the event staff (1-2 day commitment, Saturdays in the Fall).
Community Impact
How will Freescale be recognized for this support? (Please provide specific details):
Yes, Freescale will be recognized on the Capitol BEST website and all printed materials at all events. Freescale will be recognized as the Premier Level sponsor for a $15,000.00 contribution. A company-provided banner will be hung at events, a company-provided advertisement will be included in the contest program, and an appreciation plaque will be awarded upon conclusion of the 2009 program. Freescale representatives are also encouraged to participate in the awards ceremony.
We are also trying something new this year with a community outreach program. In addition to our usual ways to provide community viability for our sponsors at our major events, we are also working with the Emmis Radio Austin broadcast group to mention our top sponsors at the beginning and end of a series of Capitol BEST ads to be aired on Austin radio stations KLBJ-AM and 101X-FM as well as their streaming audio web sites. Emmis will also be providing on-site DJs at the head-to-head competition with several station call-ins from the event.
Please list any additional sponsors committed to supporting this project?
Central Texas Technology & Engineering Executive Council, Houghton-Mifflen Publishers, Dell Computer
Thank you for contacting Freescale. Please return this application or direct any questions to:
Ø (Americas)
Ø (Asia Pacific and Japan)
Ø (Europe, Middle East, and Africa)
We will review and respond to your application as soon as possible.
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