At just seventeen years of age, Hugo works every day at the Johnson Space Center configuring the computers that run experiments on board NASA’s Space Shuttles, while Ivonne manipulates Geographic Information Systems at El Paso Corporation to help manage large gas pipelines, and Theresa provides accounting services in the corporate headquarters of Dynegy. It sure doesn't sound like we're talking about high school students, much less students who live in some of Houston's lowest-income neighborhoods. But we are, and they do. These young professionals are part of the innovative Genesys Works program and are well on their way to a successful future.
Genesys Works is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that enables inner-city high school students to break through barriers and discover through meaningful work experience that they can succeed as professionals in the corporate world.
Students enter the program during the summer prior to their senior year. After 8 intensive weeks of training, students are assigned to work at one of our clients, half time, during their senior year.
The training is designed to arm students with the knowledge they need to provide value to corporations in either information technology (PC support), engineering drafting or accounting/finance departments. Furthermore, students are trained on the professional skills needed (such as communications and corporate behavior) to enter and succeed in corporate environments. From the first day they walk into our facilities, which are located in the downtown business districts of the cities we serve, the students are exposed to a culture of high expectations and professionalism.
Throughout the program, students realize first-hand that they can thrive in a corporate environment and that pursing a professional career can help them achieve a much higher standard of living than they are accustomed to. With this knowledge and continuous guidance from the Genesys Works staff, they significantly redefine their long term goals and set plans to pursue them. In fact, over 95 percent of Genesys Works graduates enroll into college immediately after high school. Most are the first in their family to do so.
The key to Genesys Works’ success is its win-win model: companies benefit from reliable, motivated and cost-effective resources while students get to experience a life-changing opportunity. Furthermore, our corporate clients regularly report that the morale in their department increases as their full-time employees have the opportunity to focus on higher-level activities, obtain supervisory experience, and significantly impact a young life.
Our clients include most of the Fortune 500 companies in Houston (El Paso, Exxon, Continental Airlines, Reliant Energy, Kinder Morgan, United Space Alliance, etc.). And, in our first year in the Twin Cities area, several of the largest corporations in region have joined our team (3M corporation, Travelers Insurance, Ecolab, Land-O’Lakes, Bremer Bank, Deluxe Corp., etc.)
In addition, the Genesys Works model is a leading example of nonprofit self-sustainability and has received national attention because of it. Over 80 percent of the program’s expenses are paid for with the earned income received from the provision of services to corporations. With its model, Genesys Works has found a way to change the lives of students and provide a valued service to corporations while not utilizing any tax dollars. Genesys Works does, however, rely on financial contributions from foundations and individuals in order to grow, serve more young people, and provide critical support programs like the “College Connection” Program.
See first-hand the effect of Genesys Works by watching our own students speak about their experience:
Gain hope as you see LaWanda Turner go from being a Katrina victim that ended up in Houston against her will to now taking control of her life and working as an IT professional in the 61st floor of a corporate tower “taller than any building back home”.
Smile as you see Jesus Reyes speak about his struggles becoming a professional in Genesys Works, including getting rid of the hair style he “was passionate about”, to now working in one of the largest and most prestigious architectural firms in Houston.
Be moved by Cynthia Sanchez, as she describes making her transition from a drug-infested crowd to gaining tremendous confidence in herself by working for a multi-billion dollar company. Hear her also relate how she discovered how good it feels to help others less fortunate by participating in our “Community Works” outreach program.
History of Genesys Works
While serving as a board member of a Houston charter school and working as a corporate strategist for Compaq Computer Corporation, Rafael Alvarez attended a high school graduation ceremony that changed his perspective in life. He asked many of the students what their next step was after graduation, only to hear that most of them planned to continue in their dead-end, low-wage jobs. These students had great potential but lacked the skills, the confidence and the realization that they could enter and compete in the corporate job market.
Alvarez knew that if these students were provided with the right training and support, along with the opportunity to experience the professional workplace with a real-world, demanding and meaningful job, that they would succeed in life. That realization led Mr. Alvarez to quit his job at the computer maker and create Genesys Works (originally called Genesys ITS, Inc.) in April of 2002.
The first couple of years were tough. For its inaugural class, Genesys Works admitted 10 students, of which only 3 made it through the training and got placed in jobs. Thankfully, all three of our first students ended up going to college. The second year provided new and ongoing challenges. By the third year in operation, the program’s unique model proved successful at preparing students to meet the challenges of a changing workforce and began gaining local and national attention.
In 2005 the organization received its first major recognition by the Houston CIO Executive Summit by its innovation and service to the CIO community. In 2007, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers recognized Genesys Works with its National Johnson & Johnson Medal for the Engineering/Drafting program. In December of 2007, Houston PBS aired for the first time the documentary film “Breaking Through” based on the potential that the Genesys Works model has to transform the education system. In 2008, Genesys Works participated in the international Changemakers Competition: “Young Men at Risk”, where it became one of only 14 finalists out of 362 entries from 39 countries. In 2006 Rafael Alvarez was inducted into the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship that recognizes the most innovative social entrepreneurs around the world.
In 2008 Genesys Works reached a major milestone with the opening of its first expansion site in St. Paul, Minnesota. With the successful establishment of the Twin Cities site, Genesys Works proved that the model is geographically scalable and has plans to continue its national expansion into other major U.S. cities starting in 2010.
The ultimate success of Genesys Works, however, is not measured by the number of sites or the number of students it serves directly. Rather, Genesys Works hopes to serve as a catalyst for major education reform and will consider its mission accomplished when it is able to change the culture in inner-city schools to one in which the pursuit of a professional career becomes “the given” for all students. For more about our long-term vision click here.
