Chartwells K12 To Offer Free Foundational Education Opportunities, Powered by Guild Education
Chartwells K12 is serving up something great for its associates. The company, a provider of dining programs for schools across the United States, recently confirmed the launch of a fully-funded foundational education benefit program for its associates, who are known as School Lunch Heroes. Guild Education, the leading education and upskilling platform designed the program to allow its associates to advance their education and career opportunities.
Chartwells K12 pays 100% of tuition for a wide range of foundational educational programs through high-quality learning providers curated by Guild Education. Belinda Oakley, the CEO of Chartwells K12, says, “We are committed to helping our associates achieve their goals, and being part of the Chartwells family means there are incredible career paths, not just jobs.”
More than 16,000 Chartwells K12 associates work in 4,500 schools across the United States. The workers are on a mission every day to ensure students leave their school cafeteria better than when they walked in. They accomplish this by dishing up the food kids enjoy eating and also creating custom dining programs in schools that range from massive public institutions to small private and charter institutions, with a focus on delicious taste as well as nutrition, wellness, and sustainability. Custom dining experiences in 2022 include Grown On Your Own, featuring fresh produce from local farms; Culture Cuisine, which celebrates a world of flavors; and Let’s Go Retro, which puts a more nutritious spin on classic lunch favorites like grilled cheese and sloppy Joes.
“Every day, our team serves millions of kids in thousands of schools across the country,” says Oakley. “Because of this, we have incredible insights on what kids like to eat. Not only does it help us shape school menus, but it encourages even more students to eat in the cafeteria, which recent research confirms is the healthiest place Americans are eating.”
A Look at the Program, Powered by Guild Education
The programs provided by Guild Education will be available to almost all of the front-line associates. It doesn’t matter if an employee has been there one day or for decades; they’re entitled to the foundational educational benefits, which include digital literacy courses, high school completion programs, and career prep and soft skills certificates.
“The benefits available through our new partnership with Guild Education build on our existing opportunities to help everyone on the front line continue their education in a way that is right for them,” says Oakley.
The Appeal of Self-Paced, Online Programs
“Learning is one of our core values and this is another opportunity where we can make a difference by investing in those who invest so much of themselves into the communities we serve across the country,” explains Oakley.
The program Guild Education created for Chartwells K12 associates is excellent for working adults to achieve their educational dreams since all of the courses are self-paced, online, and have been created with employees’ needs in mind. “Associates can earn their certificate or high school diploma while working,” says a Chartwells K12 spokesperson. One of the most appealing aspects of the program is that associates have access to one-on-one coaching services to help guide their educational journey so they can achieve their goals.
How Empowering Associates Can Help Kids
According to a study from the Journal of American Medical Association, schools are now the healthiest place Americans eat. “Knowing that many of our students get the best meal of their day at school, our entire goal is to make sure they leave the cafeteria happier and healthier than they came in by creating goods and experiences they love,” says chef Peter Gilhooly, Chartwells K12’s culinary vice president. “This list was curated by our research and input from students.”
The free foundational education program provided by Guild Education is one of the many ways that Chartwells K12 strives to empower associates. They also offer expert on-site management teams backed by extensive regional resources and resources for creating fun and successful programs.
Guild Education’s Partnerships Understand the Importance of Upskilling
Rachel Carlson, the CEO, and co-founder of Guild Education, said Guild is “on a mission to unlock opportunity through education and upskilling for America’s workforce, with a double bottom-line business model that does well by doing good. Our industry-leading technology platform allows the nation’s largest employers — including Walmart, Target, Waste Management Inc., and Chipotle — to offer strategic education and upskilling to their employees, connecting them to a learning ecosystem of the nation’s best universities and learning providers, with tuition paid by the company.”
Carlson continued, “Our payments and technology platform, curated learning marketplace, and advanced education and career coaching come together to help working adult learners advance in their education and career debt-free while helping companies improve talent acquisition, retention, development, and internal mobility, and also support their critical diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.”