Partners in Learning, Coast-to-Coast
Goldman Sachs Volunteers Join Citizen Schools To Educate Youth

As Vice President of Investment Management for Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, Frank Ghali is used to challenges. Then his wife, a teacher, said he should try her job on for size. "She said that despite all the hours I put in, I would have trouble (teaching), because I'm not good at explaining things," he recalls.

He went looking for chances to hone his explanatory skills among Goldman Sachs' many volunteer programs. He soon found the perfect opportunity to get involved, through a partnership forged by his colleagues across the country with Citizen Schools. Over the next 11 weeks, he would take on his wife's challenge as a Citizen Teacher after school at the McKinley Institute of Technology-making a difference in the lives of middle-school students and changing the way he engages with his company and his community.

To find out how your company can participate in Citizen Schools programs, or to teach an apprenticeship yourself, click here.

Citizen Schools brings members of the community, including professionals and businesses, into direct involvement with the education of middle school students. But Frank's story with Citizen Schools really began months earlier. In Boston in 2005, a Vice President of Private Wealth Management for Goldman Sachs named Jon Bordeau had an inspiration. He saw what a powerful impact the after-school apprenticeship program was having in his city and looked for a way to get involved. The result was a day of community service, one of Goldman Sachs' TeamWorks Days, in which a dozen volunteers from the financial services firm's Boston office cleaned up two schools in the Harbor Point neighborhood, side by side with 40 students.  

Jon's vision was contagious, and soon he was recruiting his colleagues all over the country to teach finance to young people through hands-on apprenticeships. Craig Smith, all the way in Houston, saw Jon's enthusiasm and volunteered to go to a nearby middle school one afternoon a week to teach an apprenticeship he called "More Than Money." Citizen Schools enabled Craig to share his real-world knowledge with young people in a hands-on way. Now, thanks to Citizen Schools' widening reach, other volunteers are teaching Craig's curriculum to students in Boston and Redwood City, CA.

When Jon spread the word to California's regional Goldman Sachs office, Frank Ghali was there, ready to share what he knew and loved. "Frank really wanted to introduce students to what he is passionate about," remembers Jane Choi, then campus director of Citizen Schools at the McKinley. A staff of trained educators worked with him to customize a curriculum that connected his expertise with hands-on learning techniques, like games about spending, saving and investing. Frank was hooked. "I think I'll miss the students more than they'll miss me!" he laughs.

Over the semester, apprentices apply their newfound knowledge toward projects that give back to the community. Frank's students advised "clients" in a real board room. Now, Frank is a true Citizen Schools champion. In tribute to his forebear Jon Bordeau, he organized a California TeamWorks Day -- one of four such events that Goldman Sachs held with Citizen Schools across the country -- to clean up the Presidio with students and co-workers, sparking more interest among his co-workers. "I'll continue my efforts next year to help get other folks involved," he promises.

As powerful as it is to see young people motivated about learning, for volunteers like Frank it's also satisfying for the challenge -- and the fun. "We do business with enthusiasm" at Goldman Sachs, he says, "and we like to think the organizations we work with approach their jobs in the same way." This spring, Goldman Sachs as an organization answered the commitment of volunteers like Frank, Jon and Craig by stepping up its commitment. The firm will contribute $500,000 to Citizen Schools in order to strengthen its after-school programming for 8 th graders across the country. Now many more people, from Goldman Sachs and in other organizations all over the United States, will be able to take on the challenges -- and rewards -- of hands-on education.

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