Yager presents Brown-Forman donation to Roane Alliance’s Education Matters!

Tennessee Sen. Ken Yager on Thursday announced a new partner for the continued funding of The Roane Alliance’s award-winning Education Matters! program. Yager presented a $5,000 check at the beginning of the Roane County Chamber of Commerce regular monthly board meeting.

Yager presented the check to Allen Lutz, education and workforce development specialist for the Roane Alliance, on behalf of Brown-Forman—the global, multi-billion dollar company that produces and markets Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey.

The Brown-Forman donation comes on the heels of the Alliance’s Education Matters! program receiving an international economic development award earlier this month. The Roane County program won a Gold Award for Excellence in Economic Development (category 25,000-200,000 population) from the International Economic Development Council at their annual conference in Philadelphia.

“Education is a funding priority of Brown-Forman,” Yager said, “and it is my pleasure to present this check to The Roane Alliance in support of Education Matters!, a program already making a huge impact on Roane County by significantly increasing the number of students going on to get post-secondary education.”

“The mission of Education Matters! is that every child in Roane County gets some post-secondary education—and does well at it,” Lutz said. “We greatly appreciate the investment Brown-Forman has made in the future of our community.”

Leslie Henderson, Alliance president and chief executive officer said: “We are very proud of this program and the impressive results it is already producing. This donation will help us keep it going. We are only halfway to our EM! fund drive goal and we hope many more companies both inside and outside our community will see the value, as Brown-Forman has, in helping us address this critically-important issue. We owe it to our kids and our businesses—as their future employers—to keep this program going.”

The programs included in the Education Matters! initiative includes awareness programs, Tennessee Scholars, the Annual High School Career Day, RoaneAchieves (part of the tnAchieves program), an internship initiative, Educators in the Workplace Lunch and Learn program, Teachers’ Supply Closet, and many more. Roane County Schools’ secondary supervisor said of the effect of the EM! programs: “Students are beginning to realize that a college degree is obtainable.”

The funding for The Roane Alliance’s Education Matters! initiative—a “Best Practice” program, according to the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce—was cut as of June 30 of this year. In addition to Brown-Forman, the newest “Founding Partner,” the following have committed $5,000 annually to keep EM! going: Roane State Community College, Tennessee College of Applied Technology—Harriman, Roane County United Way, The Roane Alliance, Roane County Chamber, Roane County Industrial Development Board, and the Roane County Public Schools. Other major donors include Volkswagen Group of America, First Bank of Tennessee, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Roane Metals/Roane Transportation.

For more information about the Education Matters! program, go to www.educationmatters2Roane.org.

Brown-Forman is a producer and marketer of many alcoholic beverage brands and is one of the 10 largest companies in the global wine and spirits industry. They produce and market some of the most well-known brands in the world, including Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort, Finlandia, Canadian Mist, Korbel, Gentleman Jack, and many more.

The Roane Alliance is Roane County’s economic development organization and consists of both public and private organizations, including the Roane County Chamber of Commerce, the Roane County Industrial Development Board, and the Roane County Visitors’ Bureau.