Corporate Communications High School Pipeline Program (CCP)

 

 

The Corporate Communications High School Pipeline Program (CCP) is an equity initiative that satisfies the School’s commitment to community-engagement and our Jesuit values. At its core, the CCP Program provides college access to the deserving students with strong academic backgrounds who come from underrepresented communities. The program functions to create a college pipeline to business education for NYC students who are attending a community serving Catholic high schools, or public school that Fordham University recognizes as a community school. The success of this initiative has hinged on the Gabelli School’s ability to foster collaboration between key stakeholders like the Admissions Office, Center for Community Engaged Learning, GSB - DEI Office, GSB Alumni, and our pipeline schools.

What is the Corporate Communications High School Pipeline Program

As a pilot, the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University began a partnership with Cardinal Hayes High School in 2018 to funnel more diverse applicants into the University’s admissions and recruitment process. Students in the program were exposed to the various business disciplines (i.e., finance, marketing, operations, strategy, and etc.) in the classroom. As a capstone project, program participants later use knowledge about the business disciplines to complete a consulting pitch proposal for a Fortune 500 company centered around corporate DEI strategies. The program ends with a pitch proposal competition judged by practitioners in the field. The program has expanded to include boys and girls as we strive to achieve more equity in our pipeline. A new cohort of girls and boys will participate in the program beginning Fall ’20. There were 12 participants in 2018, 5 of whom are currently matriculating at Fordham University and are scheduled to graduate spring 2024.

Since the pilot, the program has expanded to include boys and girls, as well as high schools outside of the Bronx, as we strive to achieve more equity in our pipeline.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Corporate Communications Program is to provide NYC high schools with access to a rigorous business curriculum at the Gabelli School of Business. This will be achieved by empowering GSB students to coach corporate pitch proposals for community student teams. We are committed to stimulating academic, cultural, and social growth among all of our student participants.

What high school students gain from participating in the CCP Program. 

High school students who participate in the program are exposed to high-level collegiate business curriculum through instruction by Gabelli School faculty, and one-on-one mentoring from GSB students. 

Corporate partners from Wall Street and Big Four accounting firms deliver guest lectures and sometimes panel discussions and field trips to students so that they have real exposure to the industry. 

Fordham University students, through the EDGE Program, help to provide college access support in the following areas: college essay writing, test-prep, specific subject tutorials, and collegiate communications (emails, LinkedIn profiles, etc.). 

What Gabelli School students gain from participating in the CCP Program. 

As a Jesuit institution, the Gabelli School is governed by the following principles: Cura Personalis. Discernment. Finding God in all things. Magis. Reflection. Service rooted in justice and love. Solidarity and kinship. This program is foremost an opportunity to add to our Jesuit ethos by giving current students an opportunity to live these principles out in ways that serve the community that surrounds Fordham University. 

Through the CCP Program, GSB students reinforce the learning from their courses by teaching high school students to understand complex business curriculum. Also, through teaching and coaching the high school students our Rams are becoming much more persuasive leaders and communicators. 

All of the students who participate in the CCP Program get the opportunity to create deep relationships across differences which is critical diversity, equity, and inclusion work. 

Gabelli School students who participate in the program receive one community engaged learning credit hour on their transcripts for each semester they participate. 

High school students will have to complete the following capstone project. 

Each team of high school students will be assigned a Fortune 500 company case example. Each case has been carefully selected to ensure that the organization/firm in question has had a recent and highly visible public relations crisis related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Over the course of the program, teams work with Gabelli School faculty and students to identify solutions that address the company’s public image and stakeholder harm. The solutions must also address the financial implications of the public relations crisis. 

A copious amount of the curriculum in the CCP Program is dedicated to communications education. In addition to getting some foundational understanding in marketing, corporate strategy, operations, and finance, students are also introduced to the technical means of persuasion by way of Aristotle's principles of rhetoric. Each student team will receive live public speaking coaching to enhance their countenance, vocal production, tonality, and communications efficacy. 

The program ends with a pitch proposal competition where students have to address a large room of their peers, high school faculty, Fordham University administrators, students, faculty and staff, as well as industry leaders and alumni. Cash book scholarship prizes are given to the first, second and third place winning teams.

Academic Year 2022-2023 Community Partner Schools