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Lori Blaker President and CEO of TTi Global Lends Support to the “Women of Tomorrow” Mentoring Program
Lori Blaker runs an international company that spans twenty-five countries in six continents, yet each month she makes time to mentor a group of at-risk young women in Detroit. Blaker is a mentor in the highly successful Women of Tomorrow program.
p class="releaseDateline">Rochester Hills, MI (PRWEB) November 16, 2012Last year the program expanded to Detroit and drew support from some of the most successful women in the region. Lori Blaker is certainly one of them. This past year alone her company gained numerous recognition including; Corp Magazine’s Bright Spot Award, Women Presidents Organization (WPO) Fastest growing company and made the Inc.5000 list for the second year in a row.
Despite the responsibilities of running a global company that employs nearly 1500 people, Blaker makes a substantial commitment to community service. “I was drawn into this program by two highly successful women, Florine Marks of Weight Watchers and Laurie Cunnington of Ward Williston Oil Company. Their involvement in this wonderful program inspired my participation. The program is making a real difference in the lives of many young women.”
The program was started 15 years ago by Emmy Award Winning television reporter and former Detroiter Jennifer Valoppi, she truly wanted to help other women succeed especially young women who were significantly at risk. Today over 350 high-powered professional and executive women have joined her cause. The Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program empowers at-risk young women and challenges them to live up to their full potential through a unique mentoring and scholarship program.
The program prepares participants for success by combining monthly group mentoring sessions over three or four years with career-focused field trips and scholarship opportunities. The program works to build their self-esteem and exposes them to a wide range of professional possibilities. Of the over 3,500 graduates nearly 1,200 girls have received scholarships totaling more than $3.2 million.
Women of Tomorrow has proven so successful due to its partnership with public school districts. The schools select at-risk girls for participation based on a broad definition of "at-risk" including low income, abuse, disability, likelihood of dropping out of high school, becoming involved in gangs, drugs, criminal activity, pregnancy or academic, social, behavioral, medical and other risk factors. The participants have a 92 percent graduation rate, and over 90 percent of participants pursue higher education after completing the program. Nearly half of the program’s participants are the first in their families to graduate from high school.
“The group mentoring gives girls the opportunity to form a community with the girls who are trying to turn their lives around,” states Blaker “The power of the program lies in the fact that a support system is provided. Soon the girls begin to visualize a better life for themselves, they realize they are not alone in facing hardships and that some of the most successful people have lived through immense adversity.”
Founder Jennifer Valoppi has seen the program’s effects ripple through the girls’ families and communities. “One of the things that I’m always amazed by is not only the impact we have on the girls, but the unintended consequences that the program has on their family members, friends and kids who aren’t even in the program” said Valoppi, “showing them that there are people out there who care about them, these are lessons that they will carry through, not only the rest of their lives, but that they will share with everyone else.”
In 2001, Women of Tomorrow received a grant from the Knight Foundation allowing the program into Detroit.
TTi Global is a Rochester Hills Michigan company offering full-service instructional systems, training, research and consulting services. The headquarters controls satellite locations in France, Germany, Russia and Spain along with offices in Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Thailand, United Kingdom and Venezuela.
TTi Global is an international leader offering complete resource personnel and instruction systems TTi offers worldwide full-service training, research and consulting services.