At Ashland, our commitment to quality education is longstanding. We recognize the role education plays in developing a vital economy and the ways in which society as a whole benefits. Each year, approximately half of our contributions target education-related activities. Our support covers a wide range of quality education and lifelong learning projects, programs and partnerships, such as those you'll find below.

The Kentucky Teacher Achievement Awards Program
In 2001, Ashland Inc. began a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education to annually honor exemplary teachers throughout the Commonwealth. To meet the winners for 2010, click here.

Teachers worldwide can benefit from classroom experiences of past Teacher Achievement Award winners, as they share their favorite lesson plans and offer some of their "recipes" for self-esteem.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA)
Ashland helps some of America's at-risk children reach their full potential through BBBSA, the world's oldest and largest mentoring program. Through our BBBSA partnership, we encourage employee participation on local boards, we recruit employee volunteers, we participate in fundraisers, and we make contribute financially at local and national levels. Ashland employees serve as school mentors and as "bigs" to the "littles" in our communities. These relationships enable young people to gain a better sense of self and a more positive view of the future.

School Partnerships
As a supporter of the Newspapers in Education (NIE) program, Ashland supports Kentucky, New Jersey and Ohio newspaper publishers' efforts to combat illiteracy by providing newspapers as teaching aids for classroom use.

Through corporate and individual support of Junior Achievement (JA), Ashland helps assure tomorrow's leaders are equipped to succeed in a global marketplace by inspiring young people to value free enterprise, business and economics. Ashland employees serve on JA boards and devote their time and expertise to teaching JA principles in the classroom.