Target Scholarships
Corporate Responsibility Programs Heavy on Education
Target may well have its finger on the pulse of the visual marketing business. With savvy manipulation of its signature target symbol, the company has defined itself as a smart, affordable retail outlet without the "outlet" feel. Target Corporation is anything but new or a flash-in-the-pan business. It’s been almost 45 years since the first Target opened its doors in Minnesota, an offshoot of the very popular Dayton’s department stores.
Since then the Dayton Hudson Corporation has traded in its name for the Target name and has continued its march across America, rapidly adding Target and Super Target stores and attracting a legion of fans to its over 1300 stores.
Any large corporation that thrives on the muscle and energy of millions of employees incorporates community programs into its business model. Without it big business goes adrift in criticism for lack of the "pay if forward" attitude that won it success and wealth.
Target Corporate Responsibility
Corporate responsibility, philanthropy, community responsiveness, whatever you’d like to call it, Target supports programs across a range of realms: education, arts, social services and volunteerism. Community giving is measured in the millions each week.
Target All-Around Scholarships provide multi-millions of dollars in educational funding each year. Candidates may be undergraduate college students or graduating high school seniors. The emphasis on these awards is community involvement. This is the leading criterion upon which awards are based: how heavily invested students have been in their communities and service oriented extracurricular activities. Besides this expectation, scholars are also required to demonstrate excellent academic skills.
Community Education Beyond Scholarships
But the corporation does much more for community education than these scholarships. In fact Target continues to adjust its focus to make sure K-12 programs and teachers get the attention they need, so students are prepared by the time they get to college. The area most targeted is literacy and reading. From the Target Book Club program to Family Reading Night, the emphasis is on adults and children doing something together. The United Through Reading Program is uniquely designed to allow military moms and dads overseas the chance to "connect" with their kids through specially produced videotapes that can be used for bedtime story time.
