Chamber targets character education

His name is Character Ed.

Ed is the mascot for the chamber’s new character education program, with a mission to promote in youth – and Springfield’s future work force – the best of human virtues. The chamber plans to roll out the program, featuring a new character word each month, at the end of summer.

The program came as the result of meetings with the chamber’s Committee for Education and Workforce Solutions more than two years ago. The committee was asked what they thought their businesses needed in order to be successful. Becky Spain, the chamber’s work force and business development manager, said she was surprised by the results of the survey.

“We thought they’d come back with a set of skills, like better math skills or better communication,” she said. “Instead they came back and said it doesn’t matter what skills they bring into the workplace. If they don’t have those basic foundational characteristics of virtue and value, they won’t be successful.”

Commerce Bank is among more than 200 businesses involved in the program.

“One of the things that we see that needs improvement is instilling values in our future work force,” said Commerce Regional President Bob Hammerschmidt. “It’s one of those big picture issues. As the tide rises, it floats all ships.”

Part of the allure of the program is that it involves all aspects of the community, according to City Utilities Human Resources Director Lisa Turner.

“From schools to the faith-based community to the business community, it involves Springfield as a whole, and I think that’s a big advantage in getting everyone on the same page,” she said. “We’re going to be building awareness together – which also says a lot about the community as a whole.”

The Springfield community is charged with choosing 12 character words from a list of 24 on the program’s Web site, www.characteredspringfield.com. The program will introduce a new character word each month, starting in September, in Springfield schools, area businesses, churches and civic organizations, ensuring that children get exposure from many different sources about the topic.

The program kicks off with an Aug. 23 event at Hammons Field.

Hammerschmidt said strong values are integral in banking.

“In our business, integrity is everything,” he said. “If we have someone who’s not focused on integrity and (doesn’t deal) with people in a straightforward manner with a high degree of integrity, we’re out of business. It’s very important to create a work force that will give us people with those values.”

The chamber looked at similar programs in schools around the country to get ideas for the program but also wanted to be unique.

“What we wanted to do is a little bit different in that we feel everybody in our community plays a role in developing character; it’s not just the school’s responsibility,” Spain said. “What we wanted to do is a communitywide character education initiative.”