Volkswagen Launches Driver Safety Program

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Volkswagen and Scholastic have teamed up for a second year to promote “Fasten Your Seat Belt ... Go Far!," an in-school education campaign that encourages teens to buckle up in an effort to reduce the number one killer of American teenagers – car crashes.

More than 5,500 teens lose their lives in car crashes every year and about two thirds of these teens would have survived if they had used safety belts. “Fasten Your Seat Belt ... Go Far! utilizes an educational videotape and provides teachers with lesson plans and materials to teach students about using safety belts. Students are then invited to participate in a contest to create TV ads or PSAs that will convince their fellow teens to buckle up.

The three most effective ads will then be broadcast on national television and winners will recieve a digital video camera and U.S. savings bonds. Additionally, Volkswagen has produced a new educational video on teenage seat-belt safety that will be distributed to its employees and dealers nationwide to share with teens and their families and communities.

Minority Scholars Win $200K in Scholarships

Congratulations to Nissa Benjamin (Mirimar, FL), Ashlee Garrett (Lake Worth, TX), Eba Hamid (Oxford, Miss), Rachel Luna (Hercules, CA), and Toluse Olorunnipa (Tallahassee, Fl) for winning $40,000 each in academic scholarships and internships from Knight Ridder.

For nearly two decades, the Knight Ridder Minority Scholars Program, the first of its kind in the newspaper industry and still the largest, awards five outstanding high school seniors who aspire to careers in newspaper and online publishing.

The five winners will be honored by the Knight Ridder Board of Directors at a dinner in San Jose in early May. They will also receive awards from their sponsoring newspapers, where they begin internships this summer.

Morehouse College Wins the Ultimate Challenge

Good Work Morehouse College. Congratulations goes out to them for winning the National Champion title of the 15th Annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge. As champions, Morehouse College takes home a $50,000 grant, while runner-up University of Maryland Eastern Shore wins a $25,000 grant.

Honda Campus All-Star Challenge was established by American Honda Motor Company in 1989. Since its inception, approximately 50,000 HBCU students have taken part in this prestigious program and nearly $3.5 million in grants have been awarded to the schools.

RadioShack Educates Teens on How to Protect Themselves

Radioshack launched a nationwide campaign geared towards teens called RadioShack Take Your StreetSentz All the Way to Hollywood Contest in cooperation with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

High school students will create scripts and storyboards for a 30-second Public Service Announcement (PSA) on how kids can protect themselves from abduction, exploitation and violence. The winner will win $5,000 and be flown to Los Angeles where they will work with the producers from HBO’s Project Greenlight, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris Moore to produce the 30-second spot.

The student’ teacher will win $2,000 and the school will win $1,000. To enter the contest, students can download entry forms at www.streetsentz.com. Entries are due April 29, 2004.

Marriott partners with USDA and Minority Farmers

Marriott will work with the USDA to identify minority farmers in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern states that will benefit from opportunities to provide products to the hospitality industry.

In addition, Marriott will provide training, technical assistance and mentoring to these identified farmers, facilitating the introduction and purchase of quality food products into the hospitality distribution systems.

Marriott International, the first hospitality company in the world to establish a formal supplier diversity program, today spends more than $150 million a year with over 10,000 minority and women-owned businesses.

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