Sands’ Education Initiatives Aim to Build the Workforce of the Future

As the 2022-2023 school year winds down, Sands is culminating another round of expansive educational support in its communities around the world, which included more than $2.6 million invested in educational initiatives across its regions in 2022.

Education is one of the company’s five core priorities under the Community pillar of its global corporate responsibility program. Sands’ educational efforts center on empowering youth to achieve success during their formative school-age years to create pathways to higher education and the job market, especially by expanding educational opportunities for underrepresented populations.

Spearheaded through the Sands Cares global community engagement program, education initiatives span three primary focus areas: supporting mentorship and skills development programs for students, especially at-risk youth and people with special needs; assisting in providing educational resources to close gaps in access to knowledge and learning tools; and expanding and improving academic infrastructure to advance educational systems.

While the company’s focus on education is universal across all regions, each region has specific needs and challenges. As such, Sands’ education initiatives are customized by community according to local objectives.

Mentorship and Skills Development

During the past year, Marina Bay Sands continued working with CARE Singapore, an organization committed to help vulnerable young people find direction, hope and success. Marina Bay Sands and CARE Singapore established a youth mentorship program in 2021, and Team Members guided local students through important milestones during the 2022–2023 school year, lending perspectives beyond the classroom. Since 2021, mentors have impacted more than 90 students.

Marina Bay Sands Team Members also have volunteered with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore School, which serves students ages seven to 18 with moderate to severe disabilities. During an eight-week program this past year, Marina Bay Sands volunteers helped facilitate co-curricular programs in the areas of drama, photography and other disciplines by providing administrative support and assisting with activities to reduce teacher workloads and enhance the student experience.

At the corporate level, Sands made a three-year cumulative $150,000 commitment to the National Hispanic Institute (NHI) for the launch of its youth leadership development program in Las Vegas. NHI welcomed a first group of 22 high school students for participation in its 2022 summer curriculum, and more than 60 students have signed up for the 2023 summer program. The Sands Cares underwriting has enabled NHI to build a volunteer alliance for program implementation and is providing program scholarships for selected Las Vegas students.

Educational Resources

In 2022, Sands China contributed funding to establish a primary school in Xiushui County of Jiangxi Province. Sands China also has donated to the Bosco Youth Service Network since 2018 to facilitate tutoring services for students with special educational needs. In addition, the company provided $134,000 to higher education institutions, which was distributed among 108 students for their academic studies. Sands China’s contributions have supported nearly 1,600 higher education students since 2006.

Academic Infrastructure

In fall 2022, one of Sands’ major initiatives at the corporate level culminated with the opening of the Young Women’s Leadership Academy (YWLA) in East Las Vegas. Sands played a pivotal role in bringing the public charter school for girls in grades six through 12 to the community. YWLA’s aim is to improve access to high-quality, college-centric education for underserved youth and empower girls to achieve academic success through science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) education.

YWLA opened for the 2022–2023 school year with capacity enrollment in grades six to nine and will expand by two additional grades every year until full build-out of a sixth through 12th-grade program is complete. Sands supported the school’s opening with executive guidance and consulting, as well as funding for facility development, furniture purchases, technology access and other school equipment.

In 2022, Sands also completed the final year of the InspirED Global Fellowship with Nevada Succeeds. Funded by Sands, the two-year fellowship engaged 32 Nevada teachers, administrators and specialists in two cohorts for an intensive, eight-month program to develop policy insights for designing the next evolution of public education in Nevada. Findings and outcomes gathered through the fellowship have been incorporated into the Nevada Department of Education’s Portrait of a Nevada Learner, an initiative that is intended to define educational success and redefine the mindsets, skills and knowledge necessary for students to thrive.

To learn more about Sands’ education initiatives, read the 2022 ESG Report here: https://www.sands.com/2022-environmental-social-and-governance-report/