about Sound Business, Inc.

A New York City Original

Sound Business, Inc. (SBI) is an independent, not-for-profit education services corporation that offers high potential, publicly educated New York City high school students an opportunity to prepare themselves for the pursuit of professional careers. Sound Business, Inc. works with educators, parents/guardians, community groups, and business leaders to develop and implement extra-curricular studies which complement rigorous academic programs.  SBI extra-curricular studies address the attitudinal, socio-cultural, and informational needs of students who must be prepared to assume a broad range of societal leadership roles in the future.

Many students targeted by SBI, do, in fact, excel in the public school system yet they often do not have the opportunity to acquire the kind of skills and information necessary to make informed and realistic choices about career direction, vocation, and goal-setting as they approach high school graduation and contemplate college and beyond.  Sound Business, Inc.’s diverse programs, currently serving students at A. Philip Randolph Campus High School in west Harlem, enable students to supplement their rigorous academic curriculum with co-curricular and extra-curricular workshops, seminars, special events, training sessions, internships, and mentoring opportunities.

Sound Business, Inc. is the result of a long-term vision of holistic education translated into action by its Founder and President, Charles R. Thompson.  In the late 1980s, Thompson, then the director of the Musicians’ Advisory Service, Ltd. (MAS), partnered with the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, known nationally and internationally for its innovative community programs and outreach.  Together, they formed RPM - Recording, Production, and Management Institute - an educational program designed to create employment opportunities “behind-the-scenes” in the entertainment industry, for college students of color from West Harlem’s Morningside Heights neighborhood.  Thompson’s association with the recording industry, along with foundation support and the alliance with the Cathedral, helped to make this idea of youth empowerment a reality.

Moving from the Cathedral to the “fiscal umbrella” of the Citizen’s Committee for New York City, RPM gradually became an independent venture through Thompson’s energetic leadership.  As RPM’s recognition increased, links to the corporate world grew, resulting in funding contributions from Anheuser Busch Companies, BMG Entertainment, BPI Communications, Chase, Morgan Guaranty, New York Times Foundation, Polygram Holding, Inc., Sony Music Entertainment, Time, Inc., and others.  During this period, SBI’s focus moved from targeting college students to targeting publicly educated high school students, many of whom came from the city’s most socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

To generate student interest, RPM’s after-school program at Randolph, launched during the Spring of 1991, focused initially on careers in the music entertainment industry, but its offerings soon expanded to a wide range of career fields including law, engineering, medicine, and finance.  Following a name-change to Sound Business, Inc. (reflecting both the organization’s grounded educational approach and its historical link to the examination of music entertainment industry issues), SBI successfully recruited over 100 NYC business executives and professionals to serve as “Career Prep” volunteers: teaching, coaching, and counseling students about everything from interviewing techniques to the demystification of Corporate America.  In SBI seminars, workshops, and classes, students hear directly from industry leaders what it takes to successfully launch a professional career in the corporate world.  Students devote their lunch hours, free periods, and time before and after school,  exploring career options, learning networking strategies, and applying for internships and summer employment.  Four different SBI “tracks” address the career aspirations of Randolph students, freshman through senior year, stressing accountability, goal-setting, and skill training - the hallmarks of SBI’s programs.

Too often in America, only young people from our society’s affluent socio-economic communities receive the kind of education needed to prepare academically and socio-culturally to truly understand and realize the rewards and responsibilities of being a citizen of this great Nation.  To that end, SBI brings the elements of a “finishing school” to the public school it serves.  It is that environment in combination with an academically rigorous curriculum (as is offered at Randolph) which can foster systemic societal change through education.

SBI Executive Director, Charles Thompson, notes that many of our urban problems impact heavily upon the lives of working class people who are often not equipped either to contribute to, or to effect change in, the system.  Establishing SBI’s programs in public schools where working class youth receive their education can thus provide them with the skills needed to initiate significant change to their own lives and in the world around them.

States Thompson, “Education, organization, and mobilization - these make up the core of our mission.  We must raise people up by building diverse communities and partnerships that support a holistic vision of public education.  We must equip and empower young leaders of tomorrow.  We must respond not only to economic disadvantage but to impoverishment of the mind and the spirit.  This is the work of Sound Business, Inc. - enabling young people, irrespective of race, ethnicity, or background, to take their place in the professional world of the 21st century and to assume leadership roles at all levels of our society."

For questions or requests please contact: info@soundbusiness.org