CHALLENGE
Sue and Randy Yocum, a husband and wife team, sought to create fun, engaging hands-on activity kits and educational materials to increase successful student learning outcomes. Their company, Empower Education Connections, develops compelling alternative educational materials without involving electronics, screens, or devices — rooted in one guiding principle: What’s best for kids? Empower’s kits aim to build K-12 skills in literacy, math, science, and more, and are overwhelmingly teacher-approved. The couple turned to RR Donnelley for answers.
The Yocum’s innovations have essentially disrupted the industry while remaining compliant with Common Core State Standards. Since launching in 2008, Sue and Randy have witnessed their exceptionally effective kits build confidence and, ultimately, empower students. At one school, Empower’s learning materials are credited for increasing math proficiency from 6% to 59% in just two years. To date, Empower has served over 1.7 million students and 68,000 teachers and educators with their materials, and has helped hundreds of schools move from failing or near failing to above average.
As Empower grew, producing kits became laborious and challenging. Fulfillment was all manual — from collating and packing to assembly and delivery for multiple versions. A lack of print technology, equipment, and warehousing space prevented additional growth.
Engaging with a strategic partner for support became necessary to continue scaling their programming. Since so much of their effort is poured into redeveloping curriculum and engaging with classrooms, it became difficult for Empower’s small team to reach a wider market. But as Sue says, “These products are lifesavers; it’s never a hard sell.”
Sue and Randy became worried about meeting deadlines and making enough learning kits for students. The persistent operational hurdles in production eventually led the couple to seek a printing and logistics partner.
RR DONNELLEY SOLUTION
RR Donnelley (RRD) quickly worked with Sue and Randy to identify ways to expand production bandwidth. “RRD revolutionized our processes. This collaboration is historically the smartest thing we have done,” Sue shared. In RRD, Sue and Randy found resources they didn’t even know existed. RRD not only introduced them to more functional packaging and printing capabilities, but also understood their passions and gave them peace of mind.
The RRD team ideated and deployed pragmatic solutions for streamlined printing. For example, RRD suggested changing the standard sheet size and printing materials in their logical sequence to save time. RRD then subsequently cut, collated, and wrapped kit components more efficiently. The result was an organized set of materials produced in an order that matched the curriculum content. This new workflow removed the need for manual picking and sorting.
Additionally, a print-on-demand solution largely reduced warehousing needs, which was previously unimaginable for the team. With RRD’s partnership, Empower is now equipped to attain accurate inventory goals and even scale for their clients as needed. 
RRD also introduced creative new kit packaging, providing a cost-effective yet professional image to match Empower’s purposeful pursuits. They went from compiling kits in expensive plastic tubs to delivering custom boxes that were less costly and more appealing. “RRD was instrumental in getting us new packaging that launched us to a whole new level. We have the most phenomenal, customized packaging — when the outside is made with care, you know the product inside matches that same level of quality,” said Randy.
“With kids’ best interests at heart, RRD made us a partner for life. RRD truly cares about us, and we felt it from the beginning,” Sue shared. “Our products were made better — and to be more useful and more purposeful in the classroom. We know we have the best quality possible with the best partner in the world. We feel we can create anything we want.”
Looking to the future, Empower and RRD plan to introduce these superior learning-centered materials to superintendents, principals, and other academic decision-makers to make an even greater difference for K-12 learners.
RESULTS
Throughout their 12-year partnership, RRD and Empower have achieved the following results:
- Streamlined production by 90% by replacing manual processes with efficient printing and packaging solutions
- Produced 25,000 kits over two years
- Reduced warehousing expenses with print-on-demand solution
- Enhanced brand identity with customized packaging
- Poised the company to scale production as needed
