TJX has long been committed to helping unlock educational opportunities for at-risk youth and vulnerable young people to help them reach their full potential. Over the years, our efforts have focused on quality enrichment and extracurricular programs that provide skills, resources, and opportunities to support school and career success in the hopes of helping to create a brighter future for children, teens, and young adults. In Fiscal 2023, we worked with a variety of organizations and funded education and workforce training opportunities that impacted more than 3 million young people.

T.J. Maxx celebrated our 38th year of sponsorship of Save the Children U.S. in Fiscal 2023. Since 1984, T.J. Maxx has proudly supported Save the Children U.S. through programs addressing early education, literacy, and health to help improve the lives of children and families in need. T.J. Maxx's relationship began with sponsorship of children who participate in Save the Children's national education programs. Over the years, the relationship has grown to include an annual in-store fundraising campaign, sales of co-branded reusable bags, and programming to support women's empowerment and caregiver education.

At Sierra, we want the outdoors to be accessible to everyone, so we provide support through grants to nonprofits that help children get outdoors. Nationally, we partner with KABOOM! to support programs that are committed to providing safe places for all children to play and Open Outdoors for Kids, a National Parks Foundation program that creates opportunities for children to explore nature. In Fiscal 2023, Sierra partnered with KABOOM! to build a new playground in Akron, Ohio, near the site of a new Sierra store. This playground started with a vision from local children in the area to fix an old playground that was installed in 1989 and in critical need of replacement. This new park is open to the public and serves over 450 children in the area. This is the third playground built in partnership with KABOOM!, our first being near our global home office in Framingham, MA.

We have a long history of working with underserved youth in cities around the U.S. to help teach them job readiness skills and expose them to career paths in retail. In Fiscal 2023, we continued to support Junior Achievement, a national provider of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy skills for young people. Their goal is to give young people the tools they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. TJX Associates have the opportunity to volunteer in Junior Achievement programs. Additionally, we partnered with a number of nonprofits this year, including The Posse Foundation, Bottom Line, Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, and UNCF (United Negro College Fund), to support their work in connecting high-school and college students to internship and early career opportunities at TJX.

Through TJX Canada's Find Your Stride initiative, we endeavor to provide access to education and job training for women preparing for the workforce, including work skills development, educational programs, and work placement, in addition to supporting some of their basic needs. Through partners like WoodGreen and Petites-Mains, TJX Associate volunteers have conducted training sessions, mock job interviews, and store tours to help build critical skills for program participants. To learn more about our partnerships and other ways TJX Canada's Find Your Stride initiative is supporting women, visit our Empowering Women section.

TJX Canada is also proud to partner with Indspire, which aims to enrich Canada through Indigenous education and by inspiring achievement. In partnership with Indigenous, public sector, and private sector stakeholders like us, Indspire strives to educate, connect, and invest in First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people to help them achieve their highest potential. Our donation will support several scholarships for high school and post-secondary Indigenous students.

In the U.K., TJX Europe engages with organizations that give young people access to broader educational opportunities with a goal of preparing them for employment opportunities. For many years, we have supported The Prince's Trust through their Achieve and Get Into programs. The Achieve program is a development course designed to help young people aged 11-19 who are at risk of underachieving at school boost their confidence, learn new skills, and collaborate with others. Since 2016, Homesense's support of the Achieve program has helped over 3,500 young people. Get Into Retail provides training, development, and employment opportunities for participants. As one of the largest partners of Get Into Retail, we are proud to have engaged with over 1,600 young people since the program began in 2013, with approximately 70% going on to accept jobs with us. In addition, our Loss Prevention team partners with The Prince's Trust to help young people create new futures for themselves through the Get Into Loss Prevention program and, in Fiscal 2023, we piloted a Get Into Distribution program at one of our processing centers.

TJX Europe also partners with Stowarzyszenie WIOSNA in Poland to support their Academy of the Future program to provide mentorship and skills development to disadvantaged children and young people. Since the beginning of our partnership with Stowarzyszenie WIOSNA in 2014, our efforts have helped nearly 4,500 children and young people. In Fiscal 2023, T.K. Maxx in Germany expanded our partnership to fund a pilot program to develop mentors in remote communities. Additionally, since 2010, TJX Europe has partnered with Children for a Better World to help children achieve their full potential through their Lunch Table programs. These programs take place at local child and youth welfare institutions, where children affected by poverty are empowered to expand their knowledge on nutrition, improve their life skills, and strengthen their self-esteem. Through our support, the program has reached over 9,000 children to date. In Fiscal 2023, we added support for Children for a Better World's Discoverer Activities program. This program helps children living in poverty connect with their peers while learning new skills.

At T.K. Maxx in Australia, we have partnered with The Smith Family, a national, independent children's education charity that for over 100 years has been working to help change the lives of children in need. In Fiscal 2023, T.K. Maxx raised funds for The Smith Family's Learning for Life program, which enabled The Smith Family to provide more than 400 Australian students in need with financial support for school essentials, personal support for the child and their family, and practical support through learning and mentoring programs for an entire year.

Making A Difference: The Gift of a Strong Start

Fiscal 2023 marked TJX's fifth year in the U.S. working with Jumpstart, an early education organization that provides programming to preschool children in underserved communities to ensure they enter kindergarten prepared to succeed.

Our Support Includes: