Who's going to hire a person who can't read or who doesn't understand how the world works? Through educational programs, these companies are giving kids a chance

WINNER
City Hotel: Montage Laguna Beach

Contrary to popular belief, not every family in California's Orange County lives in a mansion—and not all of the local schools can afford the nearby Ocean Institute's award-winning science programs. That's why the Montage Laguna Beach hotel's employee-driven outreach effort, Hearts of Montage, sponsors kids like four-year-old Shanti Nunn (who attends a Boys & Girls Club preschool for low-income families) to go on Ocean Institute field trips, where they can peer through microscopes and even spot sea lions by boat. "Shanti got to touch marine life," says her mother, Natalie. "Now she makes sure nobody leaves trash on the beach." Hearts of Montage has donated $45,000 for marine and language education in the local school district and more than $20,000 to arts programs at the Boys & Girls Club. Travel tip: Take a behind-the-scenes tour of the Santa Ana Zoo—to meet the zookeepers and see how the animals are fed, cleaned, and exercised—courtesy of Montage Laguna, one of the zoo's benefactors (montagelagunabeach.com).

RUNNER-UP
Chain Hotel: Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts Last year, this hotel group launched the Seedlings program, which supports at-risk teens living near dozens of its Asian resorts and spas. The kids are matched with volunteer mentors from the resorts (who are trained at the University of Wales), and they can apply for scholarships (banyantree.com).

HONORABLE MENTIONS IN EDUCATION

Airline: Lufthansa
Lufthansa donates the German newspapers and magazines from its planes to 40 Oregon schools and universities for their language classes (lufthansa.com).

Cruise Line: Disney
The cruise line runs a three-year environmental-education program for elementary classes in the Cayman Islands; the winning class receives a field trip on board the Disney Magic (disneycruise.com).

Large Resort: Phinda Private Game Reserve
Phinda, in South Africa, has constructed more than 90 new classrooms, renovated many others, built 3 libraries and a science lab, and provided playground equipment, toys, school supplies, and more than 150,000 books to local schools (ccafrica.com).

Small Resort: Nkwichi Lodge
This remote safari lodge in Mozambique has constructed and refurbished primary schools in 7 nearby villages, providing a better learning environment for 800 children (mandawilderness.org).

Tour Operator: Abercrombie & Kent
This tour operator's foundation—Friends of Conservation, which supports a variety of environmental and social causes—opened a school for 600 children in Tanzania and has funded environmental learning centers and conservation clubs in 50 Masai schools in Kenya so that students can learn to admire and protect their natural surroundings (abercrombiekent.com).