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Businesses Buck Trend

Businesses Buck Trend

Published 03-28-02

Submitted by Center for Corporate Citizenship

Chestnut Hill, Mass. -Traditionally, corporate involvement with low-income communities has followed the ups and downs of the economy - a hefty check to an inner-city nonprofit during good times, a smaller check - or none at all - when profits are down.

Several corporations have taken a more enduring approach, digging deep into under-served areas to bring business opportunities to those who need it most while strengthening their own bottom line.

"Companies that link business development with community development create economic and quality of life improvements while generating returns to their own business," said Janet Boguslaw, Ph.D., senior research associate for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. "By merging business and societal goals, these companies are creating long term, sustainable collaborations that go well beyond corporate giving."

Boguslaw and Steve Rochlin, director of Research and Policy Development at the Boston College Center, are the chief researchers of a two-year study of corporate involvement in low-income communities. The study, Business and Community Development: Aligning Corporate Performance with Community Economic Development to Achieve Win-Win Impacts, was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation and released earlier this month by The Center for Corporate Citizenship. It draws from interviews with 70 corporations and focuses closely on several companies that have overcome major obstacles to launch initiatives such as:

- JP. Morgan Chase’s supermarket lending program, which supports independent owner-operators’ growth in low income communities while producing performing loans for the bank.

- AMD’s workforce development initiative, which is easing its shortage of qualified technicians by creating a homegrown workforce from an untapped labor pool - local minorities and low-income adults and youth.

- Cisco’s Networking Academy Program, which utilizes a web-based curriculum to train and certify students in the U.S. and across the globe for networking careers.

- SAFECO Corporation’s Urban Initiatives strategy, which uses cross-functional teams to work with local community development organizations to identify and address community needs and create business opportunities and jobs.

- Texas Instruments’ Minority- and Women-owned Business Development program, which relies in part on a mentoring strategy where TI executives and quality management leaders work with minority- and women-owned suppliers to advise them on process and management improvements.

"These examples show the power of business to affect positive change," said Center Executive Director Bradley K. Googins, Ph.D. "The release of this report couldn’t be more timely given the current state of the economy and the need among Americans to see their business institutions as not only having economic value, but as valuing the welfare of society."

"Our findings show it’s not an ‘either-or’ situation," added Rochlin. "The trick is for companies to manage this activity like any other part of the business. There are well defined principles and strategies that businesses can follow to create these successful initiatives."

The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, part of the Carroll School of Management, provides research, executive education, consultation and convenings on issues of corporate citizenship. The Center has more than 300 corporate members across the globe.

For more information, or for a copy of Business and Community Development: Aligning Corporate Performance with Community Economic Development to Achieve Win-Win Impacts, please contact Cheryl Kiser at 617-552-8948; or kiserch@bc.edu. You can also visit our web site at www.bc.edu/corporatecitizenship.

Center for Corporate Citizenship

Center for Corporate Citizenship

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