With the most votes in the Chicago Region, LIFT-Chicago has placed first, receiving $35,000. LIFT-Boston, placing second in its region has received $15,000. The funds will be used to provide much needed services to community members in Chicago and Boston who come to LIFT seeking assistance with find jobs, securing safe and stable housing, and much more.
The below news release, issued by Starbucks, contains more on their nation wide community efforts during the month of April.
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Starbucks Thanks Customers and Partners for Taking Action in More Than 700,000 Ways to Help Communities Thrive
April Programs Resulted in More than 230,000 Hours of Community Service, Donations to Help Create Jobs and the Distribution of $4 Million to Nonprofits across America
Starbucks infographic highlighting April Community Campaign – more than 700,000 individual acts added up to significant impact in more than 34 countries around the world. (Graphic: Business Wire)
Starbucks partners and customers worked together during a Global Month of Service project in Detroit, MI to deconstruct abandoned homes in the Northwest Detroit neighborhood and create a large urban farm. (Photo: Business Wire)
SEATTLE, May 30, 2012 – This April, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) celebrated the dedication to community shown by its customers and partners (employees) all year long by inviting them to participate in three innovative community programs that were designed to personalize individual involvement and create real change at the local level:
- The second annual Global Month of Service provided individuals the opportunity to participate in more than 2,000 hands-on service projects, contributing more than 230,000 hours of service to local communities around the world
- Vote.Give.Grow empowered customers and partners in the U.S. to vote online to help allocate $4 million amongst 124 local NGOs
- The ongoing Create Jobs for USA program raised funds to help create and sustain jobs throughout the United States
In an effort that spanned 34 countries, 2,157 service projects and 1,120 nonprofit organizations, Starbucks customers and partners created significant global impact from Beijing to Berlin to Nashville and everywhere in between. Taking action across these three programs, participants demonstrated that many individual acts add up to a significant impact. Together, partners and customers contributed more than 700,000 unique acts that made a difference around the world during the month of April.
“We offer our heartfelt thanks to the thousands of customers and partners who took an active role in helping to address the unique needs of their communities through these programs. We are truly inspired by their contributions,” said Cecilia Carter, Vice President of Global Diversity, Community and Government Affairs, Starbucks Coffee Company. “These accomplishments are a powerful reminder of how we, as a company, are committed to using our scale to give back in innovative and impactful ways. This year’s April community campaign was designed to spotlight and celebrate the great work our customers and partners do all year long, and to demonstrate that working together, we can drive real positive change.”
Global Month of Service Projects
Across the globe, in 34 countries across five continents, volunteers rolled up their sleeves to build urban gardens, paint schools, reinvigorate areas devastated by floods, tornados and tsunamis, and otherwise address the unique needs of their local neighborhoods. During Starbucks second Global Month of Service, partners led successful service projects, from Bangkok to Boston, by working with local nonprofit organizations to select volunteer opportunities that were relevant and important to their community. By collaborating with well-respected nonprofits around the world, including Hands On Network and City Year in the U.S., Fundacion Mi Parque in Santiago, Chile and Oasis in the United Kingdom, Starbucks is able to amplify the positive impact of service projects with unique collaborations between the public and private sector that drive and sustain change at the local level.
The results from this year’s month of service surpassed last year’s participation with 50 percent more projects around the globe. The more than 50,000 participants this year also contributed 45 percent more hours of meaningful service in their communities.
For example:
- Partners in Virginia rallied around the homeless in their community by forming Project Dominic, a local nonprofit working to renew hope and dignity and help those in need by gathering and delivering basic daily necessities (soap, deodorant, toothpaste, socks, gloves) to people living in untraditional housing such as tents, cars, or on the street.
- 120 volunteers worked together to make a Boston area orphanage feel more like home by cleaning and painting dorm rooms and common areas used by at-risk youth in foster care.
- In Detroit, more than 250 volunteers worked with Motor City Blight Busters to deconstruct abandoned homes and used the space to create a large urban farm to help feed the community.
- Nashville was devastated by floods two years ago, and the rebuilding in the city continues to this day. To do their part, 500 partners and customers worked together to turn a water-soaked field into a produce-rich farm.
- More than 100 Starbucks partners and customers worked with Casa Zezinho to paint classrooms, landscape grounds and otherwise improve the learning environment for 1,200 students at a local school in a low-income Sao Paolo neighborhood.
- 270 Starbucks partners and customers planted trees and flowers and recycled coffee grounds to help make the Seoul Forest Park beautiful and more eco-friendly.
- To help local youth, 140 London volunteers worked with Oasis to improve the learning environment at the school and positively impact the local community. They also led workshops to teach students important skills like resume writing, interviewing and conducting a job search.
- 342 volunteers in Phoenix hit a home run for kids in need at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix by laying down sod on the new I.G. Homes Branch baseball field and helping the 54 year old facility shine.
- More than 400 Starbucks partners and their families from across China gathered in Beijing to work side-by-side to restore local community parks and teach residents of the Hujialou North community how to be more environmentally aware and incorporate “green living” tips in their every day lives.
Vote.Give.Grow.
This past April, the Starbucks Foundation earmarked $4 million for nonprofits throughout the U.S. and asked partners and customers to help distribute those funds among 124 nonprofits including national organizations Donors Choose and Opportunity Finance Network®, as well as local nonprofits in their communities. Any registered My Starbucks Rewards™ Card member was invited to cast their vote online each week throughout the month. More than 100,000 people voted online at votegivegrow.com to help designate the funding to one of the four selected nonprofits in their community, and the size of each grant was determined by the total votes cast online through the month.
Across the country voters determined the top grant awardees, including:
- Hope Communities, Denver, CO: Demonstrating that every person and every vote counts, Hope Communities was the top grant recipient in Denver, winning by just one vote to receive a $25,000 grant. Hope Communities has helped thousands of people by providing affordable rental housing to low-income Denver families for 32 years. In addition, Hope provides classes and programs to assist these families, especially the children, to improve and stabilize their lives. By assisting families to become more self-sufficient and productive citizens Hope families are set on a course to have better lives, feel better about themselves and ultimately break the cycle of poverty.
- DonorsChoose.org, California: Indicating a key need in the state, DonorsChoose.org was by far the largest vote recipient throughout California, garnering more than twice the number of votes received by the other organizations. The online organization makes it easy to help classrooms in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America post requests, and individuals can give any amount to the ones that inspire them. Schools throughout California will receive funding to support classroom projects as a result of the $50,000 grant from Vote.Give.Grow.
- YouthBuild Boston, Boston, MA: With a focus on vocational and academic training programs, YouthBuild Boston teaches essential life and career skills for young people in Boston looking to improve the trajectory of their lives. As the top voted organization in Boston, YouthBuild will receive a $25,000 grant to help them continue their work in strengthening youth and rebuilding communities.
- LIFT, Chicago, IL: LIFT is revolutionizing how we fight poverty in the United States. In Chicago, LIFT operates resource centers where hundreds of volunteer advocates work one-on-one with low income community members to find jobs, secure safe and stable housing, help make ends meet through public benefits and tax credits, and obtain quality referrals for services like childcare and healthcare. Simultaneously, the LIFT civic engagement experience pushes volunteers to grapple with Chicago’s most challenging issues related to poverty, race, inequality, and policy. With the most votes in that market, LIFT-Chicago will receive $35,000.
While the top-ranking organizations in each program geography received the largest grants, all 124 participating nonprofits received funding from the Starbucks Foundation. All grants will be distributed to the awardees by June 15, 2012 so that they can continue to help their communities with important programs.
Create Jobs for USA
April was a landmark month for the Create Jobs for USA program launched by Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) in November of 2011 to help create and sustain jobs across the country. Google Offers and Banana Republic were the first national brands to add their support to the program, introducing a special Google Offer and Banana Republic shopping event that engaged their customers and helped raise additional donations for this innovative initiative enabling Americans to help Americans get back to work. Combined with the $5 million in seed money from the Starbucks Foundation as well as the ongoing donations made from concerned citizens across the country at participating Starbucks stores and on the www.createjobsforUSA.org website, the Create Jobs for USA Fund has raised and distributed more than $10 million since the program’s inception. Because community lenders are able to leverage this capital to secure additional financing – on average, at seven times the donation amount – these donations could total up to $70 million in lending to community businesses focused on creating and sustaining jobs in underserved neighborhoods. Based on conservative forecasting models developed by OFN with input from independent economists, this lending is expected to help create or sustain more than 3,300 jobs at a time when national unemployment has remained above eight percent for the past three years.
Anyone can show their support by donating $5 at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations or by visiting www.createjobsforUSA.org. For a $5 donation or more, donors will receive an ‘Indivisible’ wristband to show their support – more than 550,000 wristbands have been distributed thus far. Concerned citizens may also support Create Jobs for USA by texting “JOBS” to 80888 for a $5 donation. Donations by text will not receive a wristband, and a 50 cent transaction fee will be deducted.
To demonstrate the impact of this year’s April community campaign and to further thank those involved, Starbucks has created an infographic that highlights how the more than 700,000 individual acts added up to significant impact in more than 34 countries around the world.
About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting the highest quality arabica coffee in the world. Today, with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit us in our stores or online at starbucks.com.
Please visit starbucks.com/community for more information about Starbucks commitment to helping communities thrive.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50294045&lang=en
Starbucks Coffee Company
Starbucks Media Relations, 206-318-7100
[email protected]