GE has been recognized as one of America’s top-10 most community-minded companies in The Civic 50 – a ranking of companies that best use their time, talent, and resources to improve the quality of life where they do business. The announcement was made by The National Conference on Citizenship and Points of Light, the nation’s definitive experts on civic engagement, in partnership with Bloomberg LP.
In Danbury, GE employees have contributed hundreds of hours to 750 GE Volunteer projects throughout their community. Statewide the volunteer hours surpass 10,000 hours.
"We are honored to be recognized for our employees’ commitment to improving the communities where they work and live,” said Dan Henson, president and CEO of GE Capital, Americas, based in Norwalk. “Our Norwalk, Stamford and Danbury employees volunteer their time and apply their professional skills to tackling some of the toughest local issues in health and education.”
One example in Connecticut has involved working with Community Health Centers (CHC), an independent, non-profit organization with a special commitment to the uninsured, underinsured, and special populations such as patients with HIV/AIDS.
“We have benefitted immensely from our relationship with GE,” said Daren Anderson, M.D., vice president and chief quality officer for CHC. “The expertise they have shared has allowed us to make real strides in improving the quality of care for our patients, who are some of the most vulnerable patients in Connecticut.”
GE Volunteer efforts with CHC have included extensive staff coaching and training in team building, human resource services, quality and change process management, organizing clothing and used sports-equipment drives, supporting community health days, and more. This effort is part of GE’s Developing Health initiative, providing grant funding and GE employee volunteer support to non-profit health centers across the U.S.
“I enjoy sharing my abilities and expertise with the CHC team,” said Doreen Bentson, a GE volunteer and certified six sigma professional. “I am proud to work for an organization that encourages me to share my skills with community organizations to fuel their success and help them meet their goals.”
In 2011, the GE family contributed more than $198 million to community and educational causes around the world, working with more than 3,500 community partners. GE employees gave 1.3 million volunteer hours to more than 6,000 company sponsored initiatives -- the equivalent of more than 600 full time employees at work for a year.
Companies recognized as part of the Civic 50 were evaluated on seven specific metrics: leadership, measurement and strategy, design, employee civic growth, community partnerships, cause alignment and transparency. Winning companies employed increasingly sophisticated tools to measure the impact of community engagement and alignment of these programs with their business’ core competencies.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. For more information, visit http://www.ge.com or http://www.ge-works.com/
