In today's complex business environment, many corporate citizenship leaders are working strategically with their employee resource groups (ERGs). Also known as business network groups or affinity groups, these employee-led communities can foster a sense of inclusion and belonging, while sponsoring events and learning opportunities for people all throughout an organization.
Building on Legacy and Building Our Future
Insights from Monday Afternoon at #BCConf24
A second round of breakout sessions provided further opportunities for participants to customize their conference experience. Those invested in environmental strategy might walk The Path to Net Zero, while those whose jobs focus more on advancing equity might prefer a session given over to establishing mutual trust and respect with community involvement partnerships. Other sessions covered topics including ensuring corporate citizenship efforts are divided and prioritized across the organization, or creating a strategy for closing the digital divide that inhibits economic opportunity in communities and the workplace.
A Fifth Third Bank case study looked at the role of corporate citizenship in uplifting sustainable economic development through affordable housing solutions. Dr. Nancy Dunbar, Executive Advisor and Teaching Fellow at BCCCC, headed a workshop dedicated to strategies for improving CSR rhetoric and messaging.
One force for economic progress
Participants attended a mainstage general session by Bank of America on the importance of a coordinated effort by corporate citizenship professionals and community leaders to address inequalities across communities in pursuit of economic progress and social justice.
Kimelyn L. Harris, Chief Operating Officer, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, was joined in a panel discussion by Trevia Chatman, President, Bank of America Memphis, Dr. Michelle Taylor, Director for Health Services, Shelby County; Meka Egwuekwe, Executive Director, CodeCrew; Dr. Jamila Smith-Young, Memphis First Lady and Assistant Professor in Nursing, University of Tennessee.
“Our philanthropic model is slowly moving to not only trust-based but outcome-based. We at Bank of America have taken on third-party partners who are experts in the space of data,” said Harris. “This is a long game—it can take years to get the impact that we want.”
One of these partners is CodeCrew, a Memphis-based mentorship organization focused on outfitting members of underserved communities with the computer science knowledge needed to launch careers in software development.
“Bank of America understands that putting the trust in the leaders on the ground, giving them the resources that they need, and trusting them to deliver on the impact,” said Egwuekwe said. “We’re proud to be one of several that they’ve come to support across our region.”
The civil rights movement through the lens of collective identity
Before dinner, conference attendees were given the choice to wind down with a well-being session on the power of storytelling and self-care or a cocktail reception–and, of course, another chance to see the Duck March.
Attendees gathered in the ballroom for dinner and the final general session of the night: A speech by Dr. Russell Wigginton, President of the National Civil Rights Museum. Dr. Wigginton spoke about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, the importance of preserving it for future generations, and the nature of our collective identity.
“Nobody predicted that our society in 2024 would need us as badly as we were needed in 1968,” said Dr. Wigginton. “What we do at the National Civil Rights Museum is show you all the dimensions of the movement and our collective history beyond the civil rights movement. And we try to make it to where everybody can sort of slide in where they fit in and can get it. It doesn't matter if you studied it in college or you know nothing about it. We've got a spot for you.”
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