Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co. and its executive chairman Bill Ford today announced new initiatives to encourage younger employees to get involved in community service. The initiative will also award funding to community service projects identified by company employees.
“As we celebrate the incredible achievements of the Ford Volunteer Corps, we are looking to the future with innovative programs that further harness the power of our volunteers and build the next generation of community leaders,” Ford says.
Ford says one of the initiatives includes the “Bill Ford Better World Challenge,” a global grant that will award up to $500,000 to community service projects. The program, funded by Ford Motor Co. and Bill Ford, will work with the Ford Volunteer Corps, an initiative launched by Bill Ford in 2005 in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The project aims to give employee volunteers the opportunity to work with local groups where Ford does business and will focus on three categories: mobility, basic needs, and water-related issues. Funding is expected to be awarded by mid-2016.
The “Thirty Under 30” program will offer selected U.S. Ford employees under the age of 30 the opportunity to take a yearlong course on civic engagement and leadership skills focusing on philanthropy and volunteering. The program gets underway next year.
“I believe we must help younger generations become careful stewards of the world they are inheriting,” Ford says.
The Ford Volunteer Corps is a global network of 30,000 volunteers working on 1,600 projects across six continents.
