Positive Change

Another one of our Ideas that Matter winners are Mai Kobori, Eulani Labay, Amy Findeiss from Parsons, The New School for Design. They worked with Blank Plate to create their Trainer’s Playbook, which is a toolkit and workbook that incorporates Blank Plate’s 10-week culinary design curriculum, empowering community leaders to become facilitators.

At Olive Garden, our team members serve as the faces of our brand and ambassadors of our core values. They make an impression on every guest who walks through our front doors, delivering great food, an engaging atmosphere and unmatched service. We are strong and successful because of our people, each with diverse talents and backgrounds, who respect each other and enjoy working side by side to serve our guests and communities.

The U.S. News and World Report ranks the University of California (UC) Berkeley as #1 on its list of Top Public Schools in America. They take graduation rates, academic reputation, alumni giving rate, and more into consideration. In my opinion, a commitment to public service can positively influence all these factors. And UC Berkeley is no stranger to public service.

Before joining Norfolk Southern in 1999, Stephen Young had never been involved in community volunteer work. Now, Young, manager intermodal equipment, is a fixture with the Norfolk Thoroughbred Volunteers. He has twice earned Volunteer of the Year award for most volunteer hours and has chaired the group for the past year.

As a part of its series of volunteer events across its network, CSX hosted a day of service at Mt. Herman Exceptional Student Center, part of Duval County Public Schools, in Jacksonville, Fla. on Saturday, November 5. CSX employees gathered with school leaders and teachers, along with the company’s national service partners City Year and Action for Healthy Kids, to complete projects to make the school cleaner and greener, and encourage physical activity among students.

In this era of sparring bipartisan political agendas and unapologetic mudslinging among campaigning rivals, it can be challenging not to get sucked into a downward spiral of negativity each time you turn on the news or read your feed.

Helping children move from foster care to permanent homes is a challenge in the United States. Many children age out of the system without ever having found a loving adoptive family. Aging out without the support of a loving family can have negative consequences on a person’s future. The Dave Thomas Foundation is working to connect more foster children with the families they deserve.

All children deserve loving, permanent homes. That is the motivation behind the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s celebration of National Adoption Month -- a nationwide campaign that focuses on foster care adoption.

Last summer, I had the privilege of interning with Walmart’s pricing strategy team. Growing up I had always heard Walmart’s mission: Help people save money so they can live better. It always seemed honest and real, but I wondered if it was really true.

Last year, Millennials surpassed Gen Xers as the largest generation in the workforce. They are our managers of today and our executives of tomorrow – and they're changing the face of employee engagement.

We are pleased to share our newly-released 2016 Cone Communications Millennial Employee Engagement Study, a deep-dive into the expectations, attitudes and motivations of Millennials in the workforce. The study reveals that meaningful engagement around CSR is a business – and bottom line –imperative, impacting a company's ability to appeal to, retain and inspire Millennial talent.