Diageo Commended for Corporate Citizenship Excellence
Learning for Life programme wins 2015 Western Hemisphere Corporate Citizenship Award
LONDON, 09 October 2015 /3BL Media/- Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business, has been commended for corporate citizenship excellence, being awarded the 2015 Western Hemisphere Corporate Citizenship Award by The Association of American Chambers Of Commerce in Latin America (AACCLA).
A global leader in beverage alcohol, Diageo won the award for its Learning for Life programme. The initiative provides vocational and life skills for disadvantaged young people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean as well as in the U.S. where members of local multicultural communities and unemployed veterans number among graduates. Ultimately, the goal is to enable participants to gain employment within the hospitality, bartending and restaurant, tourism, retailing, and agriculture sectors.
Launched in 2008, the programme aims to inspire and transform the lives of people throughout the different communities in which Diageo operates. With a focus on adult education, it is implemented in partnership with local education, government and training organisations.
Janelle Prieto, Skills and Empowerment Manager for the Learning for Life programme comments: “We have a responsibility to ensure that our people, suppliers, communities and society at large all thrive as a result of our business. Our Learning for Life programme forms part of this ethos and makes an important contribution to developing skills across North America, Latin America, Europe and more recently in Africa.”
The Western Hemisphere Corporate Citizenship Award goes to companies, trade associations, or American Chambers of Commerce with exemplary models of social and civic leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean. The goal of this award is to better share information, best practices, and to acknowledge innovative ways to “tell the story” of the private sector’s role in the region.
Learning for Life also forms an integral part of Diageo’s overarching sustainable development strategy, which aims to empower women through skills development, transform sustainable agriculture through entrepreneurship skills aimed at protecting natural resources, turn participants into responsible drinking ambassadors, as well as continue to shape the future of local communities through ongoing training and digital education.
Prieto continues: “Education creates a ripple effect that positively impacts thousands of individuals, families, communities and ultimately, society as a whole and Learning for Life has so far trained over 100,000 students throughout the Americas and the Caribbean, across 40 countries with more than ninety programmes.”
By ensuring work opportunities for at least 70 percent of participants upon completing the training, through Learning for Life Diageo supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of achieving employment and decent work for all.
In 2010 Diageo launched a Learning Skills for Life program in the USVI, which is home to the company’s Captain Morgan rum brand. The program is comprised of Diageo USVI Project Culinary ™ on St. Croix and Diageo USVI Project Bartender ™ on St. Thomas.
Diageo launched a U.S. version of the program, called Learning Skills for Life here, in April 2014 in Norwalk, CT, where the company’s North American headquarters is located. The program expanded into Houston, TX this year in partnership with the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. Diageo’s Learning Skills for Life program is a great example of collaboration across the industry, including Diageo’s distributors, the liquor commissions in the relevant states, and the United States Bartenders’ Guild.
The 7th Learning Skills for Life cohort in Norwalk and 2nd in Houston will graduate next month, and so far the program has a 98% graduation rate and an 84% placement rate. Participants include unemployed and underemployed women and men, particularly those in local multicultural communities and, especially in Houston, unemployed veterans. Graduates have secured jobs in restaurants, bars and hotels, primarily as bartenders and servers and are valued for their skills and their understanding of how to serve responsibly.
The next U.S. cohorts will start in January in both Norwalk and Houston. In spring 2016, the program will expand to Washington, DC and Chicago, IL. Interested candidates should contact Sherone Mullings at Sherone.mullings@diageo.com.
About Diageo
Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Bulleit and Buchanan’s whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray, Guinness, and Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines.
Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO). For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com. Visit Diageo’s global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice.
Follow us on Twitter for news and information about Diageo North America: @Diageo_NA.
Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.
For more information please contact:
Alix Dunn – alix.dunn@diageo.com
