1998 - 1999 Winners

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.
A Pledge and a Promise: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Background

Since the founding of Anheuser-Busch in 1852, the company has rigorously upheld a tradition of highest quality in its products and services. It applies this quality standard globally to all aspects of its business, including environmental, health, and safety issues.

Program Overview

Employees in every Anheuser-Busch subsidiary have formed grassroots, cross-functional employee Environmental Quality Teams that address all environmental issues from solid waste to energy and water conservation. Highlights of their recommendations and efforts include:

Reduce—Waste Prevention

• Total solid waste to landfill was reduced 15 percent throughout the company.
• The company is the world's largest user of Bio-Energy Recovery Systems that significantly reduce the amount of wastewater sludge generated.
• Cans and glass bottles that hold Anheuser-Busch products have been made much lighter over the past 40 years, saving valuable raw materials and natural resources and producing less waste after products have been consumed.

Reuse

• Excess milled rice at Busch Agricultural Resources Inc. is donated to a senior citizens' program to feed the hungry.
• Pool water at SeaWorld parks is cleaned and reused continually. SeaWorld stage props, costumes, office equipment, and unclaimed lost-and-found items are sold to employees at reduced rates.
• Anheuser-Busch's Nutri-Turf subsidiary diverts brewery wastewater to cropland.

Recycle—Recycling and Composting

• Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation is the world's largest recycler of aluminum.
• An Anheuser-Busch brewery composted more than 27 million pounds of wastewater sludge into fertilizer in 1997.

BankBoston
Community Banking Group

Background

BankBoston Corporation is a registered bank holding company which, together with subsidiaries, operates a network of offices across the U.S. and has more than 100 offices in 23 countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The corporation's major banking subsidiaries are BankBoston N.A. and Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank. BankBoston's core values include Teamwork, Initiative, Integrity, and Diversity.

Program Overview

BankBoston's Community Banking Group has intensified its connection with the urban low-to-moderate income market and proven that the inner-city market can be served profitably by understanding, meeting, and respecting the needs, cultures, languages, and customs of its diverse populations. It provides the cornerstone of the bank's focused economic development initiative by targeting entire communities with its revitalization efforts. The bank's urban banking efforts began with the creation First Community Bank (FCB) in 1990. It has developed into a profitable 42-branch, 13-city "bank within a bank" with $1.6 billion in deposits. Customers include low-to-moderate income individuals and small businesses, particularly those owned by minorities and women. In addition to FCB's branch network, BankBoston's Community Banking Group (CBG) includes:

• a specialized FCB lending group;
• Developmental Real Estate;
• The Women's Entrepreneur's Connection; and
• BankBoston Development Company, a unique urban investment bank that provides innovative financing for small businesses.

Cascade Engineering
PHASES Work and Family System

Background

Cascade Engineering is a leading manufacturer and designer of injection-molded products and services for a variety of industries. Cascade Engineering, Inc. started as one company in Grand Rapids in 1973 and is now part of the global Cascade Engineering Family of Companies. Among their values, they list long term vitality, growth and security for employees and customers, and the opportunity to effect positive change in the community.

Program Overview

PHASES, an acronym for Providing Health Activities Safety Enrichment Services, assists employees in maintaining a balance between work and family at each life-cycle stage, while providing support for personal development and responsibility for community. It is a comprehensive system based on the employee life cycle. The program's most noted component is the Domestic Violence Awareness initiative, which is a joint effort of the Wellness Committee and Safety and Environmental Services at Cascade. Annual activities include managerial and employee training, a community speaker series, and a roundtable luncheon and discussion on the effects of domestic violence by volunteer employees who have been victims of domestic violence in the past. Other initiatives include:

• Parenting Empowering Network (PEN);
• Mother's Nursing Center;
• Cascade Assistance Program; and
• Computer Purchase Loan Program.

Seafirst Bank/Bank of America
Youth Job Program

Background

Seafirst believes that the best way to ensure a solid future for Washington, where it operates, is to support the state's young people. Its commitment to youth includes stay-in-school programs, programs that interest students in science and technology, and the Jammin' Hoops basketball camps.

Program Overview

Begun as a mayoral appeal to local businesses in the wake of the Los Angeles riots, the Youth Job Program is a comprehensive commitment providing jobs, mentors, and the promise of college scholarships to 300 youth in 15 cities throughout the Northwest, so far. Students receive:

• A committed "family" of caring adults;
• Well-paying jobs;
• A safe place to learn; and
• $10,000 college scholarships.

Participants are under-served youth from low-income families. Students are chosen with the help of area high school principals and counselors. The staff at the Youth Job Program maintains close relationships with school staff members in order to serve students in the most effective way.