Company: Owens-Illinois, Inc.
Headquarters: Toledo, Ohio
Industry: Packaging
Company Size: Large (annual revenues of more than $250 million)

"Our support provides young people with opportunities to achieve their potential. At the same time, we are helping to build the foundation for a brighter future for our entire community."
                – Joseph H. Lemieux, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Objectives
To enhance its reputation as a dedicated corporate citizen, to encourage its employees to become more involved in the arts, and to enhance art education opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Process

• Owens-Illinois collaborates with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) to sponsor the Community Music Lesson, a program that offers private music lessons to economically-disadvantaged youth and juvenile offenders. The TSO provides used instruments for the lessons, which are taught in inner-city community facilities.
• The company also hosts two lunchtime holiday concerts featuring TSO musicians and student participants performing holiday favorites. The students’ families and friends are invited to these performances along with employees. The company provides a box lunch for each person attending.
• Owens-Illinois also partners with the Arts Council of Greater Toledo to present Young Artists at Work (YAAW), a summer program that partners disadvantaged high school students with professional artists to create collaborative projects such as murals and individual works of art. The works are displayed for one month in the lobby of the company’s headquarters. All works are available for sale. To open the exhibition, the company hosts a reception, which is attended by employees, students, their families and friends.

Results
This program helps Owens-Illinois enhances its image as a corporate citizen concerned about the quality of life of the community, and has enhanced the lives of the participating students, the artists, employees and the public.

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