Corporate Social Responsibility
Citywide has a proud history of providing services and support to the communities in which we operate and where our employees live, work and play. Through our Corporate Social Responsibility Program, we are committed to providing shared value for our host communities, our customers and our business. Our approach to corporate & social responsibility is framed by four key issues of concern to our customers and their community constituents:
– Education, Training and Jobs
– Environment & Sustainability
– Homelessness, Social Justice and Well-being
– Youth Opportunities
We are proud to support and partner with community organisations that are addressing such critical social issues. As a services company, we pride ourselves on maintaining and enhancing community assets and being actively involved in local communities; engaging with them to make positive social changes.
Partnerships
Through our Community Engagement Framework, we partner with selected social enterprises, charities and not-for-profits who share our corporate values and who are strategically placed to help solve the key issues of concern to our customers. Click through to view our current partner social procurement and community organisations (opens in new window).
Employee Volunteering
At Citywide, our staff proactively contribute over and above the day job to the wellbeing of their local communities and other social concerns further afield. This support varies from community to community and is demonstrated in a variety of ways, including the provision of paid leave for staff to volunteer with a community concern.
Financial Support & Matched Funding
Citywide proudly supports selected not-for-profits, charities and social enterprises with in-kind pro bono services, products and support. We also provide financial support to several partners to support them in meeting their strategic objectives, including matching funding from individual staff fundraising efforts.
Diversity & Inclusion
Having a social licence to operate is integral to our shared value approach with the community and all our stakeholders, with the common goal of fostering greater social cohesion. This supports our commitment to promoting diversity, equality and inclusion across our company without discrimination and we actively seek to create employment opportunities for the economically disadvantaged, disabled, CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) communities and indigenous interests.
This policy covers all operational and administrative offices and sites of Citywide and subsidiaries such as Technigro. It also takes into account the company’s capabilities and capacity to resource (staff, financial; operational; equipment, etc.).
Responsible Sourcing
Citywide and its subsidiaries including Technigro are committed to responsible sourcing practices.
We regularly review our operations and supply chains with the aim of ensuring that we, our suppliers and third-party business partners operate without infringing human rights. We do not tolerate any form of modern slavery practices including child or forced labour. Access our Modern Slavery Statement here (click to download).
To help us achieve our aim, if you become aware of any related concerns, we encourage you to let us know by contacting us through this website (click through to Contact page).
Sustainability
Our goal is to minimise our environmental footprint and to inspire and equip our people with ‘world’s best’ sustainability standards to effectively manage the environmental aspects of our operations, whilst ensuring continuous improvement and zero harm to the environment and communities in which we work.
We use a market leading environmental data management platform to manage and monitor energy usage and costs across all of our operations. The data allows us to monitor our carbon generation and provides us with information to evaluate initiatives developed and implemented to reduce our carbon footprint.
We are also a foundation partner in the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP). Through this program - led by our parent the City of Melbourne Council - we will purchase renewable energy through a wind farm being constructed for the MREP in regional Victoria.
Rod's role in Cambodian school
Most Australians visiting Cambodia have their sights set on the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat, with a possible side-trip to an elephant sanctuary or a beach on the Gulf of Thailand.
Not many would plan to spend their holiday in a school surrounded by 1,000 rambunctious children.
But 10 days in the loud and lively surrounds of the Feeding Dreams Community School in Siem Reap has long been the perfect holiday for Rod Duckworth, a Citywide veteran who supervises our street sweeping teams in Glen Eira and Bayside.
Rod has been coming to Feeding Dreams since 2013, when as a tourist he was taken to the school and met its dynamic Brisbane-born founder, Kerry Huntly.
“Not having any kids of my own, I was always on the lookout for something with a bit of meaning, some way of helping people out,” says Rod.
After teaching a bit of English, Rod found his real meaning in 2014, when Feeding Dreams moved to a larger site – and he was able to fund the building of a new classroom.
“We desperately needed eight purpose-built classrooms and Rod stepped up straight away to provide funds,” says Kerry.
“Rod’s classroom enables about 100 children to receive a free holistic education every day – which has equated to thousands over the past five years.”
Every time he visits Feeding Dreams, Rod also helps with a specific building project: concreting a walkway, thatching roofs, building a kitchen garden. “The school gives free meals to 600 children each day, so they really need their vegetables!” he laughs.
Connections that last
As well as helping with building projects, Rod buys stationery and textbooks for the school, and funds each of the projects he works on.
But his favourite thing is to take the staff out for lunch – which has become a regular fixture of his September visits.
“I’ve got to know several of the teachers pretty well, and they’re great people,” he says. “It always feels right to be saying thanks to the people doing all the hard work.”
Today, Feeding Dreams has eight classrooms, a computer room, a respected soccer academy, and a hospitality centre that provides training to students who aspire to a career in tourism. The school also has a busy volunteer program that attracts individuals and school groups from around the world.
But few are as dedicated as Rod, who visits the school every year without fail. “I’d rather see where my money’s going than just keep putting a cheque in the post,” he says. “Although right now, I am considering sponsoring one of the students – just to help them with their uniform and books and other expenses.”
Kerry Huntly has no doubt that Rod and her other “regulars” are effecting genuine change in the lives of thousands of Cambodian families.
“Rod does so much to support the school every time he visits,” she says. “It’s heartfelt people like Rod who are enabling us to change the lives of thousands of impoverished children.”
For more information about Feeding Dreams, see: https://feedingdreamscambodia.org/
Photo: Rod helping out thatching a roof at the Feeding Dreams School in Siem Reap.
Media Contact:
Simon Mossman - Group Corporate Communications
M 0427 307 216
E simon.mossman@citywide.com.au
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