2021 Subaru Corporate Impact Report
Subaru and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society presented care packages to frontline non-medical support staff at Cooper University Health Care and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper for their outstanding efforts during the pandemic. Nearly 950 nonmedical, essential team members received care packages containing numerous gift cards to local retail stores and restaurants as well as transportation vouchers.
As part of the 100,000 blankets and socks donated to shelters through Subaru Loves to Help in 2021, we brought thousands to our neighbors at Joseph’s House of Camden, a comprehensive housing and service organization for people experiencing homelessness in Camden.
For more on this program, visit the Subaru Loves to Help section.
In partnership with AdoptAClassroom.org, Subaru supported every K–5 classroom in the Camden City School District. This provided every teacher in the district with $500 to be used for the school supplies they need most, supporting 179 classrooms and more than 3,000 Camden students.
For more on this program, visit the Subaru Loves Learning page.
For the third year in a row, Subaru celebrated our National Make a Dog’s Day on October 22. We brought this to Camden through a day of celebration, games, giveaways, and veterinary care for pets.
We are incredibly proud of our ongoing partnerships with outstanding Camden organizations making an impact in the community. Below are just a few:
Camden Fire Department: As a community partner with the Camden Fire Department, Subaru donated vehicles to the local fire department to aid in their Jaws of Life hydraulic pressure training, allowing a rare opportunity to practice on new vehicles.
In 2020, the Subaru of America Foundation, Inc. funded the state-of-the-art Subaru Media Lab at the Institute for the Development of Education in the Arts (IDEA) Center. In 2021, we partnered with the IDEA Center to livestream our national volunteer event, the Subaru Share the Love® Kickoff, and to create our 2021 Holiday Card, providing students with real-world experiences to work in artistic fields.
The Foundation continued to support the expansion of the Barnes Foundation’s Look! Reflect! Connect! program, which supports childhood involvement with the visual arts. Through hybrid workshops, interactive classroom lessons, and visits to the Barnes gallery, more than 740 Camden students were able to learn to see art as a powerful form of human expression – one that can be used to make connections to their own lives and experiences, inspire future endeavors, and convey their ideas and feelings.
We supported Cathedral Kitchen’s Culinary and Baking Arts Job Training program to help prepare students for employment in the food service industry through classroom and hands-on work. Since the start of our partnership with this project in 2018, 203 residents have been trained in culinary techniques, passed essential exams like ServSafe, and moved on to careers in food and beverage.
The Foundation funded the Pathways to Success Workforce Development Initiatives – specifically the InDemand Program – to assist in the development of job readiness and occupational training for Camden City residents. In 2021, more than 100 Camden residents participated in InDemand and received job readiness training, access to social services, employment connections with over 30 local employers, and career development opportunities critical to build successful post-secondary pathways.
We assisted the Camden City School District by offering online curricula for teachers in partnership with Discovery Education. This platform increased access to vital, high-quality digital content and standards-aligned resources, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 7,638 students benefited from the program, with educators utilizing 119,000 online resources.
The Foundation continued our partnership with Girls Inc., offering support for social-emotional learning, healthy decision-making, and academic enrichment. Through the Stronger, Smarter, Bolder program, Camden girls focused on early grade literacy, STEM, leadership and advocacy, and economic literacy. In these programs, girls increased their literacy scores, gained confidence in STEM, took charge in identifying ways to improve their community, and planned for their futures. This school year, 331 Camden girls participated.
We supported our longtime partner, Hopeworks, with a grant to continue teaching tech skills to Camden young adults and expand its employment partnership program. The organization connects participants with employers to place them in livable-wage jobs and is on track to place more than 100 young professionals in paid positions.
We supported Project LIFT, which fully funds 30 scholarships for Camden residents to take courses at Camden County College to prepare them for entry-level positions at Camden’s Cooper University Hospital, including phlebotomists, electrocardiogram (EKG) technicians, and critical care technicians. 100% of graduates have become employed in the healthcare field.
Subaru launched the Subaru Scholarship for Automotive Excellence, in partnership with Rainbow PUSH. The scholarship allows for six underrepresented Camden residents to be trained as automotive technicians at Camden County College, as part of our ongoing commitment to our hometown. In addition to academics, we support scholarship recipients by pairing them with Subaru retailers to provide mentorship, enhance their training, and help them gain full-time employment opportunities.
The Foundation’s grant to the UrbanPromise StreetLeader Program helps provide more than 50 Camden teens with practical work experience, leadership development, attentive mentorship, and academic support. StreetLeaders become paid employees within UrbanPromise’s programs to mentor, support, and guide over 250 younger children in their communities, while developing their own leadership and employment skills.
“The 'City Invincible' is full of life, passion, diversity, and love for one another. We are constantly humbled by our partners’ spirit and drive. We have developed a symbiotic relationship with the city of Camden through impactful volunteering, programming, and grant-giving. We are grateful to be a part of such an inclusive and involved community of people who have given us the opportunity to progress alongside them. We recognize the tireless work from our Camden neighbors, partners, and colleagues, without whom none of this would be possible. We thank all of you for sharing the love, and we look forward to our continued partnership!”
This year, Subaru was awarded the South Jersey Young Professionals Association (SJYPA) Corporate Halo Award for corporate impact. We are honored to be recognized by our own community for this award. Our SARGE Employee Resource Group – the Subaru Armed Forces Resource Group for Employees – accepted the award on behalf of Subaru.
