This is the fourth article in a series of blog posts that describe how Cisco enables nonprofits to maximize technology for greater scale and impact. Our introduction to the series is available here. To read more articles in the series click here. Stay tuned for next week’s post on how a nonprofit that focuses on education uses technology to scale.
Blog
This is the fourth article in a series of blog posts that describe how Cisco enables nonprofits to maximize technology for greater scale and impact. Our introduction to the series is available here. To read more articles in the series click here. Stay tuned for next week’s post on how a nonprofit that focuses on education uses technology to scale.
This post was written by Rebecca Chisolm, she’s Senior Leader for Networking Academy North America at Cisco.
Blog
Characterized as a ‘job machine,’ the US economy has had several years of prosperity and solid job growth. But this doesn’t mean that it’s prosperous for all Americans and all job sectors. For many Americans, particularly those in the midwestern United States, the struggle for a living wage in our digital economy has continued long after the great recession ended.
This holiday season, Cisco has a lot to be grateful for: 35 years of business growth and, today, the launch of our 15th corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. This was my first time shepherding the process of producing a CSR report for a company the size of Cisco, and it was a doozy: we connected with over 90 individuals across the business to collect all the data related to the company’s social, environmental, and governance performance. Content development took 5 months and at 200+ pages, this report could break your toe if you dropped the hard copy. Luckily it’s digital-only.
The first time I heard Cisco’s Chief People Officer (CPO) Fran Katsoudas talk about a “conscious culture” I have to admit I already thought I was conscious of the culture around me.
The joint project “SmartQuart” by innogy, the Co-Innovation Center Cisco openBerlin and eight other partners was selected by the Federal Ministry of Economics as one of 20 winners of the “Reallabore der Energiewende” competition. In the cities of Essen and Bedburg in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Kaisersesch in Rheinland-Pfalz, the proposed project will network individual city districts within themselves and with each other.
One year ago, we announced goals to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, water neutrality and zero waste at Cisco’s campus in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina. RTP is a growing campus in a regional innovation hub, surrounded by leading research universities and clean technology ventures. This makes RTP a perfect place to test ways to tackle sustainability issues within Cisco’s real estate operations, including energy, water and waste. Here’s what we’ve been doing in the last fiscal year (FY19) to make progress toward these goals:
What do 25 recent college graduates and 18 preschoolers have in common? You might think, “Not a lot” – but you’d be wrong.
We began this journey together: it was their first month of Pre-K, and it was our first job after graduation. We were all wide-eyed and full of hope for what was to come! Little did we know the impact that we would have on one another’s lives over the next year.
At Cisco, we are committed to accelerating the transition of our business to the circular economy. We aim for all of our resources to follow a circular model – where we reduce our consumption of natural resources and design waste out of our value cycle, enabling products and packaging to be used and reused longer. This work goes beyond a series of projects or initiatives that eventually end with people shifting to work on new topics.
How Destination: Home and Cisco are advancing innovative strategies to end homelessness
Summary:
“With this commitment to Destination: Home, I believe we are deepening our connection even further to the community we call home. Though homelessness seems intractable, I believe that it is a solvable issue. I also feel very strongly that we have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to do something about it.” - Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco
Multimedia with summary
“With this commitment to Destination: Home, I believe we are deepening our connection even further to the community we call home. Though homelessness seems intractable, I believe that it is a solvable issue. I also feel very strongly that we have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to do something about it.” - Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco
The homelessness challenge may seem enormous, but it is solvable.
The first step is to choose to see it. Homelessness is an outcome of severe and growing economic inequality, with factors such as slow wage growth, downsizing of some industries, or skyrocketing rents—anyone can be at risk of becoming homeless.
On any given night, 552,830 people in the United States experience homelessness. California has the largest number of people experiencing homelessness, and in San Diego County, nearly 9000 are experiencing homelessness.
