Building brighter communities with PPG employee volunteers

Published : 1-Aug-2023

From painting murals that bring local scenes and inspiration to life at PPG COLORFUL COMMUNITIES® projects to demonstrating science experiments in classrooms and leading Charity Partner fundraising programs, PPG employee volunteers around the world activate their time and talents to make a difference in our local communities and support the causes they believe in.

Did you know that in 2022, PPG employees served our communities with more than 25,000 volunteer hours?

Globally, PPG’s community engagement efforts support our vision to protect and beautify the world through the intersection of our business strengths and our ability to create positive impacts in three areas of focus: education, community sustainability and employee engagement.

Within the area of employee engagement, PPG employee volunteers apply their unique talents to brighten our communities.

“Our employees embody our commitment to the places we live and work across the globe. They are inspired to improve the lives of others,” said Malesia Dunn, executive director, PPG Foundation and Corporate Global Social Responsibility. “Our volunteers’ actions demonstrate the real-life possibilities of science and technology, create vibrant classrooms, inspire the next generation of leaders and serve those in need to create bright possibilities.”

Read on to learn about some of our employees’ recent efforts.

Breaking through with Breakthrough Miami

Several Miami, Florida area employees from the architectural coatings business recently visited Breakthrough Miami, an organization which offers a unique “students-teaching-students” model to create a rigorous, vibrant learning community where traditionally underrepresented fifth to 12th grade students have access to educational opportunities, graduate from high school on time, and attend college. The PPG employee volunteers met with students to share career insights and hear about their recent summer programs that are supported by a PPG Foundation grant.

STEM and Sustainability

PPG employee volunteers in Brazil teamed up with Junior Achievement for the “Attitude for the Planet” program which addresses the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability. Overall, 60 high school students from Professora Leonilda Rossi Barriquelo School, located in Sumaré city (São Paulo State), participated in the initiative. The class was conducted by our volunteer employees who were teachers for a day.

Our volunteers in Brazil also hosted 60 high school students at its operations in Sumaré and Gravataí for an exciting day of learning through Innovation Camp. With Junior Achievement, the Innovation Camp program aimed to encourage students to find solutions to challenges using various methodologies. The challenges included promoting access and improving the quality of education for all, connected to the UN Sustainability Goals. PPG volunteers played the important role in mentoring the teams and PPG's local leadership recognized the top projects.

Building cars and STEM skills

The PPG Foundation has long supported the Sarah Heinz House in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and its robotics program. To build on this partnership, more than 25 PPG employees and local families participated in a Go Baby Go event through X-Bots Robotics, teaching teens at the Sarah Heinz House how to build special battery-powered vehicles that provide children with limited mobility and additional special needs a means to explore their world.

Engineering inspiration

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, a group of volunteers from PPG’s science education council (SEC) joined WQED’s Design Lives Here challenge, a recipient of a PPG grant and an engineering initiative that equips teachers and students to participate in engineering activities. Professional engineers serve as mentors to students throughout the year which culminates in a day of engineering challenges, grouped in new teams to compete for prizes. SEC employees regularly share their STEM skills and inspire future career paths by joining events like this and others to mentor young learners and demonstrate the power of science in classrooms.

Volunteering examples across EMEA

PPG volunteers were part of C3's Imagination at Work competition finale in the Netherlands. The team, led by Ronnie Peskens, global product manager of Protective and Marine Coatings, secured the victory with their innovative project on "Making the formulation of water-based paint more sustainable." Photos from the finale can be found here.

In Prague, Czechia, we partnered with ScienceFest (“VědaFest”), the largest open-air science event in Czechia. Our volunteers provided hands-on workshops at the event as part of its commitment to inspire young people with an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Learn more about ScienceFest.

With the Asociația Casa Bună in Bucharest, Romania, our volunteers participated in workshops teaching young learners from Romani community skills such as building furniture, a greenhouse, an outdoor restroom, and interior painting. Check out photos here.

To learn more about how PPG employees create positive impacts in the places we call home, click here.