Ford Motor Company Pro Bono Work Shines With Industry Award
Corporate Pro Bono (CPBO) honored Ford Motor Company recently with the CPBO Partner Award for its pro bono partnerships to serve the needs of the local community. This is the first time the automaker has received the prestigious honor, which recognizes the company’s commitment to good corporate citizenship.
CPBO is a partnership project of the Pro Bono Institute (PBI) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). The CPBO award recognizes unique partnerships between in-house legal departments, law firms, and public interest organizations.
Looking to revamp its program in 2009, Ford partnered with Dykema Gossett PLLC, Legal Aid and Defender Association, Inc. (LAD), and Michigan Community Resources (MCR) and created two new projects to directly serve community needs. The programs also aligned the manufacturer’s program with the automaker’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Ford pro bono partner programs include:
- Food Stamp Clinic: The Food Stamp Clinic, developed with Ford and LAD, was designed to identify individuals and families who are either eligible to receive food stamps and don’t or are not receiving the amount to which they are entitled. In Detroit, more than one third of the population lives in poverty, making it one of the poorest large cities in America, yet its citizens were under-utilizing the food stamp program. With Ford’s help, the partnership has helped hundreds of clinic participants and has identified tens of thousands of dollars in benefits.
- Nonprofit Survival Series Clinics: Ford, Dykema, and MCR developed the Nonprofit Survival Series Clinics to help ensure local nonprofits can continue to serve their constituents. At the clinics, Ford attorneys consult with community-based nonprofit organizations to identify legal issues that threaten their viability and ability to operate. At the beginning of each clinic, Dykema attorneys provide training to Ford volunteers on common issues that nonprofits face, particularly recession-related financial pressures and declining resources. More than forty percent of the attorneys in Ford’s Office of the General Counsel have participated since the first clinic in 2009, and the program continues to expand in response to community need with the launch of a Contract Review Clinic.
For information on CPBO and PBI, go to http://www.probonoinst.org.