2002 Award Recipients

The 2002 Corporate Citizenship Awards were presented December 10. Learn more about the winners and how you can nominate a company or chamber of commerce.

International American Chamber Corporate Citizenship Award
Saõ Paulo American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil

AmCham Saõ Paulo has committed to bridging the "Digital Divide" in Brazil. It spearheaded the Megajuda Campaign 2002, a two-year-old project geared to gather used computers, refurbish them with the help of volunteers mobilized by its associates and distribute them all over the country to create Citizenship and Information Technology Community Centers (CITCC). AmCham Saõ Paulo's outstanding computer donation program this year is the largest ever-carried out in Brazil. So far, companies have donated more than 5,000 computers, benefiting over 120,000 underprivileged Brazilians. On the most successful day 150 volunteers fixed over 350 computers, all of which were then packed and sent to the regional CDI Committees, who in turn were responsible for creating or updating CITCC's. AmCham Saõ Paulo leads an exemplary effort to support creating and managing a self-sustainable community technology center, and supports a knowledgeable, qualified volunteer network.

International Business Corporate Citizenship Award
Pfizer, Inc.

Pfizer, Inc. is donating its antifungal medicine, Diflucan (fluconazole), to low income HIV/AIDS patients in the world's least developed countries where the disease is most prevalent.  Pfizer's commitment also includes training healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of fungal opportunistic infections.  Partners include the Ministry of Health of South Africa, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.  In South Africa, Pfizer helped train over 8,000 health care professionals and donated over 2 million doses of Diflucan.  In 2002, the program was launched in 13 countries, and Pfizer expects to expand the program to 9 more in 2003.  In 2001, Pfizer was the world's largest corporate donor, donating $447 million and expects to exceed that total for 2002.

U.S. Business Corporate Citizenship Award
ConAgra Foods, Inc.

ConAgra Foods, the number two U.S. food company behind Nestle and Kraft, dedicates valuable resources to ending child hunger in the U.S. It partnered with the America's Second Harvest and the Center on Hunger and Poverty to develop a comprehensive initiative as national sponsor of the Feed Children Better program, ConAgra Foods ensures after school programs that serve free, hot nutritious meals in a safe and nurturing environments. Each if the 100 new Kids Café serves an average of 10,000 meals to children each year. ConAgra Foods, in collaboration with America's Second Harvest, is also working to transform the charitable food distribution system in the U. S. into a more effective and efficient operation that will have the capacity to recapture up to 200 million pounds of food that is currently lost or discarded.

U.S. Chamber Corporate Citizenship Award
Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce

Partnership between the business community and the public education system for meaningful reform can be a powerful and successful combination.  The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) envision a nationally recognized partnership with business people and educators working hand-in-hand, focused on student achievement and breaking down the barriers to learning for every child. Those clusters are chosen based upon the principals' and teachers' willingness to work with the administration and Chamber on a plan that will work best for each school and to commit to that plan with a "whatever it takes" attitude. Our programs include Literacy, Student Support (i.e., Health & Mental Health, School Support Teams and Extended Learning Services) and Teacher Professional Development. Every year, hundreds of children begin kindergarten with little or no exposure to books, poorly developed language skills and other deficits that undermine their ability to learn.  As a result, many experience failure from their very first days of school.  The Chamber and APS works together in two clusters to implement improvements that are designed to work together to raise student achievement.