In addition to being one of the 2008 NorthCoast 99 winners and requesting to be considered for this award, all finalists for the Service and Social Responsibility Special Category Award must meet the following criteria before being considered for the award:

• They all either provide non-compensated professional services or donate products to the community
• They all recognize or reward their employees who volunteer in the community
• All permit employees to participate in community service activities the organization on company time
• Top management (President/CEO, CFO, General Manager, etc.) actively participates in community service programs with non-management employees
• All encourage at least management employees to participate on non-profit boards
• All have a recycling program
• All engage in at least two other environmentally conscious practices

Winners are chosen based on the company that demonstrates the most unique and innovative practices aimed at attracting, retaining, and motivating top performers.

Service & Social Responsibility Winner & Finalist Summaries

Service & Social Responsibility Winner: Akron Children's Hospital

Unique to this company: Akron Children's Hospital performs countless non-compensated acts of service predominantly related to youth, child, and family needs. The Employee Foundation, whose function is to raise and distribute funds to not-for-profit organizations in the community, collects funds from employees and disburses them to charitable agencies in the community, many of which are designated by individual employees for receipt of their donations. All contributions to the Foundation are voluntary and confidential and the Employee Foundation Council (the governing body of the Foundation) sponsors several fund-raisers to aid the foundation. The Education Leadership Roundtable, hosted by this organization, aims to significantly enhance literacy among all children and adults. Formed in 2003, its vision Is to make Akron, Ohio “The Reading Capital of the World.” The PATHS Program, provides health care, tutoring, family life and sex education, career awareness, lifetime fitness, self-expression and social work services to youth. Youth as Resources (YAR) offers small grants (up to $500) to young people to design and complete projects to meet community needs. Akron Children's Hospital also hosts summer camps for children diagnosed with cancer, sickle cell disease, hemophilia, other serious blood disorders, as well as asthma. An Employee Involvement Coordinator Position is also on staff, whose sole job to lead and facilitate employee participation in this organization's many community activities.

Community Service Finalist: Weaver Leather

Unique to this company: Weaver Leather provides numerous services to local schools in the community and most recently, for foster children. On Valentines Day, all employees at Weaver Leather adopted a foster child for the day and the organization manufactured a colorful canvas duffle bag and filled these bags with what the children had specified on their wish lists. In addition, a donation budget is maintained by Weaver Leather and 10% of its corporate net profits are donated to local and global charities. Weaver Leather also presents a program entitled Landing That First Job at local high schools and colleges and sponsors a local scholarship program for local high school and college students, awarding two $1,000 scholarships annually. The organization also developed Character First, a character education program introduced to the local school systems.

Community Service Finalist: CSA Group

Unique to this company: CSA Group not only provides opportunities to reach out to the community, but also invests in creating an environmentally-friendly workplace. During the holidays, each department is encouraged to select a charity of choice and work as a team to collect donations or goods for that charity. In addition, CSA Group supports Habitat for Humanity and its employees participate in build days and host internal charitable/fundraising events to further support this cause. It also sponsors annual events such as community blood drives for the American Red Cross and makes its facility available to local community organizations for seminars and training events. In addition, CSA Group is purchasing roof top solar energy panels for their headquarters and will be able to monitor its impact through a web-based monitoring system which will measure and display environmental value including displaced CO2 emissions, displaced particulate emissions, equivalent cars off the road, equivalent acres of trees planted, and equivalent number of homes powered for one year. It collects environmental statistics on the usage of paper, hydro electricity, gas, water, waste to landfill and on the recycling of paper, corrugated paper (cardboard), wood, scrap metal, old equipment, and furniture. The Executive Leadership Team purchased 1,500 seedlings, representing one tree for each of its employees and Board Directors. CSA Group uses only recycled paper for printing and all employees are encouraged to use recyclable paper, cups, and ink cartridges for printers, fax machines and other appliances.