"Life’s persistent and most urgent question is “What are you doing for others?””
– Martin Luther King Jr.
HARMAN is deeply passionate about pursuing ideas, technologies and innovations that have a profound impact on people, communities and the broader society. With National Philanthropy Day just around the corner on November 15, designated as a day to celebrate charitable activities, we thought of taking a look at the various sustainability and corporate citizenship-related initiatives that were championed by our teams in the past year under the platform of HARMAN Inspired, our global cause initiative that empowers the next generation to realize their possibilities through music, education and community service.
Relief Efforts in Times of COVID
As COVID forced the world to go in lockdown, having a quality at-home education and learning experience became increasingly important for students. With the help of HARMAN Inspired partner Little Kids Rock, HARMAN’s powerhouse brand JBL partnered with its brand ambassadors to donate more than 6,300 headphones to students across that country so they get clear audio during their virtual classes. At an organizational level, HARMAN also donated to COVID relief funds from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Feeding America. Illustrating the spirt that is true of HARMAN employees, our automotive teams from Denmark and Germany took charge to join forces with local volunteers and suppliers to 3D-print protective face masks that help to support the supply of PPE and protect healthcare workers working hard to help coronavirus patients.
Community Engagement through Music
Music is at the core of HARMAN’s DNA as a company. Fully believing in the power of music to heal, unite, engage and energize a community, HARMAN organized several music-filled activities across the globe in 2020. Around Make Music Day earlier this year, HARMAN continued the celebrations through virtual events such as a special episode of its podcast on audio-related matters, Audio Matters, where we sat down with esteemed guests from HARMAN Inspired non-profit partners – Make Music Alliance and GRAMMY® Music Education Coalition – to talk about the origins of Make Music Day. Several HARMAN musicians also came together to help celebrate the power of music as a unifying force by creating an inspirational rendition of ‘Come Together’ by The Beatles.
HARMAN also organized physically distanced Make Music Day activities across our offices in India where teams displayed their love of music through singing and playing various instruments. Meanwhile, colleagues from our Brazil offices organized various festivities from their own homes, sending videos of musical performances and organizing livestreamed talks on music-related subjects.
Musical activities weren’t limited to Make Music Day. Our offices in Novi, MI, orchestrated our popular JBL Dare to Listen Experience through our first-ever drive-in concert where guests enjoyed performances by local artists like Sienna Liggins, tasting local food and a drive-through photo booth.
Empowering the Future Generation
Once again demonstrating our commitment to advancing women who are interested in pursuing careers in STEM fields, we teamed up with our long-standing partners 1,000 Dreams Fund to launch our 4th annual New Face of Tech scholarship program. This year, our effort includes funding worth $60,000, a doubling of our commitment from the past year. Through this year’s program, we aim to support 40 female candidates with a $1,500 grant, a product from our leading brand JBL, and career guidance from a HARMAN executive who would also help to interview for a potential role at HARMAN.
We also witnessed the ability of music education to help bring about a sense of belonging and community as we saw a tripling of visitors to Jam Zone, an online resource from HARMAN and Little Kids Rock that features interactive tutorials, videos, instrumentals and more.
From organizing food donation drives in our Novi, MI offices to launching green products like the JBL Flip 5 Eco Edition that showcases our commitment to sustainable sourcing and product development, HARMAN is proud of the ongoing hard work of its teams in contributing to our broader corporate citizenship goals. As we look beyond 2020 and enter the new year, we will be sharing more stories across our corporate channels that illustrate how we’re passionate about strategic programs and initiatives at the local and organizational level that help to create a better world for our customers, employees, partners, consumers and communities.