Civic 50 Award Shines Light on Culture of Community

Paterson, New Jersey is home to me. It’s where I grew up, where I went to high school and where I have driven home to from my job at AT&T every day for the past 13 years. I’m invested in this community and all of the people in it. That is why I care so deeply about what happens here and why I seek out opportunities to make it a better place for my family, my friends, my neighbors and myself. 

There are people from all walks of life in Paterson.  People struggling with homelessness and hunger, people with disabilities, students fighting to graduate high school and go on to a career or college. Everything I do both inside and outside of work is connected to my desire to make this community a better place for them and everyone else in it. But you can’t make a difference without first connecting and learning from those who are dealing with these challenges.

I have had the great fortune to learn from many of the students in my community by being a mentor in our AT&T Aspire program.  I got involved in mentoring because when I grew up in Paterson, someone mentored me. And it made all the difference in my life.

Paying that forward and investing in the future success of other students’ lives is one of my greatest joys. Just this past spring, I witnessed one of my mentees who had been homeless, graduate from high school and get accepted to college. I cannot begin to explain the joy that brought me, not only for that individual student, but also for all of the other students who face similar challenges and have been given a greater chance in life because someone reached out to them. I am grateful to work somewhere that understands the impact that mentoring can have and am proud that the opportunity enables me to not only serve Paterson, but also help other AT&T employees around the country learn how they can impact their own communities.

Today, AT&T was ranked #1 in the communications sector on the Civic 50 list, an initiative from Points of Light and Bloomberg that honors the 50 most community-minded companies in the nation each year.  I’m proud to come to work for a company that takes our responsibility to society seriously – whether it’s using our products for good, preparing the workplace of the future, or valuing its employees and our engagement in the community.

So congratulations to AT&T, and my fellow army of blue. Together, we can make our world a better place, one day at a time.