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2019 Thirty Under 30 Program Comes to a Close

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2019 Thirty Under 30 program
Photo: Ford Motor Company

The 2019 Thirty Under 30 program, which tasks seven nonprofit groups against challenges facing their neighborhoods and communities, came to a close in October. Over the course of eight months, organizations from southeast Michigan, Canada, and Mexico worked with Ford employees under the age of 30 — in all, 35 fellows representing 15 different skill steams took part.


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The seven nonprofits taking part in the 2019 Thirty Under 30 program were Central Detroit Christian Community Development, Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation, Habitat for Humanity-Huron Valley, LifeBUILDERS, Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, The Neighbourhood Organization, and TECHO.  Efforts included creating after-school and summer educational programs for middle-school-aged kids, creating a community center with low- and no-cost programming, and proposing new technologies to help keep neighborhoods safer.

2019 marked the first year that Mexico was included in the program. Representing the country was TECHO, who worked with five Ford employees to create an online tool that matches volunteers with skill-based projects to help improve time and resource management for the nonprofit.

“It was an amazing experience. We have never done anything like this in Mexico,” said Itzel Garrido Ambriz, an employee with Ford Credit in Mexico City. “Using design thinking and working with the community was great. We all learned a lot from the program, and I hope they will take it to Mexico permanently because it was really rewarding.”

Ford launched the Thirty Under 30 program in 2016 after it was announced in 2015 alongside the Bill Ford Better World Challenge. Bill Ford hails the program for its usefulness in empowering employees with knowledge that can be used in their personal and professional lives.


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