Oct 19, 2020 | Diversity/Equity/Inclusion
There’s strength in diversity. That’s why it’s important for us to build and sustain a diverse workforce. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s good business.
We also believe in promoting diversity outside of PPL. And we want to make sure the companies that supply us with products and services reflect our core value of diversity and inclusion.
We have a supplier diversity program to source and promote suppliers of all backgrounds, including businesses owned by women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, veterans, and persons with disabilities.
The program is making an impact. Since 2016, our spending with diverse businesses has nearly tripled!
And the future looks bright. We recently named a new leader of our supplier diversity initiatives, Sandy Schrauger, and we’re committed to increasing our reliance on diverse suppliers in the years to come.
Is yours a diverse-owned business? Are you interested in partnering with us? Learn more about our Supplier Diversity Program.
Aug 23, 2020 | Diversity/Equity/Inclusion
PPL recognizes the vital part we play in our customer’s lives and serving them is at the heart of all we do. We recognize that our communities are diverse, and our goal is to empower others to celebrate differences and raise understanding. We’re committed to promoting an inclusive culture through volunteerism and partnerships with nonprofit organizations devoted to furthering diverse, inclusive communities.
That’s why those of us at PPL Electric Utilitiesare driving action through our Empowering Equitable Communities program. Tailored to the specific needs of the communities we serve, the program fosters diversity, equity and inclusion through a multi-layered approach, including a youth mentor program.
The mentorship program gives fifth grade students the opportunity to learn from eight PPL mentors who were trained by Big Brothers Big Sisters. In monthly one-hour sessions, students and mentors talk about homework, peer relationships, future career ideas, sports, family and anything else that’s on their minds.
Meet Forrest Jordan, support engineer, and Trevor Whaley, distribution technician, two of our youth mentors in the Susquehanna region.
Meet Forrest Jordan
As a baseball coach, helping kids learn and grow is part of Forrest’s DNA. So, when he was presented with the opportunity to become a mentor for Eddie — a student in the Berwick School District — it was a no brainer.
“Eddie has had a rough home life so meeting with him for 30 minutes each week gave him a sense of normalcy,” said Forrest. “We would work through school assignments, play games and talk about what we do for fun on the weekends. It was such an amazing experience.”
For Forrest, seeing Eddie smile and giving him a safe space to talk about whatever was on his mind was such a rewarding experience.
“Sometimes help is just being a listening ear,” he said. “I firmly believe this mentor program will have a big impact on his life.”
Meet Trevor Whaley
Trevor’s passion for giving back to his community inspired him to become a mentor for a student at Curtin Middle School in Williamsport. The pair met every two weeks to talk about a variety of things including sports, schoolwork and personal feelings.
“One of our main topics was about how to be a better student in school,” said Trevor. “It was surprising to learn how much some of his behavior related issues were affected by things that happened outside of the classroom.”
Trevor established a big brother, little brother relationship with his student and focused establishing achievable goals for him to improve.
When asked if he would recommend the mentor program to others, he replied:
“Yes, I feel the same things that kids go through happen in our lives and mentoring is a great way to teach them good life lessons we’ve learned.”
Mar 9, 2020 | Safety and Security
Students across Pennsylvania are getting a “charge” out of our electrical safety theater program!
They’re laughing, repeating electrical safety tips and learning valuable lessons about how to stay safe near electricity.
It’s the sixth year that we’ve partnered with The National Theatre for Children to offer this program to schools in our territory. There’s no fee for the schools to participate; the only requirement is a crowd of young minds eager to learn about electricity!
During March, we’re sharing these lessons at more than two dozen schools with performances of “Agents of Safety.” Nearly 10,000 children from Scranton to Allentown and Harrisburg to Williamsport will see the performance this month. The show teaches students how electricity is made, the uses of electricity and helps them identify dangerous electrical situations. Teachers are also given materials on electrical safety to share with their students prior to the performances.
By the time the final show takes place in the Mechanicsville area on March 20th, PPL will have shared the safety program with more than 90,000 students since 2015! That’s a lot of kids increasing their electrical safety IQ.
