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Select a country, year, category or all three from the menu below to filter the case studies.
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Spain - 2008
Identifying and Addressing Community Needs in Spain
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Through implementation of the Alcoa Community Framework, Alcoa's smelter and refinery complex in San Ciprián, Spain, is engaging employees and the community to identify and address the region's most pressing needs.
Alcoa is the largest employer in this region of around 80,000 people, and the company's community programs involved or affected more than 10,000 community members in 2008.
"Alcoa actively listens to the community," said Xerardo López Enriquez, director of Cervo High School. "The entire educational community is being supported by the company, which is open to collaboration on these projects. Alcoa is a corporation that provides a lot of help and meets our needs."
To identify critical community needs, Alcoa's San Ciprián location maintains formal and informal relationships with government officials, non-governmental organizations, and employees who are actively involved in the community. Based on input from these stakeholders, Alcoa identified the following issues requiring attention:
- Employment;
- Environmental educational;
- Youth training;
- Emergency plans and simulations to help the civil protection authorities;
- River conservation;
- Senior citizens; and
- Non-traditional families.
In 2008, the location implemented and/or funded a variety of programs, and more than 80% of the 1,200-member workforce volunteered over 70,500 hours in the community. Activities included the following:
- More than 55 students participated in an Alcoa scholarship program that provided training and work experience;
- Alcoa sponsored a variety of environmental educational programs, including "Tides of Life," which showed more than 150 children the value of the coastline in northwest Spain.
- Alcoa employees visited and held conferences at every local technical high school;
- Chemical engineering students from the University of Santiago were trained by Alcoa in refining and smelting practices. The training included a plant visit;
- Employees spent 200 hours assisting children from families in transition due to a variety of reasons (jail, hospitalization, etc.);
- Alcoa directed an evacuation simulation in a community school to train civil protection workers and other emergency service providers; and
- Employees held four ACTION events to clean the community's rivers.
"Alcoa has demonstrated that it listens to and meets the needs of its stakeholders," said Inés Cobas, president of As Espalladoras, a rural women's association. "This performance path is established within various fields, such as sports, culture, and the environment. Nowadays, Alcoa is seen as something that belongs to our community."
Becoming an integral part of the community can provide benefits to Alcoa as well. These include being considered a preferred employer and gaining community support when seeking long-term energy contracts or environmental operating permits.
In 2005, Alcoa Spain was recognized as a "Company with Heart" by the Spanish government for its volunteer programs.
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