Toyota has clearly reached the pinnacle of car production (although that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to produce innovative vehicles). Now, the brand is focused on helping individuals throughout the United States, whether they be students, children, or women, in particular. These various initiatives are an effective way for the company to promote their brand, but they also emphasize that Toyota is focused on giving back to the community.
Below, we’ve explored several ways that Toyota has provided a helping hand to individuals around the country. While this information might not influence you about a specific model, it might convince you that it’s a good idea to head to a Toyota dealership and initiate the car-buying process…
Toyota Helps: Future Engineers
Toyota has teamed up with the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund to provide $5,000 scholarships to 22 Asian and Pacific Islander American students in Southern California and Northern Texas. The two organizations zero in on students who are planning on pursuing future education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“I am very excited that Toyota continues to help talented students pursue their dreams,” said Travey Doi, Toyota group’s vice president and chief financial officer. “Toyota is a real champion of diversity and inclusion, and advocates for underserved communities. We’re so proud to recognize the academic excellence and perseverance of these scholars.”
Besides offering these students lucrative scholarships, Toyota is also offering a paid internship to one of the Toyota APIASF scholarship recipients. This provides the winning student with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work alongside some of the top engineers in the industry!
“This unique internship will empower a student with hands-on experience in the workplace,” says Karen Ideno, vice president of product, marketing, corporate social responsibility, and communications at Toyota Financial Services. “It will provide the scholar with the interpersonal skills necessary to succeed on the job, and gain valuable insights into his or her long-term career goals.”
Toyota has also teamed up with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas to provide an incredible one million dollar Impact Grant to Collin County in Plano, Texas. There are more than 3,000 homeless women (many of them mothers) living in the area, and the grant is intended to create “self-sustaining independence” for these individuals. The recipients are members of the new Collin County Mobility Collaborative, including Agape Resource and Assistance Center, Family Promise of Collin County, Hope’s Door New Beginning Center, and Shiloh Place of McKinney.
“We created this grant to encourage collaboration among nonprofits with a focus on pressing mobility issues in North Texas,” said Al Smith, the group vice president of Social Innovation at Toyota Motor North America. “This holistic program aims to empower homeless women and their children to overcome crisis and poverty, helping them gain both physical and upward mobility.”
The brand is focused on providing “mobility for all” by providing individuals the opportunity to solve “physical and/or social mobility issues” in the community. Specifically, Toyota is focused on providing housing, transportation, childcare, and earning capacity via education and job training. The fund will span more than two years.
“By combining resources and sharing expertise, we can achieve greater collective impact to improve the lives of these women, their children, and generations to come,” said Karen Ideno, the vice president of product, marketing, corporate social responsibility and communications at Toyota Financial Services. “We look forward to working with the collaborative, applying assets beyond dollars, to make a difference right here in our new backyard.”
“Solving complex community challenges requires much more than investing in a single program,” said Susan Hoff, the chief strategy of impact and operations officer at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “Strong collaborations, such as the Collin County Mobility Collaborative, provide a multi-faceted approach to addressing pervasive and devastating issues through both direct services and systemic interventions. United Way of Metropolitan Dallas is proud to partner with Toyota to identify effective solutions that will make a lasting difference for families.”
Toyota has teamed up with volunteers and members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard to host the tenth Operation That’s My Ride, an event that provides bikes to children of service members. Held during Fleet Week, this is only one of many events intended to emphasize that military children will not be forgotten.
Back in May, hundreds of volunteers and service members gathered at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal to assemble bicycles. After three hours of work, hundreds of children between the ages of two and six years old were allowed to go home with a brand-new bike. Additional bicycles (along with helmets and equipment) will be sent to families around the United States.
Toyota is constantly preaching safe driving habits, especially when it comes to their younger operators. To help support this sentiment, the brand has held the TeenDrive365 challenge over the past six years. The goal of the endeavor was for high school students to produce videos that “inspire their friends and peers to drive without distraction.” The winners, Emi Otsuki and Summer Knowles, created their own music video. The duo won $15,000 and will get to collaborate with the Discovery network to film a TV-worthy version of their winning video.
“We were impressed by Emi and Summer’s lighthearted, yet clear message on distracted driving,” said Mike Goss, the general manager of Social Innovation at Toyota Motor North America. “Their
