Corporate Community Service
Harris Corporation
Jeffrey S. Shuman, Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Relations, Harris Corporation
Harris Corporation, the Florida-based electronics communications and information technology company, is one of the world’s largest designers and providers of broadcast equipment, U.S. government intelligence communications gear and tactical radio systems. Harris’ headquarters have enough to do keeping track of the production of 15,500 employees in 150 locations around the world.
But the company also felt a need to help keep track of the development of elementary school kids in the Booker T. Washington section of Melbourne, a city with the region’s highest density of poverty and juvenile crime. So when approached for help by the Brevard Neighborhood Development Coalition, Harris led a drive to create the Dorcas Outreach Center for Kids. The DOCK, as it is called, is a 3,300-square-foot center where youth receive both hot meals and tutoring in an IT-rich environment, engage in supervised recreational activities and participate in enrichment classes exposing them to the arts and promoting an enhanced self-image.
“We put $150,000 down to win a matching grant and start the resource center. Then our employees put in over 16,000 hours of work and built five Habitat for Humanity homes around the center, at a cost of about $50,000 each,” Harris Manager Lisa Stigall reports.
That effort helped lead a revitalization of the area.
Harris has focused foundation and personnel support on a variety of pre-college math and science programs. On the college level, Harris provides generous financial and other support for engineering programs.
“Social responsibility is a big part of being a company,” Stigall says. “We strive to be the best community citizen we can be.”
Roger Witherspoon is a journalist and author based in New York.