To deal effectively with the community requires a set of knowledge and skills with which corporations were unfamiliar. These Directors manage people who are responsible for corporate philanthropy, corporate volunteer programs and public affairs. The Center has offered 3 or 4 day seminars combining a look at cutting edge issues with building skills and knowledge for practitioners in this arena. Over the past decade, the Center has focused primarily on executive education, training, and consultation. The Center thinks of itself as on the leading edge in helping corporations relate to their communities.
Community is a multi-valent term. . .
That s right. While we usually relate it to physical location, corporations now recognize that they are involved with many different types of community. One can talk legitimately about a civil rights or a gay and lesbian community, for instance. One part of the Center s training and executive education is helping executives to understand how the proliferation of communities affects corporations. In your introductory remarks, you talked about the Center s origin and development, but I have heard talk about new roles for it. . .