OREANDA-NEWS. September 02, 2015.Throughout the year, @Ford Online will highlight winners of the 2014 Global Diversity and Inclusion Award.  Teams and individuals from around the globe are being recognized for demonstrating the Go Further spirit to bring diversity, inclusion and the One Ford commitment to life at Ford Motor Company.  Following is a story from one of the winners.

The Turkish Resource Group (TRG) is being recognized as a 2014 Diversity and Inclusion winner for Fostering a Respectful and Inclusive environment. This team of four members wanted to make a difference in the lives of students in the community where they work.

The TRG got to work in support of the Stiftung BildungEgitim (Foundation Education) in Germany that was established with the goal of supporting training of foreign students and providing consultancy for their professional and occupational needs.  

Kader Durmus, Toere Deniz Yilmaz, Mustafa Erguen and Hueseyin Oezilhan, all members of the TRG, volunteered to serve as mentors for the students in the program.  After receiving mentor training from the organization, they began to visit schools in the community, hoping to inspire students to achieve more in their academic lives.  

Each of the TRG members had an interesting, diverse and sometimes unconventional path to their careers with Ford Motor Company to share with the students. The students found the Turkish Resource team life stories very relatable to their own lives. The TRG team members were very credible with students because they were able to demonstrate how a good education made an immense difference in their own lives. Many of the Ford employees faced challenges, but a good education allowed them to eventually succeed.  

The schools were originally a bit skeptical about the program because, in the past, others were tried and failed. The feedback from the schools was the program supported by the Turkish Resource Group was a resounding success. The students also felt the program was exceptional, and comments included: “The event was very motivational and I decided to carry on and stick with my studies. The event has opened my eyes and I am now motivated to work harder in school.” 

97 percent of students who attended the training conducted by the TRG would recommend the event and 100 percent now believe that a good education is a very important goal for achieving success in your life.  

The insights from a working environment given by the TRG members have had several positive effects. It is the first time many students have heard that being diverse is an advantage and seen positively in our company. Furthermore, it reflected Ford Motor Company as a socially responsible company with this young group of students who could be our future employees or customers.

Within the Stiftung BildungEgitim project, which covers several areas in Germany, Ford TRG is representing about 90 percent of the effort in the Cologne region. The TRG group plans to expand even more because of the success of the program.   

“TRG aimed to ‘Go Further’ in respect to social responsibility with its KomMENT project and is proud of being crowned with this very important diversity award. This award will further motivate TRG in contributing to the Global Diversity Strategy through social projects, which aim to enrich Ford employees and the society. In that respect, TRG thanks the whole diversity organization and the TRG sponsor Rainer Ludwig for their outstanding support, enabling TRG to pursue its goals,” said Durmus.

Durmas, Deniz Yilmaz, Erguen and Oezilhan from the TRG have done an outstanding job motivating by personal example students with various backgrounds to obtain a good education and understand the benefits of diversity. Thank you, team!