Sustainability is an important part of our business approach at UCB. For UCB, sustainability also encompasses how we sustain the communities where we live and work. As a company with a more than 80-year history in the United States, we have long contributed to the communities where we have a presence. In 2020, we recognized the need to take a closer look at how and where we contributed for various reasons, including UCB’s expanding footprint in the U.S. and the societal changes around us. 

This analysis led us to conclude, that as a science-based company and a company committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the “sweet spot” in our community giving should focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Education & Math) education with a special focus on underserved student populations. Taking that approach – which we coined “Inspiring Science” from the first and last words of UCB’s tag line –  we set out to refresh our giving in the five U.S. markets where UCB has offices or labs.

As with any corporate community giving effort, there are more opportunities than we could ever hope to fund. We set out to look at non-profit organizations we had previously funded that fit this new model and identified new organizations to consider as well. We also wanted to identify organizations that align with our influence and expertise, namely the life sciences and biological sciences. As an outcome of our new “Inspiring Science” approach, in 2021, UCB contributed to 18 local STEM education organizations with a particular focus on K-12 education and underserved populations. 

In our U.S. headquarters in Atlanta, GA, our STEM education support ranged from covering the admissions costs of 3,000 elementary students from Title 1 schools in Cobb County during their  visit to the Tellus Science Center in Cartersville, GA, to supporting STEM education for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. In Raleigh, NC, home to our development solutions team, we supported The Daniel Center for Math and Science, a STEM-focused daycare and afterschool program working to narrow the education gap for at-risk children. 

In Boston, the location of UCB research facilities in the Boston suburbs of Cambridge and Bedford, UCB supported BioBuilder with their high school apprenticeship program. This program teaches basic lab skills, like how to use a microscope, to high school students from diverse backgrounds. In addition to our financial support, several UCB scientists have engaged with BioBuilder students to provide insights into their career paths and serve as mentors and participants in the poster sessions prepared by students.  
     
We also extended our community giving efforts to our field-based colleagues working outside our five primary markets and encouraged them to nominate a STEM organization in their local communities. The five final recipients of these field-based donations ranged from the Alabama School for Math and Science to the Jewels Academy in Des Moines, Iowa, which offers STEM education opportunities for 4th through 12th-grade girls. 

As an organization with a deep history in the U.S. and employees in almost every state, we recognize our responsibility to support the communities where we live and work, and are dedicated to our ambition of building a sustainable future for our communities, patients, and company.