Red Oak Industries Receives Recognition as Corporate Champion

The Hospitality Certification Program

Recognizes

Red Oak Industries

as a

2009 Corporate Champion

Red Oak Industries received a certificate of recognition signed by Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard recognizing Red Oak Industries as a 2009 Corporate Champion of the Hospitality Certification Program at an awards program hosted by Eli Lilly this month.

Red Oak Industries is a not-for-profit business that creates employment opportunities for people with psychiatric disabilities. Using a unique, blended-workforce model, half of Red Oak Industries’ employees have a disability and half do not. This model yields both improved clinical outcomes and a stable workforce. The Hospitality Certification Program, developed by the Indianapolis Employment Network and funded by the Indianapolis Private Industry Council, prepares candidates (who are homeless and who have some type of disability) for work in the hospitality industry. The program involves eight-to-ten weeks of classroom and on-site instruction. Upon completion participants are fully prepared for entry-level positions in the hospitality industry. Several graduates of the Hospitality Certification Program work for Red Oak Industries. Red Oak Industries staff show their support of the program by conducting mock interviews with program associates, giving classroom presentations, and hosting learning demonstrations.

“The Hospitality Certification Program provides a valuable service to the community. Its graduates are among our most dependable and highest performing employees,” said Red Oak Industries President, Kevin McCracken.

Red Oak Industries provides commercial and specialty cleaning as well as variety of services in many communities such as Indianapolis, Columbus, and Bloomington.

http://www.redoakindustries.com/

What is a "Social Enterprise?"

Anna Lappe, author, speaker, and activist, once stated that “Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”

Red Oak Industries is a social enterprise. It is driven to fulfill a social mission. It does business for a social purpose. For Red Oak Industries, the business is commercial cleaning and the mission is creating jobs for people with disabilities.

Like many other social enterprises, Red Oak Industries strives to minimize environmental impact. This leads to what the business world calls a “triple bottom line”: profit, social mission, and environmental impact. This triple bottom line is reflected in our slogan:

A Different Kind of Company

• Kind to Our Customers
• Kind to Our Employees
• Kind to Our Environment

Like other social enterprises, Red Oak Industries is a not-for-profit (NFP) entity. There is a common misconception that an NFP business or agency cannot generate a profit. While it is true that many NFPs rely upon a combination of grants, donations, or subsidies, there is nothing that prevents them from showing a profit. Conversely, a for-profit (FP) business may not show a profit at all. The difference between an NFP and a FP business lies primarily in what they can do with their profits.

An FP business can reinvest profits in itself, but can also distribute profits to its stakeholders. Indeed, the primary purpose of a traditional FP business is to increase stakeholder wealth. An NFP business does not have any legal ownership (a board of directors can act as stewards of the business, but do not have actual ownership) and therefore cannot increase their wealth. Instead, net profits from an NFP business must go back in to the business.

Therefore, most social enterprises operate as competitive businesses, out in the marketplace, trading goods and services for the purpose of serving a social mission.

Spending money with a social enterprise that offers quality goods and services, protects the environment, AND performs a social good, seems like a vote well cast.