Today we’re excited to kick off audience voting for the Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Aspire Awards, our annual competition inviting youth around the world to creatively express their vision for driving change in local communities.

Over the past 12 weeks, we’ve received more than 1,100 submissions from 51 countries – a record high! We’ve narrowed the field to 20 finalists in each of our content categories, including animation, documentary, music video, narrative, poetry, photography, collage, and collaboration.

Beginning today through June 8, finalist entries will be showcased on our Aspire Awards website. We encourage you – our community members and supporters – to get involved by helping to select our Audience Award winners. You can cast your vote by viewing, commenting on, sharing, “liking,” tweeting, and retweeting your favorite entries.

During the audience voting period, an international panel of professionals working in art, film, and other
creative fields will additionally select first- and second-place winners in each content category and a special category for this year – the UNICEF Challenge – which invites entrants to develop a youth-led project utilizing innovative digital tools and/or digital engagement to bring positive change to their communities.

Winners in our standard content categories are eligible to win software, hardware, and a charitable donation to a cause of their choice. In addition, the UNICEF Challenge winners will receive grants valued at up to $40,000(USD), dedicated to implementing the winning project proposals. Winners’ entries from all categories will be featured at distinguished exhibitions, including international film festivals and other arts organization events.

We’ll announce winners in all categories in mid-June and celebrate the winners and their achievements at the 2013 AYV Summit in August.

To learn more about our commitment to igniting creative confidence in youth, visit our Adobe Youth Voices website. And be sure to watch this space to keep up with what’s happening with the AYV Aspire Awards!

Every year, I look forward to Earth Day. It’s an opportunity to assess how well we’re performing as responsible stewards of the environment, and reflect upon what more we can do. At Adobe, we pride ourselves on being recognized as a leader in sustainability and prioritize reducing our environmental footprint through our everyday operations.

This year, Adobe is celebrating “Be Green” month throughout April. In our offices worldwide, local Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Action Teams have hosted events and activities ranging from food waste reduction campaigns and paper waste reduction competitions to river and park cleanups, bicycle workshops and more. Below is just a snapshot of what our employees are doing around the globe:

• Bangalore – Employees are restoring Puttenhalli lake by painting each of the 23 rectangular dust bins that surround the lake and planting shrubs and flowers at the entrance.
• Boston – Employees started a “donate a mug from home” drive, reducing the use of paper coffee cups.
• London – The team organized a bake-off to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)’s Sky Rainforest Rescue Project.
• New York – Employees volunteered for “NY Cares Day” at the Fresh Creek Nature Preserve in Brooklyn, an area hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.
• San Jose, Calif. – San Jose employees will remove trash from the local San Jose Guadalupe River, which supports local fish and birds.
• Seattle – Adobe Seattle’s on-site bicycling community is hosting a bicycling expo event and encouraging employees to sign up for a “Bike to Work Challenge” during the month of May.

It’s inspiring to see Adobe employees’ passion and dedication to contributing to a healthy, sustainable environment in their local communities. For more information about Adobe’s CSR initiatives, visit our CSR page.

Last year, Adobe’s State of Create  global benchmark study revealed the existence of a major ‘creativity gap’ in five of the world’s largest economies. The research showed us that four in 10 people believed that they did not have access to the tools needed to support creativity in the classroom.

In response to this study, we felt compelled to address this creativity gap by designating more than $1 million to the Adobe Foundation’s Creativity Scholarships for youth. The Creativity Scholarships program was developed to support the next generation of creative thinkers and equip them with resources to apply creative confidence to advance their education in creative fields.

The scholarships provide financial support to high school seniors and students in their first year of post-secondary education who have participated in the Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) program and will be attending or continuing an accredited post-secondary degree or certificate program. This scholarship reinforces Adobe’s commitment to igniting creative confidence in youth and enables AYV participants to launch creative careers and find innovative ways to improve their communities through creative problem solving and expression.

At Adobe, we believe everyone is born with innate creativity and the Creativity Scholarships are designed to support this belief. The power of creativity is real, and unlocking the creative potential in students can lead to real change in communities around the world.

Please check out our AYV site for more info and be sure to keep an eye out for more Creativity Scholarship announcements in the coming weeks.

To apply, submit your application to www.adobescholarship.com by March 31, 2013. Full details can be found here.

People know Adobe for many reasons, many of which revolve around our technologies that help creative professionals bring their ideas to reality and that enable marketers to create and drive industry-leading campaigns based in smart math. At Adobe Summit this week in Salt Lake City, we are talking about our technologies and the future of the industry, and we have specials guests sharing some incredible stories of overcoming tremendous personal and professional challenges to do something amazing. But we also had the opportunity to share a side of Adobe that isn’t talked about as often as our technology.

Today, at our Digital Marketing Summit, we heard from a great mind – Sal Khan about the idea of breaking down barriers to revolutionize whatever you are passionate about. His work and the vision for the Khan Academy, a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere, inspired us and evoked a standing ovation from the Summit crowd. In one of those rare moments where I had the opportunity to proudly represent all Adobe employees, I announced that Adobe is donating $50,000 to the Khan Academy to further its groundbreaking approach to education and community change.

That was an incredibly special moment to be able to share with our customers and partners. Beyond our technologies, Adobe has a philanthropic side that does meaningful and inspirational work, but that at times takes a backstage to Adobe’s business initiatives. Adobe Youth Voices represents this side of Adobe, and was created to ignite creative confidence in youth, empowering them to find their voice and make it heard. To date, Adobe Youth Voices has created opportunities for over 120,000 youth. We have a vision of a world where the future creative and mathematical minds of tomorrow are not hindered by circumstance but have endless opportunities to succeed.

Beyond Adobe Youth Voices, our broadly reaching Adobe Foundation is funded by Adobe to leverage human, technological, and financial resources to drive social change and improve the communities in which we live and work. The Adobe Foundation supports innovative programs that further its mission and goals, and we are proud to support Khan Academy as a partner in creating opportunities for the world’s youth. I’m pretty excited about it and speak for all 11,000 Adobe employees in saying that we believe the work we do to better humanity is the most important work we can do.

Adobe believes creativity not only makes the world a more beautiful place, but it is also a critical component to addressing some of the most difficult challenges we face as a society.

The global State of Create report Adobe released last year revealed only one in four people believe they’re living up to their own creative potential. In response, we’ve aimed to address this “creativity gap” by further imbedding creativity into our products, communities and schools.

Through Adobe Youth Voices (AYV), Adobe’s global philanthropic commitment, we’re working to ignite creative confidence in youth by empowering them to find their voice and make it heard. In doing so, we can help them become more active and engaged members of their communities and society at large. As an extension of this commitment, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of this year’s AYV Aspire Awards competition.

Now in its second year, AYV Aspire Awards is a global, online challenge that invites youth to creatively express their vision for driving positive change in local communities. Participants can convey their ideas using a variety of visual storytelling methods, from videos to photo essays. In addition, a new category for this year – the UNICEF Challenge – invites youth to develop a video proposal for a project they’d like to implement.

The Aspire Awards call for entries is now open, and we’re looking forward to kicking-off online voting for the public in late April.

Last year’s entries showcased remarkable talent. Below are a few of our favorites.

It’s an exciting time for us – please check out our AYV site for more info, and keep an eye out for more AYV-related announcements in the coming weeks.

Hoodforts dispels misconceptions about “hooded” youth in the Mile End area of London.

Cambio Jovenes explores how youth can shape the world around us.

Keep Pushing is about the importance of persistence in the face of hardship.

Adobe’s newly remodeled open workspace on the 12^th floor of our San Jose headquarters’ West Tower was awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification for Commercial Interiors at the Platinum level – marking the first space to receive LEED-CI Platinum distinction at Adobe San Jose headquarters. Among the features of the 25,000 square foot open office space is natural light for all workspaces and enhanced energy management, resulting in a 50% reduction in energy use. Wood and glass from the old doors and offices have been recycled into dividers that define one of the many collaboration spaces on the floor. The open floor plan is flexible and improves collaboration, as communication is much easier within teams and across functional groups. Over time, Adobe’s goal is to expand this open, collaborative floor plan to most of its San Jose headquarters as well as other offices worldwide.

The company’s newest LEED Platinum CI certification is Adobe’s 23^rd LEED Certification and 17^th LEED certification at the Platinum level. I want to extend my congratulations to all who worked on this project. For more information about Adobe’s facilities initiatives, visit the Environment section of our Corporate Social Responsibility Page.

Earth Day is an annual reminder of the ways in which individuals can pitch in to do something for our planet. At Adobe, we are proud to be recognized as a green company and to empower employees to create a culture of environmental sustainability. This year, the Adobe Green Team and Action Committees setup multiple opportunities for employees to contribute to a healthy, sustainable environment not just for one day, but throughout the month of April. Here are some highlights of the earth friendly events and activities that employees participated in:

Waltham Fields Community Farms: Boston employees volunteered at Waltham Fields Community Farms with transplanting, weeding, mulching to help support the farm’s mission to grow produce for local soup kitchens, shelters and food pantries.

Employees at the Waltham Farms event

Fremont Street Clean: Seattle employees participated in the Fremont Street Clean to help pick up debris and trash from adopted streets near the Adobe office.

Guadalupe River Cleanup: right behind headquarters, Adobe has an adopted area of the Guadalupe River and every year, in honor of Earth Day, San Jose employees volunteer to remove trash from the river that supports local fish and birds.

Adobe Green Team SunShares program: the Adobe Green Team successfully launched a SunShares residential solar program, a new initiative that educated employees about solar energy through webinars and workshops, enlisted employees in the contractor vetting and selection process, and provided discounts on solar energy solutions for employee family members, friends, and neighbors in California and Washington. The April event was an end of the program celebration, which included employee testimonials about getting solar installed, cool sustainable giveaways, and a solar panel cake!

GRID Alternatives solar installation and fundraiser: a group of Bay Area employees volunteered with GRID Alternatives – a non-profit organization committed to empowering communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency services, equipment and training – to install a 3.88 kW solar system for a low-income family home in East San Jose. The Green Team and the San Francisco/San Jose Action Committees raised over $3,500, with donations matched by Adobe, for the GRID Alternatives workday to help bring the power of solar energy to a family in need.

Low-Carbon Living “Green Bag” Lunch and Learn: David Friedman, co-author of Cooler, Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living and deputy director of Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Vehicles Program, shared his thoughts around the most effective ways to cut our global warming emissions by twenty percent or more.

Community Garden Planting Day and Celebration: On April 23, Adobe kicked off the new Community Garden at the San Jose headquarters. Employees signed up in teams to adopt a garden box and planted their first seedlings. Guest speakers at the event included Rosalind Creasy, edible landscaping expert, and Rebecca Jepsen, “Ask a Master Gardener” Mercury News Columnist, who discussed warm weather planting.

Employees at the Community Garden

For more pictures of the Earth Day activities and other volunteer efforts in April, visit the Community Action Month album on the Adobe CSR Facebook page.

We are delighted to welcome Michelle Crozier Yates to Adobe as the new Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Executive Director of the Adobe Foundation. Michelle spent the last ten years at Warner Bros. Entertainment in Southern California where she was Director, and subsequently Vice President, of Corporate Responsibility. During that time, Michelle developed, implemented and oversaw the company’s corporate responsibility program at what is the world’s largest film and television studio. Michelle has a BA in International Relations from Tufts University, and an MBA in International Business & Corporate Responsibility from the London Business School.

Michelle joins us at a special time of the year. This month is Community Action Month, Adobe’s annual community involvement initiative where employees at sites all over the world show how they embody our “Involved” core value. Employees have the opportunity to participate in more than 70 different volunteer initiatives including sorting food at the local food bank, building playhouses for children, or assembling toiletry kits for families in need. We know that just a little bit of our time can have a big impact in local communities.  Although volunteering happens year round at Adobe, employees look forward to Community Action Month as a great way for teams across the company to dedicate some time away from work to come together to share the Adobe spirit of generosity and volunteerism. Last year, more than 1,200 Adobe volunteers gave more than 4,000 hours to local communities across the globe.  Adobe has a proud tradition of supporting our communities through volunteerism and we’re looking forward to even more employee involvement this year.

Curious about her background and why she decided to make the move from Warner Bros. to Adobe, we interviewed Michelle. Here is Michelle’s story:

Many companies have a Corporate Social Responsibility program, what makes Adobe’s unique?

Adobe’s CSR program is unique due to the commitment from leadership, some standout initiatives such as the Adobe Foundation’s outreach program, Adobe Youth Voices, and a sustainable facilities strategy. But fundamentally the core values of the company are truly embodied in an engaged employee population and responsible corporate citizenship.

Having been at Warner Bros. for 10 years, what intrigued you to join Adobe?

I was approached by recruitment at Adobe and although I wasn’t looking for a new position, once I researched Adobe as a company and their CSR work specifically, I was very impressed with everyone I met with and with the company’s commitment to building their CSR program and profile.  It seemed like a great new challenge and opportunity, and I love the culture here.

Looking at the many CSR initiatives that you’ve been involved with throughout your career, which one are you most proud of? Why?

Looking back, I am really proud to have created and implemented the Warner Bros.’ Impact worldwide employee giving program, which combined the giving of time and funds and has become the signature outreach and employee engagement program.  Since the launch, employee participation has grown every week and hit 35% in the first year, well surpassing the targets.  Millions of dollars have been contributed to community based organizations around the world and thousands of hours volunteered, and employees have really embraced it.  Programs like that contribute to overall employee recruitment, retention, engagement and loyalty, in addition to the benefits in the community.

What career advice would you give to someone who’s interested in pursuing a career in the CSR field?

CSR is an inter-disciplinary field, and to lead a CSR team or program, it’s important to be somewhat of a generalist, but one who has done a deep dive in many areas of CSR at some point in your career.  So for example, spend some time working with community organizations (from the corporate, nonprofit, or civic side), grappling with challenging supply chain issues such as human rights and resource use, gaining a deep understanding of the many facets of environmental sustainability, building and improving employee engagement programs, practicing strategic philanthropy, formally engaging with shareholders and other stakeholder groups….the list goes on.  But learn every area over time.

On the personal front, can you tell us something interesting about yourself that others may not necessarily know about you?

I have been an avid snowboarder for more than 20 years, having converted from skiing after my first ride.  I actually broke my arm on that very first day, but kept going back (and breaking a few more bones doing snowboardcross along the way!) because I just find it to be such an exhilarating experience.  I’ve become a lot more cautious now that I’m a parent, but I’m the first one on the lift on a nice powder day

Visit the Community Action Month album on Facebook for photos of our Adobe employees in action! Check back throughout the month for updates.

Also visit the Adobe Corporate Social Responsibility Facebook page to get the latest news on all of our CSR efforts.

A picture from our latest Community Action Month event with Habitat for Humanity

We’re excited to announce the release of Adobe & Environmental Sustainability – an Adobe CSR Brief, the first in a series of quarterly Adobe Corporate Social Responsibility reports. This quarter’s report focuses on Environmental Sustainability and highlights a few of our ongoing and new environmentally focused goals and initiatives.

• Achieve Net Zero consumption by 2015 in our United States owned facilities in San Francisco, San Jose and Boston
• Reduce the amount of product packaging used per unit by 40 percent by 2012, and 80 percent by 2014
• Expand our employee-led Green Team to all of our 12 major sites globally by 2015

We’re driving to have our U.S. facilities first to achieve NetZero consumption by 2015 because they are completely under Adobe’s control and  have become the standard by which all of our buildings worldwide are measured. We continue to work toward Net Zero at our other facilities worldwide.

As a result of our efforts, Adobe’s facilities in Noida, India were recently awarded LEED-EBOM (Leadership and Environmental Energy and Design – Existing Buildings: Operation and Maintenance) Silver certification. The 190,000 square foot building is our largest facility outside of North America and our second LEED certified facility outside the U.S.

Visit the Adobe Corporate Social Responsibility Facebook page to learn more.

Adobe Noida Offices

Our new Adobe sales office in Beijing, China recently received a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification from the USGBC. It is particularly distinctive as: Adobe’s first LEED certification outside of the United States; being one of only 24 LEED certifications in Beijing; and being one of only 160 LEED certifications in all of China. The certification of our Adobe facility in China underscores the company’s commitment to the sustainability of our global operations.

To reach Gold certification, the team in China worked closely with facilities in the United States to innovate on increasing our sustainability in the Beijing office:

• Reducing water consumption by 88%
• Realizing a 26% savings on lighting energy
• Reducing CO2 emissions by 2,772 KG/year
• Reusing furniture and lighting fixtures as much as possible
• Using “Cool Carpet” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Implementing green housekeeping with green-sealed products and recycling
• Using low-emitting construction materials to maintain a favorable indoor environment

There is always more to be done and we’ll continue to partner with experts from around the world to learn, innovate, and continuously evolve.