Community Relations

Michelle Obama Delivers Address on Community Relations at Best Bosses Conference
By Mark Harbeke

The culmination of the 2006 Best Bosses Conference & Celebration, held September 27, 2006 in Chicago, was a Plenary Address delivered by Michelle Obama. Obama is Vice President for Community and External Affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Her topic was “Creating Relationships Between Business and Community.”

Obama was selected by former Hospitals President and CEO Michael Riordan to head the organization’s Office of Community Affairs, and lead the Hospitals’ efforts to broaden its relationship with its neighborhood – Chicago’s South Side – and the city at large. As Obama said, her previous experience at the university (she was associate dean of students and later executive director for community affairs at the Hospitals) and that fact that she is a native South Sider gives her a “unique perspective of being both an insider and an outsider” to her employer.

In explaining why businesses and nonprofits alike should look at building a community relations program, Obama stressed that these types of programs are becoming more common in the U.S., with approximately 90 percent of large domestic companies investing some time, resources and funds in efforts to better relate to their communities. She also stressed that such efforts should make good business sense in addition to fulfilling the notion of being a good neighbor. This speaks to programmatic sustainability and the extent to which programs are line items in the budget. “When times are lean, when budgets are tight,” Obama said, “community relations activities are the first to go.”

The benefits for organizations that institute community relations programs include increased market visibility, strengthened brand value and enhanced reputations as good corporate citizens. The latter benefit has become increasingly important to many entities, and for good reason: A 2005 Golin Harris survey found that 40 percent of respondents take good corporate citizenship into account when making purchasing decisions. Obama said that focusing on community relations can also benefit employees by developing greater teamwork and raising the level of morale and company pride. For potential hires, such a focus can even better position a business as an employer of choice.