EY Professionals Donate 3,120 Hours in 2017 Assisting Local Entrepreneurs in Mexico and Peru

NEW YORK, June 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, EY professionals have donated more than 3,000 hours to local, community-based projects in Mexico and Peru through the EY-Earthwatch Ambassadors Program, a collaboration between the EY organization and the Earthwatch Institute, a non-profit organization that engages people worldwide in scientific field research and education in sustainable environments.

Through the week-long program, 40 EY professionals traveled to Mexico or Peru to leverage their business and consulting skills to assist local entrepreneurs with improving business practices, as well as to conduct field research that promotes education in sustainable developments.

Now in its ninth year, the program has had more than 245 EY professionals participate, donating nearly 20,000 hours since its inception. The number of applications to take part in this year's program increased by 36 percent since last year, demonstrating the dedication of EY people to the organization's purpose to build a better working world. This year, Peru was also introduced as a new location.

"The EY-Earthwatch Ambassadors program offers an excellent opportunity for our people, particularly our young professionals, to immerse themselves in a new culture and leverage their skills in a non-traditional workplace," said Deborah K. Holmes, EY Americas Director of Corporate Responsibility. "Over the last nine years, we have witnessed the direct impact that this program has on our people and the quality of their work. Involvement in EY-Earthwatch Ambassadors strengthens participants' teaming skills and they return empowered to directly apply what they've learned offsite to their work at home. They also demonstrate higher engagement with EY."  

"One aspect of the program that stood out for me was the diversity of our team, which included colleagues from many member firms across geographies and with different backgrounds, skills and abilities. I learned so much about the other service lines at EY and how they compare across countries," said Mala Bingham, a campus recruiter on the Talent team of Ernst & Young LLP in Denver. "With the support of my EY-Earthwatch team, I was able to simultaneously collaborate and project manage, while also developing my public speaking skills. This experience reinvigorated my commitment to giving back to our communities and the earth. I gained confidence in my knowledge of sustainable initiatives and in my ability to explain the concepts to those in my sphere of influence."

2017 Expedition Highlights

In Peru, EY professionals provided operational recommendations to AmazonEco, a research expedition business that provides a sustainable financial strategy for holistic, conservation efforts in western Amazonia. Ambassadors also supported research staff by surveying a variety of wildlife species to better understand how climate change is impacting the area. Findings from the project are being used to develop conservation strategies with local indigenous communities.

In Mexico, Ambassadors helped to improve marketing and sales strategies for a local farming cooperative that aims to improve the health of the region's ecosystem. They also collected data for water quality in the Xochimilco wetlands, outside of Mexico City, as part of a study on the health of global freshwater ecosystems.

Learn more about EY Corporate Responsibility efforts here.

About EY

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This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm of EY serving clients in the US.

SOURCE EY