Our Culture : Our Company : GE
The African American Forum (AAF) mission is to strengthen African American employees at GE through professional development, career management, and mentoring that will enable retention and growth. The forum also works to strengthen the bonds between GE and its local African American communities.
GE’s diversity initiative is aimed at improving the company’s competitiveness by increasing the representation, development, promotion, and retention of women, people of color, non-U.S. citizens, and others with diverse backgrounds. While the AAF is just a piece of the workforce diversity of GE, it has proven the power of diversity.
AAF activities expose individuals to business and functional leaders at many levels throughout all GE businesses and increase their potential for contributing to the success of GE. At the same time, the AAF exists to provide focused communication to the company’s management on the barriers to achieving a work force climate that values cultural diversity.
In addition to providing members with access to others of a similar background and the benefits of their experience at GE, the AAF has provided training in recruitment, orientation, development, exposure and promotion to thousands of employees throughout the country each year. This development furthers the AAF’s interest in fostering culturally diverse managers in the Executive Band and higher management ranks.
The AAF also works to strengthen bonds with African American communities through community programs such as holiday food drives, sponsoring/serving holiday dinners for the homeless, UNCF telethons, walk-a-thons, assistance to Habitat for Humanity projects, and numerous other projects in the neighborhoods where employees live and work. Community exposure supports recruitment through direct contact and demonstrates that GE values cultural diversity.