July 1, 2010

Community Service (MSO Wide): Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds (CAMM) program was unveiled at a White House event last November, with President Obama joining Time Warner Cable chief Glenn Britt and other business leaders touting efforts to strengthen America’s competitiveness by improving education and interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

The high-profile ceremony was fitting for a program that has a bold goal of connecting 1 million children to science and math programs by 2014. The cable operator is backing CAMM with $100 million in cash and in-kind resources.

But it’s dedicating much more than cash and media time to CAMM — the MSO’s employees are volunteering at science fairs, robotics competitions and other community events. They’re also hosting CAMM career days at Time Warner Cable offices nationwide.

CAMM also relies on using Time Warner’s cable infrastructure to teach science and math. In March, Time Warner Cable hosted more than 1,500 students at its offices for a "Cracking the Codes in the Digital World" event. Employees participating included EVPs Kevin Leddy, Jim Ludington and James Manchester.

"We developed a curriculum where we bring kids into our offices and they are exposed to how digital signals are transmitted and received," says Director of Strategic Philanthropy Tessie Topol.

A key focus of CAMM is the "Connectory," an online directory that parents can use to locate hundreds of science and technology programs for their children. Time Warner Cable also is using its CAMM Web site (connectamillionminds.com) to encourage adults to get students involved in after-school educational programs.

Time Warner unveiled a CAMM interactive TV application in May at The Cable Show that allows viewers to use their remotes to have a link to the CAMM Web site sent to their mobile phones. It’s the first interactive TV app dedicated to a corporate social responsibility program.

It’s easy to see why retiring Time Warner Cable public affairs champion Bonnie Hathaway lists CAMM as her proudest moment and "one of the most strategic and sophisticated projects I’ve been involved with, and the one from which I’ve learned the most (see p. 8)."