Mentoring in the community
Thursday, February 25, 2021
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.”
Steven Spielberg
One of our company’s cultural tenets is to give back. But we’re not prescriptive: we allow everyone to find their way to engage and support our communities. Each employee is encouraged to follow their passion and find a positive way to give their creative talent to an individual or organization.
One example of Territory’s community support is our collaboration with the AIGA Mentorship Program. The 90-day initiative pairs graduating design students from Portland State University, University of Portland, and George Fox University with local professionals. A student was paired with creative services head and co-founder, Matt Adams, to focus on portfolio-building and self-promotion in preparation for the transition from design student to professional designer.
Additionally, Territory has set an annual organizational budget dedicated to providing pro-bono consulting services to selected non-profits and solicits nominations for Community Support recipients from employees. An example of this work is the role of Board Chair which managing partner, Parker Lee plays with the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). Territory’s team has also helped RACC with its strategic framework, facilitated visioning sessions, and developing communication tools.
We also engage with our local community an active employer of interns from local universities, providing value for both parties by mentoring young adults about to move into the workforce and demonstrating new ways of working. Territory gains a perspective on how this generation sees and approaches work, enabling us to be more nimble and agile in recruiting and training new employees.
We think the words of Grant Bright sum up our “giving back” principle, “You reap what you sow: life is like a boomerang. Our thoughts, deeds, and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.”
