A letter from Michelle Gass, Kohl’s Chief Executive Officer
Kohl’s today announced its evolved Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform, released its 2018 CSR Report and shared a letter from Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass to our valued community partners.
Dear Community Partners,
As one of our valued community partners, I wanted to reach out to you today to both share my personal thank you for all you do to improve our local communities and to share news on our plans to recommit to our existing work and elevate our focus on supporting family health and wellness across the country.
When I joined Kohl’s six years ago, I was drawn to so many amazing things about this special company. In its most simple form, I was drawn to how Kohl’s serves millions of families by celebrating the lives they lead every day. While there is tremendous diversity among each unique family – every one of them has love at its core. Every parent wants the best for their child. Every family wants to provide a happy, healthy life and the ability to enjoy the journey of growing up together.
Our purpose at Kohl’s is anchored in families: to inspire and empower families to lead fulfilled lives. Kohl’s knows that families need support. They need to live in strong communities. They need to have advocates. They need a retailer like Kohl’s who can give them what they want to provide for their families at a great value. They need community partners like you to create the best environment for their kids.
When it comes to our philanthropic efforts, it is no surprise that Kohl’s has a long history of supporting what matters to all families – healthy kids. We are proud to have given more than $700 million to support communities nationwide by supporting partners like you. Thank you for all the work you’ve done and for allowing us to be a part of it.
Today, I'm excited to share that we are expanding our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform around one central focus: Family Health and Wellness. This next chapter expands our historic platform from children’s health to family health and wellness. This holistic approach will enable Kohl's to make a difference in the everyday wellness of families including physical, mental and emotional well-being.
It is impossible to raise a child anywhere in this country today without seeing the additional stressors that many kids face. So many kids and families struggle with depression, stress, anxiety, trauma, social pressures, and other factors that carry a heavy emotional burden. These factors affect their overall health and well-being dramatically and we want to do what we can to help. While I’ve always known the importance of keeping kids healthy and safe, I believe that struggling with emotional well-being is the epidemic of our time.
We are proud to continue our partnerships with each of you as you carry out your mission to support your community and all of the families that you serve.
Today, I’m proud to share that we are adding two new partners, and one new program with a long-time partner, to expand our CSR platform.
We are committing $2 million to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to create a new, innovative, family health and wellness initiative, Kohl’s Health at Home, that will encourage families to prioritize a healthy lifestyle in their home and wherever their children live, learn and play. The program, which is designed to address the growing rate of childhood obesity, will be rooted in evidence-based practices that set the foundation for positive life outcomes for children and family members, including improved health and behavioral and academic achievement.
We are gifting $3 million to the Boys & Girls Club of America to provide comprehensive social and emotional development training for staff and integrate emotional and social skills into all program curriculum, enabling Clubs across the country to take a holistic approach to the health and well-being of the youth they serve. This heightened focus and integration will provide more than four million kids and teens in Clubs across the country with resources and programming to develop the social and emotional skills they need to succeed in school, careers and life.
We recently announced a $5 million donation to the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to deepen our commitment to children and families and help create new programming that will enhance mental health services in Wisconsin. The grant will directly address the state’s need for greater access to mental health services for children and generate awareness about the impact a child’s mental health has on his or her holistic well-being.
These partnerships and programs support our commitment to being a strong corporate citizen through our philanthropic giving, our volunteer efforts and our sustainability efforts – all of which you can learn more about in our 2018 CSR Report that also published today.
Thank you for your partnership and for all of the work you do to make the communities we share better for all families. We are honored to continue our work together to support family health and wellness.
Sincerely,
Michelle Gass
