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WHAT IS THE CHALLENGE?

Most of our employees live in rural communities across North America where our mills, distribution centers, timberlands and other offices are located. These small towns are often built around a history of forestry and manufacturing as well as a deep appreciation for outdoor activities and experiences closely tied to forests.

Society at large benefits from thriving rural communities and landscapes because they are often crucial sources of water, food, energy and recreation for all people, no matter where they live.

In some rural areas, however, the barriers to economic and social prosperity can be difficult to overcome, particularly in communities that lack access to good job opportunities, are experiencing population declines or other demographic shifts. According to many reports, the lasting negative effects of the Great Recession have . More recently, there have been  due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A declining population in these areas is both the cause and effect of limited employment opportunities. Education, technology and infrastructure are often underfunded, especially for communities of color and other marginalized people, and rural communities often experience limited access to critical services such as healthcare and higher education.

WHAT IS OUR ROLE?

As a company with operations in many rural areas, we play a significant role by providing family-wage jobs with opportunities for growth, a stable tax base, recreational access to our land and philanthropic support to local organizations. Our employees are also extremely active volunteers for causes they care about, and many are engaged in civic leadership or are otherwise part of the fabric of these communities.

At the same time, we are acutely aware of the challenges these communities face, and we are motivated to help ensure they remain great places to live, work and do business for decades to come.

We believe permanent and successful solutions require a combination of national attention, resources and leadership combined with grassroots organization and engagement. Nobody is better equipped to chart a future for a community than the people living and working in it every day, and we intend to leverage our resources and experience to participate in initiatives that support their priorities.

WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE BY 2030?

By 2030, we envision real, measurable improvements in how we, and those we partner with, ensure rural communities are great places to live, work and do business. We view the health and vibrancy of our communities as integral to our long-term success as a company, and we expect to drive meaningful growth in how we engage with, invest in and otherwise support our operating areas.

WHERE WE ARE FOCUSED FOR PHASE 2 (2023 – 2025)

While there is much we can accomplish over a decade, we have structured our long-term goals into three-year phases to effectively prioritize and accelerate progress. Currently, we are midway through the second phase of our 3 by 30 Communities Sustainability Ambition – running from 2023 to 2025 – and we are focusing on two key areas:

PHASE 2 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

During the second phase of our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, from 2023 to 2025, we are intentionally making fewer, but more strategic, investments of our time and resources. While much of our Phase 2 work is ongoing, early accomplishments include:

• The announcement of our new THRIVE program to provide targeted support to five of our rural operating communities. Each community will receive an investment of $1 million from ÇÑ×ÓÊÓƵ over the next several years.
• The selection of Zwolle and the northwest Louisiana region as our first THRIVE community. Our team has begun working with local elected officials and community leaders to determine critical needs and best uses for the investment.
• The launch of our Learn Local, Earn Local program to support workforce development and youth education in our rural operating communities. We awarded each of our local Giving Committees additional funds to support such efforts in their areas; expanded national partnerships with organizations such as Project Learning Tree, Be Pro Be Proud and Jobs for America’s Graduates; and engaged employees in youth education activities.
• Grew our Fighting Fires Together campaign, developed in partnership with , to provide specialized mental-health support and resources to wildland firefighters.
• We continued our partnership with Habitat for Humanity International, completing three additional local housing builds in 2023 in Monroe, Louisiana, Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and Hot Springs, Arkansas.

To ensure transparency and accountability, we will continue sharing our accomplishments and baseline measures from Phase 2 semi-annually.

FOUNDATIONAL SUCCESSES FROM PHASE 1 (2020 – 2022)

In the first phase of our work to achieve our 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambitions, we laid the groundwork for meaningful progress toward our goals. We accomplished 70 percent of the action items we set out to achieve in the rural communities category; remaining actions were rolled into Phase 2 or set aside in favor of more effective tactics.