We Are Here For You! Toyota’s Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

Fabrication of face shields and collaboration to ramp up the manufacture of vital medical devices for hospitals

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA) continues to assist those in need with essential supplies, emergency relief and is providing on-going support to many local organizations and non-profits. These efforts include monetary, “in-kind” donations, plus utilizing several of the company’s North American facilities to fabricate face shields while collaborating with medical device companies to speed the manufacture of ventilators, respirators and other vital devices for hospitals.

“Toyota’s core value has always been to contribute to society in meaningful ways beyond providing mobility for our customers,” said Ted Ogawa, incoming CEO, TMNA. “With our plants idled and our dealers focused on servicing customers, we are eager to contribute our expertise and know-how in order to help quickly bring to market the medical supplies and equipment needed to combat the COVID crisis. Our message to the medical equipment community is we are here to help, please utilize our expertise.”

For medical device companies and related businesses seeking support in the areas of manufacturing, engineering, supply chain and purchasing, all inquiries can be sent to: ToyotaMPICsupport@toyota.com

The company has also taken several actions in support of curbing the spread of the virus and helping communities across North America, including:

• Face Shields: Working to produce 3-D printed face shields, and mass production will kick off early next week. The first distribution will be to MD Anderson in Houston, UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and other hospitals in Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan.

• COVID-19 Masks: Ready to produce COVID-19 masks, currently seeking partners for filters.

• Ventilators/Respirators: Finalizing agreements to begin working with at least two companies that produce ventilators and respirators to help increase their capacity.

• Toyota Production System Support Center (TSSC): Offering manufacturing/engineering know-how support to companies to increase their capacity for necessary medical supplies and equipment and will continue to be available to them. Currently working to support Hospitals/communities on organizing efficient drive-through COVID-19 testing sites. To learn more about TSSC click on the following:  https://www.tssc.com/

• Customer Financing: Toyota Financial Services (TFS) and Lexus Financial Services (LFS) are providing payment relief options to customers who are affected by COVID-19.  Affected lease and finance customers may be eligible to take advantage of finance contract payment extensions or lease deferred payments. TFS and LFS are also providing options to assist customers at or near the end of their lease who are impacted by the pandemic.

• Advertising: Toyota brand pulled its March sales event advertising and started running a new national ad campaign with an optimistic message to let our customers know that at Toyota, “We’re here for you.”
  • Lexus also will release its own advertising this week to reassure luxury customers that we put, “People First.”

• Donation of Supplies: Toyota has made significant donations to hospitals, emergency management teams, and first responders. Items donated include masks, safety glasses, shoe/boot covers, gloves, blankets, and cotton swabs.

• Community and Business Partnering Groups: Continue to make significant monetary donations to the United Way, food banks and other key non-profit organizations geared towards helping those in need.  In addition, the company’s Business Partnering Groups are providing mentoring, university lecturing, health and safety tips for employees, families and pets and additional ways to support the communities in which we operate.

For a complete list of donations from our Toyota companies, employees and dealers that are helping to assist local communities, please visit Toyota’s COVID-19 page at:  https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-donates-500000-to-the-united-way-for-covid-19-emergency-relief-needs/.

Toyota Supports First-Ever Bachelor’s Degree for Environmental Justice at Historically Black University Huston-Tillotson

Since the founding of the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in pre-Civil War America, the educational and social missions of the schools have evolved continuously, keeping step with the needs of students and society.

Toyota is moving into the future right along with them.

Since 2015, Toyota has donated $400,000 to HBCUs and Tom Joyner Foundation, investing in African American students with academic support, scholarships and programming.

Toyota is now sustaining its partnership by helping launch a new bachelor’s degree at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. This first-ever program within the college’s Center for Sustainability and Environmental Justice will meet the growing demand for solutions to critical environmental issues.

Created for African American students denied entry to white institutions of higher learning during segregation, HBCUs initially focused on traditional vocational trades and professions in law, medicine, theology, education and civic leadership. A cornerstone of social mobility for African Americans, HBCUs grew a diverse and talented workforce for the future, whether that future was the 20th or 21st century.

Responsive to shifting societal needs, the colleges are now creating programs to build on that foundation, and in the case of Huston-Tillotson will train the next generation of environmental stewards with an eye on the next century as well.

“We are committed to making sure our students have a seat at the table. When marginalized groups are excluded from environmental decision-making, we face devastating effects. Environmental justice is key to preventing future crisis,” said Dr. Colette Pierce Brunette, president of Huston-Tillotson University.

Donations from Toyota fund scholarships pinpointing promising high-need, high-achieving students interested in careers in environmental fields. In addition, they help with operational support to maintain and expand existing sustainability initiatives at the college.

“The burden of environmental damage most heavily impacts lower income communities, indigenous communities, and communities of color. Understanding the lack of diversity in environmental professions, it is Toyota’s goal to provide resources that strengthen more diverse representation in these fields,” said Al Smith, group vice president, Social Innovation for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). At the root of these initiatives is a recognition of the need for environmental justice, which posits that all people deserve equal access to a healthy environment. Marginalized communities will need specialized solutions and urban sustainability experts will lead the teams to innovate them.

Certainly, Toyota’s contribution to Huston-Tillotson is geared towards the same outcome as the company’s overall giving to HBCUs: boosting college retention and graduation rates for African American students. What this program offers in addition is an equity lens specifically trained to environmental issues. And though individual communities need solutions specific to them, of all social groups, the most inclusive is that of resident of this planet. In terms of a mission that needs all hands, all voices and all minds, there is none more crucial than the one to save our common home.

In addition to Huston-Tillotson, Toyota is providing contributions to the Tom Joyner Foundation for the following HBCUs:

1. Fisk University to the newly-created B.S. degree in Data Science.
2. Texas Southern University to the Urban Garden and Farmers Market program within the Mickey Leland Center on Hunger, Poverty and World Peace, within the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs.
3. Bennett College for Women to support the Mental Health and Wellness programming for students.
4. Cheyney University of Pennsylvania for the overall advancement of its students.

Burien Toyota Prioritizes Health of Employees and Customers

At Burien Toyota, the health and well-being of our customers, employees and associates is our top priority. You can be assured as standard operating procedure, we clean and sanitize both public and private areas of the dealership - Service waiting areas, Showroom, and Parts and Accessories Department - to our utmost ability.

We are taking extra precautions to limit the spread of germs by disinfecting surfaces and providing hand sanitizer in our common areas. Burien Toyota is disinfected every evening, and all Customer and Employee Areas continue to be disinfected regularly throughout the day.

But if you would rather not venture into public spaces at this current time, we certainly understand. That's why WE DELIVER! And you can even find your next vehicle, buy and process most paperwork online in our Express Store.

And as part of good Hygiene Practices, we are reminding our employees, staff, guests and valued customers to please remember to:

• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a sleeve or a tissue.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Burien Toyota has been here for generations. Working together, we'll get through this Coronavirus scare. If you have any questions or concerns, please call me: Pat Dillon, General Manager. 206.243.0700 

2020 Winners of Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest Announced

Protecting our environment and imagining a better world are among the themes of the award-winning futuristic car designs by nine young artists selected as the U.S. Winners of the 2020 Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest.

This year’s nine U.S. Winners were chosen by a national panel of judges who assessed artwork by 41 U.S. finalists; the latter of which had been selected by Toyota team members and dealer employees nationwide from a pool of 97 U.S. semi-finalists. At 1,700, the contest received a record number of artwork submissions this year, reflecting nearly a 100% increase over last year. All artwork submissions were entered in one of three categories (4-7 years; 8-11 years; and 12-15 years) and judged within their age group for artistry, uniqueness, and execution of concept.

“The brilliance of all the youth who submitted this year is astounding. Their art integrated several of Toyota’s strategic focus areas including mobility, environmentalism, and diversity, with an unrestrained, youthful lens,” said Mike Goss, General Manager, Social Innovation, Toyota Motor North America & President, Toyota USA Foundation.

“I’m so honored and excited to help judge for the Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest. It’s deeply inspirational to see the dreams and ideas created by this amazing young talent,” said Jay Ward, Creative Director of Franchise, Pixar Animation Studios.

While the geographic reach and demographics of the contest are quite diverse, this year’s winners are all girls from one of four states: California, Michigan, New Jersey and Washington. For a full list of U.S. winners, U.S. finalists, and U.S. semi- finalists for the FY20 Toyota Dream Car Art Contest organized by state and award level, click here.

U.S. WINNERS – Age Category 1 (4-7 Years)

Gold Award: Bubble Water Car by Khloe Wang, age 7, South El Monte, CA

Silver Award: Toyota Magical Puzzle Car by Vera So, age 7, Irvine, CA

Bronze Award: Toyota Phoenix Car by Olivia L. Foh, age 7, San Jose, CA

U.S. WINNERS – Age Category 2 (8-11 Years)

Gold Award: The Jellyfish Car by Grace Sun, age 9, Livingston, NJ

Silver Award: Surrealism Car by Ashley Han, age 11, Ann Arbor, MI

Bronze Award: The Eco Car by Lynn Sun, age 11, Livingston, NJ

U.S. WINNERS – Age Category 3 (12-15 Years)

Gold Award: Flourish & Rebloom by Celine Lee Min, age 15, Bellevue, WA

Silver Award: The Memory Car by Jennie Mingzhen Wei, age 14, Novi, MI

Bronze Award: Phoenix Dream Car by Katherine Wang, age 15, Mercer Island, WA

Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan held the first worldwide contest in 2004. Nearly 90 countries now host their own national contests under the same rules but with varying artwork submission periods. To learn more about the world contest, visit www.Toyota-DreamCarArt.com. For information about the U.S. Contest, visit www.ToyotaDreamCarUSA.com.

5 Things to Do During Quarantine in Burien

All of Washington State residents are living through a historic...and uncertain... time. With the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the Burien area hard, most of us are under voluntary quarantine. While it is a challenging time, it can also be a time for opportunity. There are many lists and ideas for parents trying to keep kids busy who are home from school, so how about some other ideas to keep you from going stir crazy.

• 
• Seahurst Ed Munro Park. Being outside in the fresh air and walking the trails (with plenty of social distancing between other park goers) is a good way to prevent cabin fever.
• Read classic book! We suggest making a goal of at least 1 book per every 2 weeks of quarantine. Here's one list of the 100 Classic Books (although there are others); one of our favorites is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. 
• Sign up for free Ivy League college courses! Have you always wanted to learn more about history, literature, computer science, art, or business? You can sign up for free courses from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and more. Get a list of courses here.
• Learn a new skill. Have you always wanted to learn to crochet, do origami, or make furniture? Quarantine is a great time to devote some time to learning. YouTube is full of great tutorials for pretty much anything!
• Donate blood! While you can't technically do this in your home, it could save lives. As long as you exhibit no symptoms, call your local blood bank and find out how you can donate because there is a shortage right now.

What are your ideas if you are staying home for the next couple weeks?

Pushing Boundaries with Lakey Peterson

For female athletes, the surfing world has an almost literal glass ceiling: “Girls don’t land aerials.” Since she was 14 years old, U.S. Olympic Hopeful and Team Toyota athlete, Lakey Peterson, has been blowing that misconception right out of the water.

Growing up in Santa Barbara, California, Peterson was naturally drawn to the ocean. Though she got her start as a competitive swimmer, she quickly discovered that her real passion was surfing. In 2009, at just 14 years old, Peterson qualified to compete in the Open Women’s/ Governor’s Cup final, the championship of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA).

“I was new on the scene, a bit of a dark horse,” she says. “I was kind of feeling, ‘Wow, no one believes me. No one even knows who I am.’ So, I went out and was like, ‘I made this national event, so I’m going to just try and do it in the air.’”

That last-minute decision made quite the splash: Peterson became the first female to complete an aerial maneuver in competition — and won the championship. (Those types of maneuvers had been much more common for men at the time). Given the unpredictable nature of the action sport, it’s this kind of adaptability that helps Peterson succeed in the surfing world.

“The ocean is always changing,” she says. “It can really humble you like that. You have to learn how to be adaptable.”

Surfing culture may have a laid-back, flexible attitude, but that doesn’t mean that the athletes take competition lightly. “Everyone trains so hard,” she says.

And now that surfing is making its debut at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 — something Peterson thought she would not get to see during her professional career — she’s in the water for two to four hours a day working on some moves she hopes to debut on the Olympic stage.

“I always try to be pretty progressive,” she says. “The progression of the aerial side of things has just escalated like crazy in the last 10 years, but it’s still not that common for girls.”

Still, Peterson is not done pushing. Next, she wants to devote her energy toward promoting women’s participation and involvement in surfing.

“I think the next step for women’s surfing is getting girls to be more comfortable with doing airs and being more out there,” she says. “I’m kind of committed to pushing boundaries that people think they can’t break. It’s definitely something that I practice and is on my mind, 100%.”

And anytime her confidence wavers, Peterson takes herself back to the 2009 Nationals.

“That was the moment I started my impossible because I think a lot of people just thought ‘girls don’t do that,’” she says. “It’s impossible or it’s not normal for them to try.”

“I decided, ‘No, I’m going to go do it. I know I can do it.’ That was a turning point for me, when I realized I can make anything possible.”

To learn more about Lakey Peterson, click here

Toyota Financial Services Offers Payment Relief to Customers Affected by Tennessee Tornados

Toyota Financial Services (TFS) announced it is offering payment relief options to its customers affected by the recent tornados which struck Tennessee earlier this month. This broad outreach includes any Toyota Financial Services (TFS) or Lexus Financial Services (LFS) customer in the designated disaster areas.  

Toyota Financial Services cares about the safety and well-being of its customers, and wants to help those impacted by these storms.  Impacted lease and finance customers residing in the devastated areas may be eligible to take advantage of several payment relief options, some of which include:

• extensions and lease deferred payments
• redirecting billing statements
• arranging phone or online payments

Toyota Financial Services will proactively attempt to contact customers in the affected areas, via email, to assess their needs and inform customers of the options available to them.

Customers who would like to discuss their account options are encouraged to contact TFS or LFS:

Toyota Financial Services customers may call 800-874-8822 or contact TFS via email using the Mail Center function after logging into ToyotaFinancial.com.

Lexus Financial Services customers may call 800-874-7050 or contact LFS via email using the Mail Center function after logging into LexusFinancial.com.

We extend our heartfelt thoughts to those affected by these devastating storms.

African American Auto Dealers and Toyota’s Commitment to Diversity

From Left to Right: Rod Heliare, general sales manager, Coliseum Lexus of Oakland; Ed Fitzpatrick, dealer principal, Coliseum Lexus of Oakland, plus dealer principle and owner, Valley Lexus, Modesto, Calif.; Ron Fortt, general manager, Coliseum Lexus of Oakland. Photo taken at Coliseum Lexus of Oakland, in Oakland, Calif.

In the U.S. automotive industry, the contributions of African Americans are woven into the fabric of every sector, beginning with the early days of manufacturing and assembly.

Of these contributions, dealer ownership offers the newest path to financial independence for African Americans in automotive and the chance to achieve economic equality. That’s why Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) has worked to open barriers and increase opportunities with organizations like the Toyota Lexus Minority Owners Dealership Association (TLMODA) and Toyota Dealer Investment Group (TDIG), which make available important resources and strategic support for owners.

Such initiatives are part of TMNA’s commitment to creating environments where diversity and inclusion thrive, and team members at all levels are supported in an uplifting, engaging and encouraging environment that promotes success.

Charting a New Path

The journey towards socioeconomic mobility started with a physical journey.

In response to harsh segregationist laws, bleak financial opportunities and racial injustices, from 1916 to 1970 approximately six million African Americans relocated from rural, southern states to cities in the North, Midwest and West seeking jobs in the expanding industrial economies of those regions.

“When African Americans left the south as part of The Great Migration, the auto industry is what they were coming to,” says Frank Washington, an auto industry historian and civil rights activist. “They were coming to jobs. We’re talking about people who came from a culture where the day was set by the sun, to a culture where the day was set by a timeclock.”

For the first time, it was an opportunity for many African Americans to participate in America’s prosperity.

Sanford (Sandy) Woods receiving NAMAD Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. Sandy owns Treasure Coast Toyota of Stuart and Treasure Coast Lexus. Sandy is the Immediate Past President of Toyota Lexus Minority Owners Dealership Association (TLMODA) and a NAMAD Board Member.

Driving Diversity  

While working inside the auto plants represented progress, African American workers longed to hold larger, decision-making roles in other areas of the industry. TMNA recognized the importance of empowering all of its team members, and to do that effectively and successfully, diversity needed to be reflected across the organization.

For Wilburt James, former president at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, ensuring that team members were represented in leadership roles within the company became a priority. “I had a passion, and that was around diversity and inclusion,” says James, who was appointed to lead the plant in 2010. “How can you expect women and people of color to feel truly, fully engaged in an environment where they are not in the places where the discussions and decisions are being made? Now, diversity and inclusion are a pretty significant part of what Toyota is. Our entire company is a far, far better place because we have been able to have those kinds of discussions.”

Ellenae Fairhurst receiving NAMAD Women of the Year Award in 2018. Ellenae is the 1st and only AA women to own a Lexus dealership. She owns Lexus of Huntsville.

Empowering Dealers

Increasing opportunities for women and people of color extends well beyond TMNA’s plants and offices. Through the TDIG and Toyota Avenues for Advancement Program (TAAP), the company is similarly dedicated to empowering diversity in its dealer network.

One of the newer frontiers for diversity in the industry, minority-owned dealerships are expanding thanks to these programs, which help identify potential dealer candidates through partnerships with organizations like the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealer (NAMAD), dedicated to promoting minority dealers in the United States.

For example, TDIG supports Toyota and Lexus by providing capital, plus operational and management support, to qualified dealerships, including those that are minority-owned. And partnerships with organizations such as NAMAD foster entrepreneurship and empower African American dealers — a step toward combatting the inequalities and obstacles that historically stifle opportunity.

Ed Fitzpatrick receiving NAMAD Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Ed owns Coliseum Lexus of Oakland and Valley Lexus. Ed is an early collaborator with NAMAD.

African American dealers further that reach by investing in the communities where their dealerships are located.

As Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, says, “You look at all the direct and indirect support that a dealership provides within that community, it plays an intricate role creating a circle of life of how cash circulates through the community.”

Indeed, the circle of life is seen in the dealerships themselves, as African American economic opportunity and influence builds on the foundation laid by the workers of the Great Migration. Says Lester, “The role that black dealers play today is as pillars of the community.”