Pandemic Responses Help Crocker Partners and Cumulus Media Earn Top Honors
Livable Buckhead presents Triple Bottom Line and Mobility Champion Awards
ATLANTA – April 15, 2021 – In a year defined by the global coronavirus pandemic, businesses and their employees faced countless challenges that tested their creativity, adaptability and resilience. Two Buckhead businesses – Crocker Partners and Cumulus Media – responded to COVID in ways that not only protected employee and tenant health, but also boosted sustainability and mobility efforts. Today, Livable Buckhead recognized the efforts of Crocker Partners and Cumulus Media by presenting them with the Triple Bottom Line and Mobility Champion awards.
“It was an incredibly challenging year, but it also presented amazing opportunities for companies to take a fresh look at their operations and find ways to improve,” said Denise Starling, executive director of Livable Buckhead. “Crocker Partners and Cumulus Media embraced those opportunities and didn’t just keep things running but made improvements to sustainability and mobility that will continue to pay off in a post-pandemic world. We are thrilled to honor them for their achievements.”
The Triple Bottom Line award recognizes a Buckhead company or organization that has demonstrated success in the development and implementation of programs, projects, or policies that drive sustainability forward in the community. Crocker Partners Property Management is receiving the award for its work at Prominence Tower. Numerous updates to the building ensure the health and safety of its occupants during the pandemic, while recycling and waste management programs, use of renewable energy sources, and water reclamation and greywater irrigation improve environmental performance for the long haul.
Health and wellness are also important components of Prominence Tower’s efforts, and during the pandemic Crocker Partners offered weekly online fitness classes and educational webinars for remote workers at no charge. Prominence Tower recently earned Fitwel star rating, a rigorous, third-party healthy building certification system operated by the Center for Active Design (CfAD) that sets the industry standard for evidence-based strategies to promote positive health outcomes for building occupants and communities – and is the only building in the state of Georgia to achieve this version of the certification. In addition to this certification, the building achieved both LEED Gold and Wired Certified Platinum designations in 2020.
The Buckhead Mobility Champion award recognizes an employer that has demonstrated success in the development and implementation of a commute alternative program that aims to mitigate traffic congestion, reduce auto emissions and improve quality of life for their employees. Cumulus Media has earned the award for its successful telework program, which the company created in consultation with with Livable Buckhead in 2018. Cumulus implemented policies and procedures to enable about 20 employees to telework on a full-time basis, and another 100 employees to telework occasionally. These guidelines created consistency across the organization and built trust in the program, which was a critical factor in the Cumulus’ ability to quickly and successfully scale it to all 4,000 employees during the pandemic.
The company-wide experiment with teleworking has “blown apart the stereotypes and the concepts of what could be remote and what couldn’t be remote,” Cumulus’ chief human resources officer Todd McCarty said. Now the company is making plans for a hybrid workplace that will bring some employees back to the office full-time but will allow for a much larger number of people to continue working remotely indefinitely.
Livable Buckhead presented the awards to Crocker Partners and Cumulus Media during the April 15 meeting of the Buckhead Business Association. Katie Gable, mobility services program manager for Livable Buckhead, spoke to the group about how to implement flexible workplace strategies as they make plans for employees to return to the office.
For more information about Livable Buckhead, visit livablebuckhead.org.
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About Livable Buckhead
Livable Buckhead is a nonprofit organization that strives to ensure the long-term viability and prosperity of the Buckhead community. The organization achieves its mission by working cooperatively with individuals, public entities and private businesses to integrate sustainable strategies. Livable Buckhead implements programs related to greenspace, recycling, energy efficiency, commute alternatives, arts and culture, real estate development and land use. For more information about Livable Buckhead and its programs, visit livablebuckhead.org.
