CIR is the 2024 Social Impact Business of the Year!

It was our honor to receive the 2024 Social Impact Business of the Year at the 7th Annual Prism Awards. The recognition celebrates purpose-driven businesses that positively impact the community. We were the co-winner of the award, sharing the honor with Adam & Sons Auto Repair and Service. The recognition is through the Southern Colorado Impact Group, a nonprofit partner organization associated with the Better Business Bureau. Social Impact Business of the Year is their highest recognition.

To qualify for the award, a business must demonstrate a clearly defined social, environmental, and/or community impact, that also shows sustainability in terms of profit and growth. Eligible businesses must be able to measure their impact as well as demonstrate a high degree of customer satisfaction.

In our case, we were nominated for the award for our commitment to having a triple-bottom-line. Specifically, we were recognized for our efforts to hire individuals with significant barriers to employment. Starting in 2017, we have specifically sought to extend job opportunities for people with disabilities, individuals coming out of homelessness, refugees, and people coming out of the criminal justice system. Over 25% of our current staff have barriers to employment. We feel that hiring individuals with barriers makes sense. While these individuals sometimes require a creative approach to training and job development, the added investment often pays off exponentially. When given the tools to be successful, individuals with barriers can become incredible assets to any work team.

We adopted our social mission because we believe social enterprise is good business. We believe the right to do business in our community comes with an obligation to be a good member of our community. We must earn the support of our customers by demonstrating we are invested in making the community we all love better.

We are humbled by this recognition. We hope our moment in the spotlight will inspire other businesses to consider hiring individuals with barriers.