The commitment to development of Brazil and the investment in social actions is a reality for Grupo Votorantim, ever since its foundation in 1918. Due to business expansion and modernization of the corporative practices in this area, the need to have higher synergy among the several social initiatives has become an essential point. The Instituto Votorantim was born in 2002 due to this evidence.

Nowadays, the Institute is a knowledge area dedicated to Corporative Social Responsibility (CSR) and to Group Sustainability. Its duty is to stimulate the debate and the CSR practice at the Group’s companies and qualify the social and cultural investments accomplished by the Business Units, establishing an acting guideline.

Thus, the Instituto Votorantim guides the Group’s companies to conduct and qualify its external social investments (ESI), as well to help in the interface with communities that are being introduced. For that, the Grupo Votorantim has chosen young people from 15 to 24 years old as a strategic focus of its acting. With a talent for enterprising and work, the Grupo Votorantim wishes to provide opportunities of professional qualification and education for young adults, and to help them to be winners in life, influencing in a positive manner their families, schools, communities and society.

Besides investing its own resources in education and professional qualification for young adults, Votorantim uses fiscal resources in a responsible way and aligned to public policies. Through VIA Votorantim (Votorantim Program of Support to the Statute of Children and Adolescents), that guides the destination of companies from the Group to the Fund of Children and Adolescents Rights (FIA), the Group qualifies the Municipal Council of Rights of Children and Adolescents (CMDCA). The investment in cultural projects also has the young adult as priority. Through the “Cultural Democratization Program” (Law Rouanet and Audiovisual Law), projects from all cultural areas are supported, which are committed to increasing and improving the young adults access to several artistic manifestations.