Toyota's Sustainability Program Steers into Broccoli City Festival for Earth Day Celebration

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Apr 24, 2015, 09:00 ET

TORRANCE, Calif., April 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- What do Lance Gross, Toyota and the Broccoli City Fest have in common? An all-out Earth Day celebration with performances by Erykah Badu, Jaden and Willow Smith, and more.

Designed to educate students, faculty and alumni of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) on the benefits of adopting a sustainable lifestyle, Toyota's environmental stewardship program, the Toyota Green Initiative (TGI), is culminating its 2014 tour celebrating Earth Day at the environmentally conscious music festival Broccoli City Fest in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 25, 2015.

As this year's automotive sponsor, TGI will be on site with its coalition - a group of celebrities and sustainability experts and enthusiasts who advocate for green living - including Grey's Anatomy actor and Howard University alum Lance Gross, environmental advocates Earthseed and green blogger Yoli Ouiya. The TGI coalition will share their commitment to environmental progress and innovation through various seminars and DIY presentations including, but not limited to:

TGI Challenge

Sign up to take the TGI Challenge where participants will have the opportunity to receive a donation from TGI that can fulfill any green project in their community. Participants will have to complete four activities (ride and drive, fitness class, TGI seminar and a green action) and enter a raffle for their chance to win.

Green Your Passion

TGI Coalition members will host a panel discussion about innovative technology, touching on hybrid technology and how it relates to green entrepreneurialism.

DIY Juice Bar

Consumers will be able to create their own juices from select locally-grown organic vegetables and fruits. Coalition members will share recipes and share how to green your body.

Food for Your Soul

Coalition members will discuss food and how purchasing and consuming food can have an impact on the environment. Consumers will have an opportunity to taste healthy food alternatives.

Green Tech

Attendees will learn about eco-technology products and sustainable brands.

Follow all TGI action at Broccoli City Fest with #ToyotaGreen.

TGI's Broccoli City Fest culmination follows a year where the automaker set out to inspire and spark conversations around sustainability and environmental awareness at HBCUs and their local communities through partnerships with Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) conferences, and day of service activities that included greening local community centers. TGI kicked off 2014 with a Toyota Prius vehicle delivery program in which all 22 SWAC and CIAA HBCUs received a one-year leased Prius vehicle to assist in driving the Toyota "green" initiative forward.

TGI Serve: An Earth Day of Action
Leading up to Broccoli City Fest on Friday, April 24, 2015, volunteers are invited to give back and green the Blind Whino SW Arts Club (700 Delaware Avenue SW) at TGI Serve, an Earth Day of Action in conjunction with Dreaming Out Loud. Participants will have the opportunity to green one of D.C.'s most unique centers of learning and community impact in urban agriculture. Activities will include, garden and community clean-up activities, planting spring/summer crops, light bulb replacement and more.

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've assembled more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 40,000 people (more than 32,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks (more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) in 2013 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. For more information about Toyota, visit http://www.toyotanewsroom.com.

SOURCE Toyota