Month: March 2023

As Chief Diversity Officer, Calvin Hilton oversees all aspects of the diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) strategy at Bread Financial. This year, he’s also one of three Executive Champions for the company’s Operation Feed campaign. What could be more equitable, he asks, than ensuring everyone has access to a necessity?

“If you don’t have your basic needs met, like hunger, it’s hard for you to function in any part of society,” Calvin said. “So, the fact that our company has taken on this vision of helping people who are food insecure has been phenomenal, because it is so basic for everyone.”

Operation Feed is Bread Financial’s second-largest annual fundraising campaign, and as an Executive Champion, Calvin encourages all associates to give of their time and treasure – as they are able – to help stamp out hunger in their communities. Since 2017, he has served as a board member of the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) in Plano, Texas, which directs 95 percent of its resources to hunger relief programs across 13 counties in the Lone Star State.

“We are committed to helping nourish and feed North Texas,” Calvin said. “But it’s hard to tell where people are in terms of food security. Don’t make assumptions based on what you see on the outside. Some people want to look good no matter what, but really, they’re hurting inside.”

According to the NTFB, one in six people in North Texas goes hungry every single day, and one in five children is food insecure. At least once per month, Calvin volunteers his time to help this population, packing and serving meals at the food bank. In February, he helped assemble 12,000 weekend hunger packs for children who normally rely on school breakfasts and lunches for their daily meals.

“It was pretty phenomenal,” he said. “And that’s why I do this – it makes a difference. It changes people’s lives. That week, I knew a child was going to be enjoying a pack we made.”

Learn more about Operation Feed in the Q&A with Calvin below.

What is your personal “why” for participating in Operation Feed?

The thought that a child is going to go home and not know where their next meal is going to come from – or is going to be hungry until next Monday when they go back to school – that’s frightening. If a child doesn’t have a good meal or if they go to school hungry, how do they concentrate and get their work done? Those are things we take for granted, but this is about equity. If they can’t progress at school and if their grades suffer, they have other long-term issues down the road. I will personally participate in any way I can to stamp out hunger for children and their families; that’s just near and dear to my heart.

How does tackling food insecurity support Bread Financial’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts?

We all give off a persona in terms of who we are. My wife ran into a church member at a food bank who we see every Sunday. Hard times had fallen upon this person and his wife, so they were at a food bank trying to get the bare necessities. If you saw them outside the food bank, you would never have suspected anything was wrong. When I think about DE&I and the work we do, when we start to spend a little bit more time with folks and we dig a little deeper, we find there are things people carry with them every day that we don’t see.

Why do you believe it is so difficult to eradicate food insecurity?

As one of the most prosperous countries in the world, we have the ability to stamp hunger out, but there are so many other competing priorities. Also, there is a certain amount of pride to overcome. Think about what it takes as an individual to make that first step into a food pantry and say, “I need help.” In many ways, you have to set aside your pride to get help, and that is really hard.

How would you encourage Bread Financial associates to help fight food insecurity in their communities?

Each of us has a story. Each of us has someone in our life who we care about that is struggling. Take the baby step of trying to help someone do something. Or else, volunteer anywhere! It doesn’t have to be related to Operation Feed. We have multiple opportunities through Bread Financial to go out and make a difference. I look at it this way: We have been blessed at this company to have wonderful careers. We have been given a lot. So, it will make you feel good on the inside to make a difference for somebody else.

Originally published on Built From Scratch

ATLANTA, March 28, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The Home Depot Foundation announced a commitment of up to $200,000 to support immediate disaster relief and long-term recovery efforts in communities impacted by the devastating tornado outbreak across Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Less than 24 hours after the storms, the Foundation’s nonprofit partners set up operations to provide immediate support to many of the affected areas. American Red Cross is on the ground providing shelter and distributing meals, while Convoy of Hope and Operation Blessing deliver much-needed supplies, including disaster relief kits, water, meals, hygiene kits and more, to those in need. Team Rubicon, Inspiritus, World Central Kitchen and ToolBank Disaster Services are assessing damage and gathering necessary tools to begin recovery and distribution efforts.

In Monroe County, Mississippi, Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, is working with first responders and local organizations to distribute essentials and help with debris removal. Dozens more associates will travel to the area in the coming days to help with cleanup and immediate needs.

“Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by these devastating tornadoes that took so many lives and left a trail of destruction across several states,” said Shannon Gerber, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. “With the help of our nonprofit partners, we are providing resources and relief supplies to the affected communities, and we will continue to provide support as needed throughout the recovery process.”

The Homer Fund, Home Depot’s employee assistance program, is providing immediate financial support to every impacted associate in need of safe housing, food and clothing. Associates affected by the storms received emergency funds to cover hotel, food and clothing expenses while displaced. To date, The Homer Fund has granted more than $28.6 million to support associates impacted by natural disasters.

The Home Depot Foundation is committed to supporting communities with natural disaster preparedness, short-term response and long-term recovery.​ In 2022, the Foundation committed more than $7.3 million to disaster response efforts across the country.

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ATLANTA, March 28, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Today, Truist Foundation announced a $1 million grant to Emory University Goizueta Business School’s Start:ME Accelerator program, the largest gift in the program’s 10-year history. Start:ME is a free, 14-week accelerator training program aimed at supporting small businesses in underserved communities in Atlanta. Delivered by Goizueta’s Business & Society Institute, alongside a coalition of neighborhood partners, the program provides micro-entrepreneurs the tools and connections necessary to build and grow successful businesses.

“Collectively, microbusinesses directly feed into the economic and social vitality of their communities,” said Gareth James, John H. Harland Dean of Goizueta Business School. “When these businesses thrive—generating income, creating jobs, occupying spaces and providing role models—surrounding neighborhoods do as well.”

From mom-and-pop shops to in-home ventures, microbusinesses are individually quite small but collectively create a big impact. According to The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), microbusinesses account for 92 percent of all US businesses and create 41.3 million jobs.

Truist Foundation is a longtime partner of the Start:ME program, serving as the program’s inaugural external seed funder, issuing the first grant to the program’s Clarkston efforts in 2013. This new investment was made as part of Emory University’s 2O36 campaign supporting the university’s mission to serve humanity through knowledge.

“We are proud to partner with Goizueta Business School and support such a transformational program in the Atlanta community,” says Lynette Bell, president of Truist Foundation. “Truist Foundation believes all people and communities should have an equal opportunity to thrive. By strengthening the small business ecosystem in underserved neighborhoods, we can begin to level the playing field and ignite generational wealth for years to come.”

Over the past 10 years, the Start:ME program has served 351 businesses in Clarkston, East Lake, and Atlanta’s Southside in collaboration with The East Lake Foundation, Focused Community Strategies, Friends of Refugees, and Purpose Built Schools Atlanta. In this year’s cohort, 80 percent of the ventures are female-led and 87 percent of the entrepreneurs are people of color. Start:ME focuses on three pillars: business training, mentorship by skilled volunteers, and capital, including $15,000 in seed grants per community cohort.

In addition to providing financial support, Truist teammates offer critical mentorship to participating businesses. Mentors play a hands-on coaching role at each session, pairing up with entrepreneurs based on skill sets, experience, and compatibility.

“Serving as a volunteer mentor for the Start:ME program for the past nine years has provided a unique opportunity to deliver on Truist’s purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities by working directly with people who are building businesses that create jobs and ensure a thriving community,” said Ron Alston, not-for-profit and government banking leader for Truist. “I have learned as much from the entrepreneurs I am mentoring as I have taught, while more deeply connecting with the work being done in the East Lake and Kirkwood communities.”

Mentorship is a critical component of programming. “The relationship between mentors and entrepreneurs is key and often extends beyond the 14-week program,” said Start:ME Director Erin Igleheart. “We want entrepreneurs to have a solid, supportive, constructive network of mentors and peer entrepreneurs to draw upon as they continue to operate their business.”

The multi-year grant supports Start:ME’s existing community programs along with expansion efforts to serve additional micro-entrepreneurs in Atlanta.

Find out how you can support Start:ME and build stronger communities by supporting local entrepreneurs.

Find out more about Truist Foundation and its commitment to inspiring and building better lives and communities.

About Emory University’s Goizueta Business School

Business education has been an integral part of Emory University’s identity since 1919. That kind of longevity and significance does not come without a culture built on success and service. Emory University’s Goizueta Business School offers a unique, community-oriented environment paired with the academic prestige and rigor of a major research institution. Goizueta develops business leaders of today and tomorrow with an undergraduate degree program, Full-time MBA (Two-Year MBA & One-Year MBA), Evening MBA, Executive MBA, full-time and part-time MS in Business Analytics, Master of Analytical Finance, Doctoral degree, and a portfolio of non-degree Emory Executive Education courses. Together, the Goizueta community strives to solve the world’s most pressing business problems. The school is named for the late Roberto C. Goizueta, former Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company.

For more information, visit goizueta.emory.edu.

About Truist Foundation

Truist Foundation is committed to Truist Financial Corporation’s (NYSE: TFC) purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities. Established in 2020, the foundation makes strategic investments in nonprofit organizations to help ensure the communities it serves have more opportunities for a better quality of life. Truist Foundation’s grants and activities focus on building career pathways to economic mobility and strengthening small businesses. Learn more at Truist.com/Foundation.

DES MOINES, Iowa, March 28, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Principal Asset ManagementSM, through its dedicated real estate investment team, has been named an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year: Sustained Excellence award winner for the sixth consecutive year. Principal has also been named a Certification Nation Premier Member, a special one-time recognition in celebration of the EPA program’s 30th anniversary for organizations that certified 15 or more buildings in 2022.

“The consistent recognition Principal receives as an ENERGY STAR award winner underscores our long-standing commitment to corporate stewardship and responsible property investment,” said Jennifer McConkey, managing director of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and operations, real estate, Principal Asset Management. “We strive to deliver positive financial and ESG outcomes for our clients and our strong performance over the past six years is a testament to that work. We are especially proud to receive this accolade and be named a Certification Nation Premier Member on the anniversary of the program.”

Principal has been an ENERGY STAR partner since 2009 and has earned Partner of the Year status for eight years. Principal continues to integrate energy efficiency into its Pillars of Responsible Property Investing, the overarching ESG platform for the firm’s dedicated real estate investment team. ENERGY Star certified buildings use an average of 35% less energy than similar buildings nationwide and have been shown to have higher occupancy and rental rates.1 From 2008-2020, Principal Real Estate achieved 15.2% energy savings, avoided more than $51 million in cumulative energy costs, and prevented more than 130 thousand metric tons of cumulative carbon dioxide emissions.2 Now, Principal is working towards 2035 targets to reduce emissions by 40% and energy by 20% (over a 2019 baseline). In 2022, Principal achieved:

ENERGY STAR certification at 37 properties.An average ENERGY STAR score of 87 for certified properties, meaning these properties perform within the top 13% on average of peers across the country.

Each year, the ENERGY STAR program honors a group of businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy achievements. ENERGY STAR award winners lead their industries in the production, sale, and adoption of energy-efficient products, homes, buildings, services, and strategies. These efforts are essential to fighting the climate crisis and protecting public health.

Winners are selected from a network of thousands of ENERGY STAR partners. For a complete list of 2023 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR’s awards program, visit energystar.gov/awardwinners.

Learn more about the Principal commitment to responsible property investing.

1 Top 8 Reasons to Pursue ENERGY STAR Certification

2 The information provided is based on data input by individual property teams as of October 2021 into ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, with select review and validation.

About Principal Asset ManagementSM 
With public and private market capabilities across all asset classes, Principal Asset ManagementSM and its investment specialists look at asset management through a different lens, creating solutions to help deliver client investment objectives. By applying local insights with global perspectives, Principal Asset Management identifies distinct and compelling investment opportunities for more than 1,100 institutional clients in over 80 markets.1 

Principal Asset Management is the global investment solutions business for Principal Financial Group® (Nasdaq: PFG), managing $501.5 billion in assets1 and recognized as a “Best Places to Work in Money Management2” for 11 consecutive years. Learn more at www.PrincipalAM.com.

[1] As of December 31, 2022 
[2] Pensions & Investments, “The Best Places to Work in Money Management”, December 12, 2022. 

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500®—rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses avoid more than $500 billion in energy costs and achieve more than 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. More background information about ENERGY STAR’s impacts.

©2023 Principal®, Principal Financial Group®, Principal Asset Management, and Principal and the logomark design are registered trademarks and service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a Principal Financial Group company, in various countries around the world and may be used only with the permission of Principal Financial Services, Inc.

Oerth’s unique PROTAC® protein degradation technology is expected to be a new, game-changing generation of more sustainable crop protection products / The agreement recommits to the combination of Oerth Bio’s specialized expertise designing PROTAC® degraders for agriculture with Bayer’s global infrastructure testing, developing and commercializing leading crop protection technologies / Collaboration builds on the company launch in 2019 as a Leaps by Bayer joint-venture with Arvinas and has proven successful, meeting initial targeted milestones

MONHEIM, Germany and DURHAM, N.C., March 28, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Bayer and the agricultural biotech company Oerth Bio today announced a new collaboration seeking to develop the next generation of more sustainable crop protection products. The unique protein degradation technology used by Oerth Bio has the potential to generate products that support Bayer’s sustainability objective to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, via lower application rates and favorable safety profiles.

Oerth Bio was founded in 2019 by Bayer’s impact investment arm, Leaps by Bayer, and Arvinas (NASDAQ: ARVN), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the way in the development of targeted protein degradation therapeutics. Initially developed to fight human diseases like cancer and other difficult to treat diseases, Oerth’s patented PROTAC® (PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera) protein degradation technology provides an innovative pathway to entirely novel crop protection and climate resilient farm solutions. Oerth Bio remains the first and only company researching agricultural PROTAC® solutions.

“The world’s farmers need dependable and sustainable solutions to crop protection challenges, and PROTAC protein degradation technologies show an increasingly promising path toward a new way to develop tailored technologies,” said Dr. Robert Reiter, Head of R&D at Bayer’s Crop Science Division. “We expect protein degradation technology, already used in medicine, to be an important cornerstone for the development of new crop protection products that reduce the impact on the environment significantly. Oerth Bio’s work has proven to be promising, and we are looking forward to what the next phase of our work together will bring.”

Oerth Bio’s targeted protein degraders offer the capacity for high-precision product development, low application rates, and paths to overcome biological resistance. Oerth molecules are designed to interact with only one target protein, and safeguard off-target/beneficial organisms. These attributes combine to offer a very attractive pathway for the development of novel crop protection products that are sustainable, and highly effective. PROTAC® molecules activate a specific naturally occurring process within target species. The impact is expected to be precise and limited to interrupting the specific targeted processes in weeds, diseases or insects that impact crops negatively.

“This collaboration further emboldens our ambitions for first-in-the-world farm centric protein degrader solutions,” said John Dombrosky, Oerth Bio CEO. “It’s a real tribute to Bayer’s leadership and vision, as they significantly invest in breakthroughs that could change farming and the world for the better.”

Oerth Bio is simultaneously developing several novel agricultural applications in nascent crop efficiency and plant resilience segments, ensuring PROTAC® technology can be utilized to its full potential, and provide maximum utility to farmers and the greater food system.

About Bayer 
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2021, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 44.1 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

About Oerth Bio 
Oerth Bio’s protein degrader technology for agriculture aims to combine powerful efficacy with next-generation environmental sustainability. The technology is designed to deliver unparalleled safety of food and feed, while achieving superior field performance for farmers.

The core technological innovations driving Oerth Bio’s progress are:

PROTAC® Molecules 
PROteolysis TArgeting Chimeras (PROTAC) compounds are biologically enabled molecules designed to induce the modulation of specific proteins via the ubiquitin- proteasome system. Each region of the PROTAC molecule plays a role in its specificity and potency.AttuneTM Platform 
AttuneTM is Oerth Bio’s proprietary R&D platform for developing PROTAC molecules for agriculture. Through a rational target-based design process, the platform creates and optimizes molecules for specific crop applications and outcomes.

PROTAC® is a registered trademark of Arvinas Operations, Inc., and is used under license.

About Leaps by Bayer 
Leaps by Bayer, a unit of Bayer AG, leads impact investments into solutions to some of today’s biggest challenges in health and agriculture. The investment portfolio includes more than 50 companies. They are all working on potentially breakthrough technologies to overcome some specific challenges such as, e.g. develop sustainable protein supply, reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, preventing or curing cancer, and others. For more information, go to leaps.bayer.com.

Follow us on twitter.com/bayer

Forward-Looking Statements 
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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Southwire’s 12 for Life® is pleased to partner with the Independent Electrical Contractor’s (IEC) Atlanta and Georgia Chapters to provide a Skills-Based Electrical Installer Program to its students.

12 for Life, a collaborative partnership that began between Southwire and Carroll County Schools in 2007, provides classroom instruction, on-the-job training, key work and life skills, mentoring and employment opportunities. Through the program, students are motivated to stay in school, graduate and move ahead to become successful, productive members of the communities in which they live. Due to its growth and success in the west Georgia area, a second site for 12 for Life was added at Southwire’s campus in Florence in 2010.

Students who participate in the IEC Installer program will receive 36 hours of in-person, hands-on training that will prepare them to qualify for employment in an electrical wiring occupation after graduating from high school.

“This partnership is a practical way for us to connect electrical contractors with a trained workforce. According to IEC, there’s a need for at least 10,000 electricians across the United States, and many of those electricians are needed here in west Georgia,” said Joel Grubbs, 12 for Life site supervisor for Carroll County Schools. “Jobs in manufacturing may not be readily available when they graduate, so this training will give them an additional opportunity for employment.”

The certification program consists of nine days of training that are focused on interactive learning and includes hands-on activities. At completion of the training, each student will receive a course completion certificate, an OSHA 10 certification and a first aid card. Students will also qualify for the IEC’s Electrical Apprenticeship Program.

“The IEC’s Atlanta and Georgia Chapters are proud to work with Southwire and the Georgia Industry Foundation for Training (GIFT) to implement our Basic Skills Installer Training in the 12 for Life program through the Carroll County School System,” said Niel Dawson, executive director of IEC Atlanta and Georgia Chapters. “The program will provide ongoing basic skills training in the electrical field and expose them to a high-paying skilled trade that has the potential for a meaningful career. We look forward to this program continuing for years to come and the expansion of it in other school systems.”

Southwire has a long-standing relationship with IEC, a trade association representing more than 3,300 members with 50 chapters nationwide. Both organizations remain dedicated to providing training for aspiring electricians, teaching a variety of skills like general tool safety and demonstration, electrical theory, pipe bending and more.

“The success of getting this program off the ground for our 12 for Life students is a testament to the partnership Southwire has with IEC. What started with just an idea almost a year ago has turned into a great success to add value to our students after graduation,” said Bill Fowler, senior training instructor at Southwire and board member for IEC GIFT. “We have also accomplished a way to help the industry and the IEC with qualified talent to enter the electrical industry.”

To learn more about 12 for Life, click here. For more Southwire news, visit www.southwire.com/newsroom.