Month: March 2023

Kaylee’s story, and that of many more inspiring Indigenous People from northern Alberta to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and places in between, can be found in the 2022 edition of Suncor’s Pathways magazine. Our Pathways magazine is a representation of our ongoing commitment to the Journey of Reconciliation. Visit Suncor.com to read more stories.

For Kaylee Welsh, receiving a Belcourt Brosseau Métis Award (BBMA) was more than just financial support for university—it was a key step on her journey to discover her family’s culture and history.

Kaylee, who is pursuing a dual degree in chemistry and business management at Concordia University in Edmonton, Alta., was selected as a recipient of the scholarship award in 2019.

The BBMAs, which have been supported by Syncrude since 2007, were created in 2001 by Orval Belcourt, Dr. Herb Belcourt and Georges Brosseau to help Métis Albertans realize self-sufficiency through post-secondary education and skills development. So far, the BBMAs have provided over $11 million in funding to over 1,500 Métis students, making it the largest non-government source of funding for Métis students in Canada.

“My connection to my local Métis community is very important to me,” says Kaylee. “Being able to receive this award and attend the ceremony where I received a sash and blessings from an Elder were really powerful. It helped connect me to my roots even more and embrace my culture as a Métis person.”

In addition to receiving a BBMA, Kaylee also secured a work placement with the Métis Nation of Alberta, which gave her hands-on experience with Métis heritage.

“I found learning about the history of Métis people in Canada one of the most interesting aspects of my work placement,” explains Kaylee. “Learning about Métis traditional land claims and why we have them was eye-opening.”

While Kaylee’s connection to her Métis roots may be new, it was present in her creative expression for some time. Growing up, she spent many hours beading with her grandmother in Fort McMurray, Alta. After several years of receiving compliments on her beadwork, she launched her own business, Connections Beadwork, selling traditional Métis beadwork with a modern twist.

Creating accessories from sparkling earrings to pop sockets for cell phones and various other crafts, Kaylee’s beading highlights the beauty of this traditional artwork. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive, allowing her to attend her first craft market as a small business owner. Kaylee says balancing her time between school and the business has been tough; however, seeing the positive response makes it all worth it.

Kaylee’s story, and that of many more inspiring Indigenous People from northern Alberta to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and places in between, can be found in the 2022 edition of Pathways magazine. Visit our Pathways magazine page to read more.

Originally published on The Nielsen Foundation

The Nielsen Foundation envisions a more equitable world where everyone counts and everyone has opportunities to succeed. Our mission is to support organizations that give voice and opportunities to historically under-represented groups and communities.

To advance this mission, the Nielsen Foundation provided more than $2.0 million in grants to 53 nonprofit organizations in 2022 across our priority areas of representation in media and technology, educational access and persistence, and economic mobility and well-being. This included:

$1.19 million in Community Grants to 44 organizations strengthening diverse communities across the United States through education, economic mobility, and media and technology programs$522,500 in continued support for Discover Data and the TechDiversity Accelerator, our two Signature Programs promoting data education and economic mobility$250,000 in Data for Good grants to support organizations using data in innovative ways to advance representation in media and technology$64,000+ in Volunteer Grants across more than 1,000 Cause Cards from Nielsen employees who logged 12+ volunteer hours in a quarter and/or recently joined the company

Advancing representation in media & technology

Through the 2022 Data for Good Grants Program, we funded five creative projects using data to drive greater representation in media and technology. Grantees include: Ghetto Film School, Pathos Labs, The Trevor Project, The USC Norman Lear Center Media Impact Project and Wiki Education Foundation.We supported Inevitable Foundation in publishing the first-of-its-kind Cost of Accommodations Report, providing a roadmap for talent and producers to create more equitable working environments for disabled talent in writers’ rooms and on set.We provided continued support to grow and develop diverse students and leaders building careers in the media industry, in collaboration with the International Radio and Television Society (IRTS) Foundation, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Leadership Foundation, and the Advertising Research Foundation’s WIDE initiative.

Encouraging educational access & persistence

The Discover Data education initiative, a collaboration with Discovery Education and the National AfterSchool Association, has reached approximately ~772,000 students to date with resources to improve student learning with data and interest in data careers. In 2022, Discover Data added curriculum on timely topics including social media and environmental justice, added Spanish language resources, and launched a new Q&A tool for students to connect with data experts.Our three-year grant to Teach For America continued to support the next generation of equity-oriented education leaders. Through the grant, TFA is developing a more rigorous, holistic evaluation process to directly assess the skills and experiences that enable a positive impact on students,

Promoting economic mobility & well-being

We expanded our support through a new multi-year grant for the TechDiversity Accelerator at Tampa Bay Wave, which promotes diversity and inclusion in the tech startup industry. Since 2018, cohort companies from across multiple countries have raised an average of $3.1M more and added 9 more jobs, compared to startups in other accelerator programs.Through our support of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) since 2020, direct relief grants and capacity building programs reached approximately 823 Black-owned small businesses. The grant supports organizations that have limited access to traditional business financing in historically disinvested neighborhoods in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Twin Cities.In 2021 and 2022, Year Up served thousands of students nationwide. Our three-year grant to Year Up continued to connect young adults with living wage careers through an evolving menu of new, innovative program models that have reached approximately 1,200 young adults over the past two years.

View the summary here to learn more about the Nielsen Foundation’s 2022 grantmaking.

Wesco has been named to the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) for the fifth consecutive year. The GEI serves as a touchstone for companies seeking to track their progress in gender inclusion and how the implementation of diversity policies shape company performance across five pillars, including female leadership and talent pipeline, equal pay and gender pay parity, inclusive culture, anti-sexual harassment policies, and pro-women brand.

Companies included in the index scored at or above a global threshold established by Bloomberg to reflect disclosure and the achievement or adoption of best-in-class statistics and policies. Wesco was one of 484 companies in the United States and one of 20 industrial companies included in the index this year.

John Engel, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wesco, said, “An inclusive and diverse work environment is essential to our ongoing business success. We value the unique talents, perspectives and experiences that our 20,000 associates around the world bring to work each and every day. We are very pleased that Wesco has again been recognized for our efforts in advancing gender equality by being named to Bloomberg’s distinguished index for the fifth consecutive year.”

To learn more about Wesco’s commitments to Inclusion and Diversity, click here.