Month: April 2023

We are honored to have our environmental leadership in the transportation industry recognized by JUST Capital for Earth Day. Through our ongoing efforts to reach our goal of carbon-neutral operations by 2040, FedEx will continue innovating to make our operations—and world—more sustainable: http://ms.spr.ly/6043g3zYF

CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 25, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Discovery Education presents a curated collection of free standards-aligned resources empowering educators nationwide to incorporate DNA education into teaching and learning in celebration of National DNA Day. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.

Established in 2003 by the National Human Genome Research Institute, National DNA Day raises awareness and celebrates DNA’s importance to the world. 2023 also marks the 20th anniversary of the Human Genome Project’s completion and the 70th anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double helix. In recognition of this day, these important anniversaries, and the unique connectivity and power of DNA, Discovery Education presents the following collection of resources in collaboration with partners leading the way in biotechnology.

Virtual Field Trip 
Grades 6-12 
The Genomics: Decoding the Language of Life Virtual Field Trip transports students to the Illumina labs in San Diego, CA to meet real-world experts harnessing the power of the genome to improve lives and support the conservation of the Earth’s natural resources.

An accompanying educator guide and classroom conversation starter packet provides teachers with materials and activities for before, during, and after the virtual field trip. The Genomics: Decoding the Language of Life Virtual Field Trip, builds upon a suite of resources available at no-cost to middle and high school educators from DNA Decoded with The Illumina Corporate Foundation. Educators can find digital lesson bundles, classroom activities, career guides, and more to help students explore the power of DNA.

Instructional Resources 
Grades 9-12 
Futurelab+ expands high school students’ access to biotechnology education to inspire them to solve some of the most pressing challenges facing society today. Designed in partnership with Genentech to build a more diverse and inclusive future STEM workforce, Futurelab+ offers a new, comprehensive biotechnology curriculum that includes groundbreaking content addressing health equity and the importance of advancing inclusivity and representation in clinical research – both critical issues to introduce to young people contemplating careers in science and medicine.

This collection of instructional material meets national education and industry standards emphasizing the in-demand skills needed across the full product development lifecycle – from molecule to medicine. These resources expose students and educators to the breadth of educational opportunities and career pathways across biotechnology and are designed to be easily implemented in all classrooms – regardless of access to expensive resources or lab equipment. In addition to the curriculum, Futurelab+ also provides unique educator support through a Community of Practice and a Professional Learning Community which includes access to biotech professional volunteers.

Discover more DNA-curated content on Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform in the Cells channel. Connecting educators to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, intuitive quiz and activity creation tools, and professional learning resources, Discovery Education provides educators with an enhanced learning platform that facilitates engaging, daily instruction.

“DNA was discovered by Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, James Watson, and other colleagues, and their discovery is now the cornerstone of research on which life-saving cures for disease, cancer, and more are based. These standards-aligned and research-backed resources make DNA relatable and engaging for students,” said Amy Nakamoto, General Manager of Social Impact at Discovery Education.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources—which can be purchased with federal stimulus funds—and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

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About Discovery Education 
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place. Through its award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools, Discovery Education helps educators deliver equitable learning experiences engaging all students and supporting higher academic achievement on a global scale. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Inspired by the global media company Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and trusted organizations to empower teachers with leading edtech solutions that support the success of all learners. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contacts 
Grace Maliska 
Discovery Education 
gmaliska@discoveryed.com

Every day, businesses are making a difference in the world by partnering with nonprofits, schools, advocacy groups, and other charitable organizations dedicated to public good. Reports from 2021 show that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has only increased with the median total corporate gifts having increased by 41% over last year.

For businesses interested in launching their own CSR program, there are multiple methods to explore, allowing organizations to choose an approach that best fits their business’s philanthropic goals. To help your organization find a CSR method that aligns with your interests, resources, and business model, this article will explore three approaches to CSR:

PhilanthropyVolunteerismActivism

There is also no need to choose just one of these methods. In fact, sometimes different CSR approaches can overlap. For example, your business might choose to sponsor a nonprofit that then runs an advocacy campaign, resulting in your organization simultaneously participating in philanthropy and activism.

1. Philanthropy

Corporate philanthropy is one of the most well-known types of CSR due to the relatively straightforward nature of monetary donations. However, there are a few different ways organizations can leverage philanthropy to make donations, such as:

In-kind donations: Rather than donating a set amount of money, your business can donate physical objects and resources to your nonprofit of choice. For example, a graphic design firm might donate their services and create a nonprofit’s logo for free. 
 Sponsorships: Your business can donate to a nonprofit at any time as a general gift, or you can choose to sponsor specific events and activities. Certain sponsorships can also provide your business with a little extra publicity as the nonprofit you are supporting promotes your brand. For example, event sponsors often have their logo featured on relevant event banners and programs. 
 Employee matching gift programs: You can encourage your employees to join your philanthropic efforts by setting up a matching gift program. Instead of your business directly donating to a nonprofit, you will match your employees’ contributions. This ensures that you are supporting the specific causes your employees care about. 
 Scholarships: If you’re interested in supporting a school or youth-centered organization, consider offering a scholarship. You can choose to add requirements to your scholarship, such as an essay or competition, or create more general guidelines like providing modest support to every applicant with a certain GPA level or above.

As mentioned, there is no need to choose just one method of corporate philanthropy. For example, a business could set up a scholarship program for a local high school and donate surplus products to be used in the classroom and after-school activities.

2. Volunteerism

Rather than providing resources to another organization, some businesses opt to go out and make a difference themselves with corporate volunteerism. Corporate volunteer programs organize employees to go out and volunteer in their community together, often with the backing or guidance of a nonprofit. 

To support a corporate volunteer program, businesses can partner with a variety of charitable organizations, from nonprofits to schools. Consider surveying your employees to discover what causes they’re most interested in supporting.

While it might seem counterintuitive, taking time out of the work day to have employees volunteer can actually be beneficial for businesses in the long run. According to Double the Donation’s guide to employee engagement, CSR programs like corporate volunteerism lead to more engaged employees, which in turn has been shown to increase profits by approximately 22% over businesses without similar programs. 

3. Activism

Corporate activism is a rapidly evolving type of CSR, as brands and organizations are increasingly expected by their customers to share their stance on important social issues.

Specifically, social media has become a major part of many organizations’ digital marketing and communication strategies. Your business can participate in social media advocacy by taking small actions such as making supportive statements to recognize ongoing social movements or important dates. For example, your organization might share a few words about your commitment to diversity and equality on February 1st to celebrate the start of Black History Month. Be mindful that the public stances your organization takes should reflect its internal values. Today’s consumers can easily spot the difference between meaningful advocacy and a hollow PR stunt.

Your organization can also use social media to take more direct, impactful actions as well. For example, if you donate to an advocacy group or ongoing campaign, you might make a post on social media sharing why, and then share posts from that group to help promote their efforts.

How should community investment fit into your CSR strategy?

Check out our guide to find out.

CSR is an investment in your business’s community and long-term success that also has the potential to make a tangible difference for the better. Consider which approach to CSR makes sense for your business’s current operations, and know that expanding your CSR program is always an option as your organization grows and evolves.

As published in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Our Operational Resilience function orchestrates the Company’s Emergency Management (EM), Business Resilience (BR), IT Incident Response (IR) and IT Service Resilience (ITSR) disciplines. The proper adoption of these resilience disciplines enhances our capability to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from operational disruptions.

We have established a forward-looking vision and holistic approach to operational resilience based on leading industry standards. Our program is designed to provide for agile decision-making in the face of potential threats and during an event. Our approach is driven by Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) assessments, Company strategy, and regulatory and stakeholder requirements.

We utilize a threat risk assessment process to identify and evaluate risks on a regional basis that may affect the Company’s resilience. The threat risk assessment process ranks more than 30 environmental, operational and man-made risks (including climate related risks) based on the likelihood and impact of an occurrence. We consult with resilience leads based on the potential size and scope of specific impacts. This process is completed annually, with the results presented to executive sponsors and the Governance Committee of the Board of Directors.

The Operational Resilience planning team leverages this data when determining the potential impacts from operational disruptions, documents recovery requirements and devises strategies to allow the Company to continue critical business operations in the event of disaster. Disasters include local incidents such as building fires, regional physical incidents such as earthquakes, or technology disruptions and national incidents such as pandemic illnesses, and events that occur due to climate change.

Operational resilience leads evaluate the effectiveness of plans, assessments and risks identified with training and simulations. The overall program is aligned with ISO 22301, an international standard for business continuity management systems.

Learn more in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Originally published on GoDaddy Life

What’s your story? Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do here at GoDaddy.

I am a Director on the Talent Acquisition team, looking after all things Recruiting Operations (processes, tools, systems, projects, recruiting coordination, etc.). In 2021, the Employer Brand function came under my area of responsibility, as well. This will be my sixth year with GoDaddy, in October.

I started out in HR after graduating from Arizona State University (Go Sundevils!) and then moved into Recruiting a few years later, starting as a Recruiting Coordinator and eventually moving into Recruiting leadership. I come from an Air Force military family, and we moved around due to my dad’s military and civilian careers. I was born in Honolulu, HI and moved to Nebraska, California, Pennsylvania and eventually, Arizona. My husband and I met at Arizona State and just celebrated 21 years of marriage. We have a 17-year-old son who is a junior in high school and is involved with martial arts and guitar (electric & acoustic).

What’s the most challenging, yet rewarding thing that you’ve worked on at GoDaddy?

In 2020, we implemented a new global recruiting system — Greenhouse. This is how the Recruiting team receives and tracks job applications for both internal and external candidates. It’s also how we schedule interviews, create offers, track referrals, and initiate the hire or job change processes. The implementation process had to go through layers of risk and compliance reviews as well as integration with Workday at multiple points. It was kicked off in January of 2020 and we had to keep it on track, despite also having to unexpectedly solve for interviewing and onboarding remotely due to the global pandemic. It was an incredible opportunity due to the chance it offered to partner more closely with a variety of different teams like Risk, Compliance, Legal, HR Ops, HRIS, Transformation, and Total Rewards. There was a lot of learning from the project that has helped to influence other global implementations we’ve completed since then. The project was delivered on-time in June 2020, and we spent the remainder of the year testing and tweaking. We’ve since reached a point of continuous improvement.

You are involved in a multitude of Phoenix community and non-profit organizations. Do you mind sharing a bit more of your experiences?

I have been consistently involved with the performing arts & two health-related non-profits for many (many) years. I was born with multiple congenital heart defects (CHD) that required two open heart surgeries. My first surgery was at 10-months of age and the second was when I was 4.5 years old. Through those experiences, I became interested in getting involved within the heart community. One of the best ways I felt I could contribute was to help with fund-raising and bringing awareness. I have been a part of the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) and actively participating in their events for the past 7-years. Recently, I have become more involved with the American Heart Association. Both organizations host walks and different awareness campaigns annually.

I am also supportive of a smaller local non-profit in Douglassville, Pennsylvania called Red Corner Benefit. This organization’s focus is entirely on supporting children suffering from pediatric cancer in the local area. They select one family, annually, and all donations are given to the family to try to provide some financial relief and aid. They host a weekend- long event in Douglassville (close to where I grew up in Pennsylvania) and it is truly a community event that has grown year-over-year. It’s incredibly personal to me because my best-friend from high school lost her daughter, Lexi, in 2011 to Stage IV Neuroblastoma. Lexi and her family were the recipients the 2nd year of the event and the joy she had over the weekend, combined with the financial support the donations provided, was beyond inspiring. For one weekend, Lexi and her family laughed, sang, played games, and truly celebrated her life as the community gathered to support them. This annual event has continued, grown, and will host its 14th annual event in the Fall of 2023. While Lexi gained her angel wings, the event continues to celebrate her life and the lives of the other children who have been impacted by Red Corner Benefit.

Additionally, I have been involved with ballet for the past 40+ years. I was a classical ballet student for 14-years. Despite no longer performing, my passion and love of ballet has never ceased. I volunteer my time as a Board Member of a local pre-professional classical ballet school in Gilbert, Arizona, the Ballet Etudes Academy. We are focused on a classical dance education that includes performance opportunities and have been in the East Valley for over 35-years.

When my son started high school 3 years ago, he got more involved with community service. As a means of teaching students about the importance of giving back and supporting their communities, it is a requirement at his school that each student achieves a certain number of hours per year of community service. He has participated in several projects across Phoenix with Habitat for Humanity, Feed My Starving Children, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Arizona. Through his activities, we’ve had an opportunity to get involved as a family.

How do you feel that GoDaddy supports you to do things that are important to you?

GoDaddy for Good makes it easy to get involved within the community and provides matching for our donations. The ease of setting up donations via payroll makes it all that much easier to provide financial support to these not-for-profit groups so that they can continue to support awareness, research, and engagement. Time off for volunteering is remarkable as well — having the opportunity to take time to go and support a chosen organization or do something within the community and knowing your company not only has your back but is encouraging of that time-away, makes it all that much more rewarding.

How would you recommend that others get involved in causes that are important to them?

I would suggest that people look around in their immediate area with schools or groups like the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Phoenix Zoo, animal shelters, local libraries, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, or through other organizations. Check out different non-profits who are doing charity walks or runs like Best Buddies (which is international), St. Jude’s, or Pat’s Run (which has satellite runs throughout the US). Having a personal interest or connection to an organization makes your involvement so incredibly meaningful. Look through Benevity to see what others may be doing at GoDaddy or connect with members of the ERGs. Time is a precious commodity, and it can be hard, in this fast-paced life, to carve out extra time in the week, month, or year. If your schedule doesn’t allow for volunteer hours, check out and see how monetary donations can help to make an impact. “Getting involved” looks different for everyone — donations of goods, monetary support, or volunteer hours are just some examples of what a person can do to help.

Are you enjoying this series and want to know more about life at GoDaddy? Check out our GoDaddy Life social pages! Follow us to meet our team, learn more about our culture (Teams, ERG’s, Locations), careers, and so much more. You’re more than just your day job, so come propel your career with us.

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/GoDaddyLifeInstagram — https://www.instagram.com/godaddylife/LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/godaddylifeTwitter — https://twitter.com/GoDaddyLifeTikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@godaddylife?Career Page — https://careers.godaddy.com

Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog

When Ruby Saldivar was a junior at Mountain View High School in El Monte, part of Los Angeles, and making plans for her senior year, one thing she set her eyes on was working at the Union Bank student branch at her school.

“I knew it was going to be a great opportunity for me to learn and become more financially literate,” Saldivar said. “I also saw it as a great way to improve at customer service, professionalism and other soft skills.”

Saldivar, now a senior, was accepted in the branch program and started last fall. Like other students in the program, she works four or five hours a week at the branch, which primarily serves students and school staff.

The branch is one of five Union Bank student branches at high schools in California, with the first launching in 2011. The student branch program is one of many initiatives that are part of the bank’s dedication to serving low- and moderate-income communities.

U.S. Bancorp in early December completed the acquisition of the MUFG Union Bank core regional banking franchise from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. It has committed to continuing the student branch program, with leaders saying it’s an effective way to engage with students in California. The branches are scheduled to be rebranded as U.S. Bank branches over the summer, before students return in the fall.

The students in the program go through training on the operations of U.S. Bank branch and how to assist customers with navigating their accounts digitally, as well as how to present themselves professionally, create resumes, participate in job interviews and more. The branches are managed by full-time bank employees who serve as mentors to the students.

In addition to working at the branch, students in the program lead financial education programs for other students at their school.

“I love how this program allows me to educate my peers on finances,” said Yingyin Tan, an intern at the Union Bank branch at Abraham Lincoln High School, in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles. “It gives me an opportunity to teach them how they can start to build healthy financial habits, as well as help them open accounts at the branch.”

The student bankers also participate in community service events. For example, Tan, who is in her school’s Junior ROTC program, organized efforts with other cadets to prepare and provide 12,000 meals to people in the community with HIV and other medical conditions.

Saldivar is a leader at her school’s Key Club, which organized a toy drive at Christmas time and has participated in other volunteer events.

“I’ve definitely grown a lot from the branch program,” Saldivar said. “One of the things I’ve learned is how to get out of my shell more and not be afraid to interact with others. Before coming in, I used to be more timid and not want to speak up, but this program has really taught me to take the initiative and let my voice be heard by others.”

Her voice will be heard beginning this fall at Stanford University, where she is attending on a full ride scholarship she received through the Quest Bridge National College Match. She plans to study mechanical engineering.

Tan, who received the Legion of Valor Bronze Cross for Achievement, the highest award issued by the Junior ROTC, has been accepted at the University of California, Berkeley, and is waiting to hear back from some other schools she’s applied to.

Both Saldivar, whose parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, and Tan, who immigrated with her parents and little sister from China when she was a toddler, will be the first members of their families to attend college.

“This internship means opportunities for our students to learn additional skills and the importance of financial education and to make better decisions and judgements necessary for adulthood,” said Vernell Taylor, vice president in Corporate Social Responsibility. “Young people need to know the difference between credit and debit to avoid financial mistakes and make sound financial decisions when they go to college and enter the real world.”

For more about the student branch program, watch the video above.