Month: June 2023

Originally published on bloomberg.com

In 1948, HMT Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury docks in England, bringing more than 800 passengers from the Caribbean. This was a historic moment that saw mass migration and shaped modern Britain. June 22, 2023 marks its 75th anniversary. Across the UK, communities will come together to celebrate the contributions of the Windrush Generation and their families.

As a descendant of the Windrush Generation, Sonia Meggie, EMEA, D&I Client Partner for News and Media at Bloomberg, shares what Windrush Day means to her and how everyone can get involved.

This year’s Windrush Day marks 75 years since we’ve seen mass migration from the Caribbean, Africa and many other countries.

HMT Empire Windrush brought 492 passengers to the UK from Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, to help fill post-War labour shortages. Those who came in response played a critical role in those efforts, and made an enormous contribution to make the UK what it is today.

My parents are from Jamaica  and it is really important for me to know about my heritage, culture and history. My grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1950’s (ten years prior to my parents arriving) and faced discrimination and racism. They had to work really hard as a family to overcome the barriers they faced. Like many others who arrived during this period, they wanted a better life for their children.

It is unclear how many people from the Windrush generation are still in the UK, but the number is thought to be in the thousands. Their careers often started as  manual workers, cleaners, drivers, transport employees and nurses in the newly established NHS – and some broke new ground in representing Black Britons in society. They are among more than 500,000 UK residents who arrived before 1971, but it is important to note that many arrived prior to the UK’s “invitation”.

I’m really proud of my heritage and acknowledge the sacrifice it took to migrate to the UK. As a third generation descendant I understand how important it is for me to be a role model, and shine the light on those who come from my community. We have achieved many things and will continue to be positive examples for future generations.

In April 2018, it emerged that the UK Home Office had not kept the records of those granted permission to stay, and had not issued the paperwork they needed to confirm their status. It remains important to acknowledge those facing turmoil due to the Windrush scandal.

On Windrush Day, there are many ways that we can all get involved, such as visiting Bloomberg cultural partners who are hosting bespoke Windrush events such as The V&A, and the Museum of London. I’ll be volunteering with the Black Cultural Archives, who are featuring a Windrush stamp collection with Royal Mail. I will also spend time with family and friends to acknowledge and recognize all that we’ve achieved and also to celebrate our culture.

All around the UK there’ll be talks, exhibitions, and activities taking place so there are many ways for people to get involved and learn more.

On July 4th, Bloomberg will be hosting a panel discussion with Jacqueline Mckenzie, award winning human-rights lawyer and a member of the independent advisory group that delivered the Windrush Lessons Learned Review in March 2020, which resulted in an official apology from the Home Secretary. Further details on the event are available here.

CHICAGO, June 26, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Easterseals, the nation’s leading nonprofit provider of services and advocacy for 61M individuals with disabilities in the United States, has received a two-year grant of $1.3M from the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation to expand digital literacy training among young adults with disabilities in employment programs at seven Easterseals Affiliates nationwide while also funding a national study to determine digital equity and access among BIPOC populations with disabilities.

Easterseals Crossroads (Indianapolis, IN), Easterseals Washington, Easterseals Colorado, Easterseals Arkansas, Easterseals Greater Houston, Easterseals New Hampshire, and Easterseals Massachusetts will receive grants totaling $350,000 to expand digital literacy within their employment training programs for young adults with disabilities. Students ages 16-24 with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities will learn how to navigate the internet, stay safe online, communicate via email, create PowerPoint presentations, develop resumes, use assistive technology, and more.

Funding will also support a national audit and analysis of digital literacy programs offered throughout Easterseals’ network of 71 Affiliates to identify and scale digital literacy programming with the highest impact and outcomes through 2024 funding by the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation.

Finally, a national study will be underwritten to determine digital equity and access among BIPOC populations with disabilities. Working in collaboration with Easterseals Affiliates, university researchers, policymakers, and advocacy organizations, the study will identify the current state of access to technology, including broadband, as well as digital literacy and skills training for BIPOC populations with disabilities while determining markets in which digital literacy inequity is most acute and success stories that can be replicated nationally to address such inequities.

Upon completion of the study in early 2024, Easterseals and Comcast NBCUniversal will convene a Digital Equity Summit to share study findings and recommendations to address disparities in equity and access which may exist within BIPOC populations with disabilities.

“Easterseals is honored to have the opportunity to work with Comcast NBCUniversal in our shared commitment to equity, inclusion, and access for people with disabilities through our partnership of more than 20 years,” says Easterseals President and CEO Kendra E. Davenport. “Digital access and literacy are critical to the children and adults with disabilities, including veterans and older adults, served by Easterseals nationwide. These digital resources are essential to breaking down barriers to employment, education, transportation, healthcare, and community that people with disabilities often face.”

“Far too many people with disabilities do not have access to the digital tools and resources that will help ensure their full participation in society and life,” said Dalila Wilson-Scott, EVP & Chief Diversity Officer, Comcast Corporation and President of Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation.

“We are so pleased to further our partnership with Easterseals to deliver essential digital training and further equitable employment outcomes for young adults with disabilities.”

DALILA WILSON-SCOTT,

EVP & Chief Diversity Officer, Comcast Corporation and President of Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation

Since 2011, Easterseals has partnered with Comcast NBCUniversal to advance equity, inclusion, and access to innovative technology to advance digital literacy and accelerate success among people with disabilities, veterans, and older adults. To date, Comcast NBCUniversal has provided Easterseals with more than $54 million in cash and in-kind support.

Comcast NBCUniversal’s ongoing partnership with Easterseals is part of Project UP, the company’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and help build a future of unlimited possibilities.

As published in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

The Million Girls Moonshot (the Moonshot) is a transformative, nationwide initiative that’s re-imagining who can engineer, who can build and who can invent. It aims to inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators by engaging one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities through after-school and summer programs by 2025. The Moonshot aligns with our Company’s goal to increase diversity of talent in the STEM workforce pipeline.

Through a collaborative funding model, the Moonshot provides grants to every state in the United States through the 50 State After-school Networks to help them support equity-focused, hands-on STEM learning experiences to students in after-school programs.

In 2022, the Moonshot launched the 2022 Flight Crew, featuring 16 remarkable youth from across the country as STEM ambassadors. These young leaders have been working in their communities to break down stereotypes and spark their peers’ curiosity in STEM. The Flight Crew are committed to using afterschool learning to build a better future where young girls everywhere can envision a place for themselves in STEM, and they are amplifying youth voices in the national conversation around STEM equity.

The Moonshot’s second year impact includes connecting more than 1.1 million students in afterschool STEM programs and engaging 94,399 teachers across 50 states.

We will continue to support the Moonshot’s efforts to provide STEM programming in the 50 State Afterschool Networks. Additionally, we will look to focus our support in a few key areas, including changing the narrative about who can be an inventor and empowering young women in invention, while amplifying female leaders and role models in STEM. We will also focus on opportunities to provide educational resources to educators throughout the network.

Learn more in Qualcomm’s 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report

Supporting the advancement of API talent in the music industry, AEG Presents, Spotify and Gold House hosted the Gold House Music Futures Showcase at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, on June 20, 2023 where three rising API musicians—Rhea Raj, Alex Porat, and Mad Tsai — performed live in front of music industry leaders and tastemakers.

The musicians were finalists from the second annual Gold House Futures Music Accelerator Program, which nurtures, develops, and promotes talent in the API community, and were selected by prominent executives and artists working within the music industry.

“AEG Presents is a proud supporter of the Gold House Music Futures program as an accelerator for API voices in the music industry,” said Ron Chiu, Chief Strategy Officer, AEG Presents, “Showcasing these three talented artists at the historic El Rey Theatre is the perfect platform to amplify their creative voices and support their rapid rise as artists and performers. We are excited to journey alongside them as they continue to grow in their careers.”

In addition to playing on stage at the El Rey Theatre, the three finalists were given an opportunity to record and release Spotify Singles via the streaming service’s in-house studio. They also participated in “masterclass” experiences with both AEG Presents and Spotify executives designed to create a pathway to expand their audiences and gain invaluable insights into the inner workings of the music business. Masterclass activities included meetings with API musicians, learning what it takes to be booked and perform at music festivals and how to market and promote your talent.

The Gold House Futures Music Accelerator Program is a crucial pillar of the Gold House Futures, a program to advance the success of emerging API leaders. Those selected receive direct investment, skill-building mentorship, and brand-building promotion.

Gold House, the leading cultural ecosystem, propels Asian Pacific communities across every corner of industry and culture to power tomorrow for all. Through a suite of innovative programs and platforms, we unite, champion, and invest in Asian Pacific creators and companies. To learn more, visit www.goldhouse.org.

Originally published in GoDaddy’s 2022 Sustainability Report

Honest and Ethical Conduct

We uphold the highest level of professional and ethical standards.

At GoDaddy, our honest and ethical culture starts at the top, with our Board of Directors, our Chief Executive Officer and our leadership team. We believe we are responsible for earning and maintaining the trust of our stakeholders and promoting a culture of honesty, transparency and integrity among ourselves, our customers and our business partners. We take that responsibility very seriously.

Our High Standards

In an ever-changing global business climate, we believe it’s imperative to proactively evaluate and evolve. Our commitment to the highest professional and ethical standards means monitoring and responding quickly and appropriately to changing global dynamics.

GoDaddy’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

GoDaddy maintains a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that details our commitment to conducting business with honesty and integrity. The code serves as a source of guiding principles and applies to our employees, officers and directors.

To ensure our workforce understands and complies with the code and its requirements, all GoDaddy employees must complete our Do the Right Thing (DTRT) training as a part of onboarding. To help enhance information retention and compliance, we also increased the frequency of the majority of our ongoing DTRT refresher trainings to an annual basis in 2022.

EMPLOYEE TRAINING 
In 2022, we updated the content of our DTRT trainings, which cover the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as well as critical information on topics including anti-harassment, data protection, social engineering and security awareness.

Our Ethics Helpline

We offer an ethics helpline where anyone can report any violation of company policies, our code or the law. The helpline is available to our entire workforce and to those outside of GoDaddy, including contractors and vendors. With the aim of improving the workplace experience, we strongly encourage that all concerns — whether small or large — be raised through this or other reporting avenues so that we can continually work to ensure our workplace is compliant and inclusive. The Audit and Finance Committee receives quarterly reports on issues raised through the ethics helpline calls and the resulting actions.

In our annual GoDaddy Voice survey, we ask employees for feedback on the strength of our ethical compliance practices. In 2022, 87% of employees responded that they feel comfortable reporting ethics and compliance issues.

About This Report 
Unless otherwise noted, the GoDaddy 2022 Sustainability Report outlines our environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies, activities, progress, metrics and performance for the fiscal year that ended on December 31, 2022. This report references the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and includes select Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards metrics for the Internet Media and Services sector.

GoDaddy is committed to regular, transparent communication about our sustainability progress, and to that end, we will share updates on an ongoing basis through our website and will continue to publish an annual Sustainability Report.

To learn more, please read our 2022 Sustainability Report.

When “New York” is mentioned, as in New York City and New York State, we often hear descriptions in superlatives. Such as: long -time capital of journalism, publishing, broadcasting, fashion, and design. As a global leader in trade, capital markets and finance. Home to the largest asset management firms in the world, such as BlackRock, which manages almost $10 trillion in its own and client assets.

And as described in our Top Story below, New York is positioned as a power center for promoting responsible ESG practices through its sustainable investment and activism, led by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli — one of the nation’s leading institutional investors managing significant sums of public sector monies.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund (Common Fund) is ranked #3 largest in U.S. public employee investment systems with $240 billion in assets under management. #1 is the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and #2 is California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS). Among these, the Common Fund is unique in that there is a single trustee – the statewide elected comptroller, who has now served in the post for more than 15 years.

The NY State pension system serves 1.2 million beneficiaries – about 700,000 current and 500,000 retired employees of NY State government (state, county, municipal levels). Under Comptroller DiNapoli, the Common Fund became a leader in ESG activism, promoting change at companies in its portfolio.

Examples of the Common Fund’s ESG investment activism: recently, the Comptroller’s office reached an agreement with a number of large-cap companies to set new GHG emissions targets and regularly report progress to the state as an important part of the Common Fund’s own drive to achieve net zero GHG emissions by Year 2040.

In its ESG proxy activism, other examples of recent achievements include getting Warner Bros/Discovery to agree to public disclosure of the company’s political contributions; and, Amazon agreeing to conduct a “racial equity audit” for its facilities. The Common Fund has been active in annual proxy seasons, filing almost 500 shareholder proposals at about 270 publicly-traded companies over the past decade. While such vote outcomes are “advisory” and not binding on board and management, the Common Fund has been able to effect change in corporate policies and actions with its ESG activism.

A recent profile published in Newsday focuses on the Common Fund’s ESG policies and activities to reduce risk and increase profit, which in turn will increase the Common Fund’s returns and assets. ESG for Comptroller DiNapoli and his management team is seen as a risk mitigation strategy.

According to the Newsday profile, the Common Fund had overall average returns of almost 10% over the past decade on all assets and an average of 14% per year on its publicly-traded corporate equities investments (about 35% of all holdings). This is on par with average returns in the S&P 500 Index® over the same period, the index representing about 85% of total investable equities.

Also, worth mentioning in terms of New York ESG activism: the five New York City funds with elected Comptroller Brad Lander oversight. These funds are active on many of the same ESG issues during the year (with corporate engagements) and at proxy voting time.

Of course, the Common Fund and the New York City funds’ activities now draw pushback by Republican-led states and right-of-center forces. Florida and other states are adopting laws to bar fund managers from using ESG investment strategies. Comptroller DiNapoli’s response: ESG principles are not used to guide Fund investments; if companies in its portfolio have practices or policies that are lacking on ESG principles, then change is sought through shareholder proposals.

We believe our Top Story is well worth a read to help in understanding the key role that the Common Fund and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli are playing in the current culture war skirmishes over ESG investing.

This is just the introduction of G&A’s Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view the full issue.

by Craig Wichner, CEO, Farmland LP

It was a breakout year for organic agriculture in 2022. Consumer demand for organic food continued its steady rise, with strong prices for producers, rising land values and excellent returns for investors. Beyond these results, three significant trends were sharply apparent last year that will continue to affect not only organic farming but the entire agriculture sector – rising consumer demand for healthy food, the fragility of the conventional farming system and investor interest in sustainable farmland practices.

The organic market is enjoying strong momentum. Demand is growing because consumers increasingly recognize the benefits of pesticide-free healthy organic food. They also see that conventional chemical-based farming and food production are increasingly industrialized and commoditized, harming the environment and producing unhealthy, pesticide-laden food. Today, organic food is a $56 billion market and represents 6% of all U.S. food sales. Demand is growing at 13% annually and is constrained by a lack of supply, since organic cropland is only 1.2% of all farmable acreage in the U.S. and is growing by just 7% yearly. The result is a 50-200 percent price premium for organic produce.

Those strong fundamentals were reflected in our business, too. Farmland LP marked its 14th year in operation in 2022, and we have demonstrated over that time that organic farming is profitable at scale. Today, we manage more than 16,000 acres, valued at $250 million, and 40 crops are grown on our farms. By converting conventional farmland to organic, we have increased rents from $300/acre to $750/acre. We have also increased revenue per-acre up to ten times by converting from commodity crops to higher value and permanent crops.

Read Craig full article on all 3 Trends here – https://greenmoney.com/three-trends-driving-the-growth-of-organic-agriculture

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