Month: January 2024

As we begin a new year, we reflect with gratitude on an incredible 2023 for the Albertsons Companies Foundation. Last year, the Foundation helped more than 750 organizations and enabled more than 142 million meals to those in need. As we celebrate the successes of the Foundation, we’re thankful to Susan Morris, EVP, Chief Operations Officer, for her tenure as Board Chair during this last year. 

Since 2019, Susan was instrumental in shepherding the Foundation through the pandemic and helped us reach major milestones. Her leadership inspired belonging and a commitment to our neighbors and associates. Through serving on our We Care committee, Susan ushered over $5 million to over 2,000 associates in times of financial hardship or natural disaster. 

Susan worked tirelessly for our neighbors with over 21,000 grants approved under her guidance to local organizations, making each of our communities stronger for having one of our stores. During Susan’s tenure, our banners mobilized over $300 million in funding to support our programs through our employees’ passion, partnerships with our vendors, and the generous contributions of our customers. Those dollars, given locally, were able to support the Foundation’s vision of strengthening our neighborhoods and changing lives. 

Thank you, Susan, for your thoughtful stewardship of the Foundation and helping us build strong partnerships in support of our communities.

See original post on LinkedIn and read more about Albertsons Companies and our Recipe for Change on our website.

By harnessing technology and embracing sustainability, we can achieve cost savings that can then be used to fund investments in brand innovation and portfolio evolution. We achieve this by executing our hallmark cost-savings program successfully and capitalizing on the superior value of our brands and their role in consumers’ daily lives.

FY23 HIGHLIGHTS

Achieved four consecutive quarters of record cost savings, above our 175 basis-point IGNITE goal. This, coupled with the implementation of record levels of cost-justified pricing actions, contributed to margin improvement and supports investment in our business.Reduced inventory for six consecutive quarters, demonstrating that our supply chain optimization efforts are working as planned. This improvement not only enabled us to better fulfill demand, but also supported merchandising activities and, importantly, improved cash flows.Invested in the business to find efficiencies and meet increased consumer demand through our new cat litter manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, West Virginia.Achievedzero-waste-to-landfill,orZWtL,statusintwo additional facilities — the Burt’s Bees plant in Morrisville, North Carolina, and our cleaning plant in San Juan, Argentina — advancing us to 80% of our goal for 100% ZWtL plants by 2025.

PATHWAY TO CLIMATE ACTION 

With more than half of our emissions coming from the sourcing of ingredients, packaging and services to support our business, we continued to execute our Climate Action Plan by engaging suppliers — and our business units — to help advance our 2030 science-based targets and 2050 net zero commitment, including:

Inviting nearly 50 priority suppliers to participate in the Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition collaborative, which helps build capacity for measuring emissions and setting science-based targets.Achieving a 78% response rate from priority suppliers for the 2022 CDP Supply Chain questionnaire, which improves visibility into their carbon footprint and reduction targets. This helps us assess suppliers’ progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are included in our scope 3 footprint.

View the full 2023 Annual Report. 

HIGHLIGHTS

goIT is TCS’ flagship digital innovation and career readiness program, which engages students in design workshops and custom mentorships to prepare them with the skills, confidence, and mindsets to pursue careers of the future.Aishani B., a 16-year-old from Cumming, Georgia, was named the North American Innovator of the Year 2023 while Laura Farry of Donegal, Ireland, won the goIT Global Innovator of the Year award.Today, these kids—more than 35,000 in 42 countries last year—have entered a digital innovation contest. Tomorrow, they will change the world.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

As the mentoring programs end for the 2022 inaugural goIT Innovators of the Year event and TCS’ Go Innovate Together (goIT) teams gear up for the next global competition, I’m filled with a sense of hope for the future that only the youth can inspire.

Last year, the TCS goIT program named 16-year-old Aishani B. of Cumming, Georgia, its North American Innovator of the Year, and Laura Farry of Donegal, Ireland, the goIT Global Innovator of the Year. Aishani and Laura were two of about 40,000 young people who, in 2022, entered the TCS goIT Monthly Challenge with concepts for innovations that could help address one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

goIT is TCS’ flagship digital innovation and career readiness program, which engages students in design workshops and custom mentorships to prepare them with the skills, confidence, and mindsets to pursue careers of the future.

CREATIVITY UNLEASHED

With the challenge of using their creativity and design thinking skills to solve specific real-world problems, the two winners came to the task well-researched and prepared. Looking for a problem to solve, 11th grader Aishani didn’t have to go further than her own school. She recalled her disappointment seeing classmates throwing barely used notebooks, textbooks, and other school supplies in the trash quicker than running out the door for summer break.

Thinking of how many underprivileged students could benefit from these typically discarded resources, she used TCS goIT as the motivation to find a better way. She created a website called “A Second Life,” which links students and families in need of school supplies and used textbooks to resources available locally—or from further away. It also demonstrates her intention and purpose as a global citizen committed to expanding access to education. Laura’s innovation, on the other hand, demonstrated her ability to find purpose in current events and meaning in changing the lives of total strangers for the better. Her innovation seeks to provide services to refugees from Ukraine.

Aishani and Laura were two of about 40,000 young people who, in 2022, entered the TCS goIT Monthly Challenge with concepts for innovations that could help address one of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

YOUTH INSPIRE HOPE

Aishani and Laura’s innovations and those of other K-12 competitors couldn’t have come sooner. The side effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic have reportedly slowed—and even reversed—progress on the UN’s SDGs, making them suddenly seem more aspirational than strategic.

Yet, while some adults may be losing hope, youth involvement with goIT and the SDGs proves that the next generation is proactive and focused on helping. As newer generations always have, young people inspire hope for tomorrow.

Ironically, some of the momentum for this was created by the pandemic. Among the unexpected benefits of pandemic lockdowns and other hardships, the world of digital technology was transformed—quickly. So, while relying on technology to replace time spent in classrooms and their customary travel to meet friends and family, a generation of youth discovered the empowering possibilities of digital technology and the Internet of Things.

DIGITAL BOOST

We know now, from reports of depression, social avoidance, and a reduction in outdoor time, that the adoption of digital tech wasn’t exactly perfect. Yet it helped young people connect, gave them a say, and exposed them to a greater awareness of current events and global issues than they had ever experienced.

For curious young people like Aishani and Laura, advances in digital technology and time spent in virtual environments during lockdowns provided an opportunity for great discovery. It helped transform them into global citizens (and digital citizens) poised to benefit society.

During TCS’ inaugural goIT Global Innovator of the Year competition, enterprising students like Aishani and Laura spent hours inventing and then preparing, creating, and planning so they could present their ideas to IT consulting professionals as well as volunteer judges from TCS and its customer base. Their presentations demonstrated their computational and design-thinking capabilities and their compassion. Proactive and planning for a better world, winners won awards and mentoring opportunities and now have had a glimpse of social entrepreneurship as a real possibility in their lives.

Today, these kids—more than 35,000 in 42 countries last year—entered a digital innovation contest. Tomorrow, they will change the world.

Learn more here.

It says what it does, and does what it says.

Project Lifesaver is a remarkable non-profit organization that has been operating since 1999. Its mission is to provide law enforcement, first responders and caregivers with a specialized program that aims to protect and quickly locate “at-risk” individuals who are prone to wandering—ensuring that those who need assistance receive it promptly and efficiently.

The organization provides those individuals with a waterproof bracelet containing a transmitter with a unique frequency signal.

Public safety agencies—including first responders with specially trained search-and-rescue teams—are equipped with a receiver and can pinpoint the individual’s location—a process that, to date, has resulted in more than 4,200 successful rescues in the U.S. and Canada.

The program is designed for anyone with a cognitive impairment or neurological disorder, including autism or Alzheimer’s Disease, that may lead to wandering off unsafely.

In northern Minnesota, the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office has been a part of the Project Lifesaver program for roughly eight years, and Sgt. Rob Billings says the program is all about “giving (caregivers) peace of mind, and most finds are very, very quick. Once we lock on to the signal, usually it doesn’t take probably more than 10 minutes or so for us to find them.”

Enbridge is committed to safety—it’s the foundation of everything we do. As part of our Fueling Futures program, we presented a grant of $2,500 to the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office in support of its involvement with Project Lifesaver program, to provide new equipment as needed.

As it happens, the son of an Enbridge employee was the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office’s first client enrolled in Project Lifesaver back in 2015.

“This program gives my family an additional sense of security and peace of mind,” says Enbridge mechanical technician Ryan Humphrey, whose son Jackson has autism. “The program is so amazing—the effectiveness is second to none.”

For those caregivers interested in learning more, Project Lifesaver’s website includes an interactive map that offers contact information for the hundreds of participating agencies across North America.

Sgt. Billings also encourages fellow agencies to participate in the program.

“Having the bracelet on for them, whether they ever walk away again, gives caregivers peace of mind, and it gives them that ability to sleep comfortably at night even if they do take off,” he says.

(TOP PHOTO: From left, Enbridge mechanical technician Ryan Humphrey, his son Jackson, Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs and Beltrami County Sgt. Rob Billings.)

The Chemours Company’s Belle, West Virginia plant recently awarded a nearly $99,000 Vibrant Community grant to Explore the New Manufacturing as part of the company’s commitment to invest $50 million in its communities to increase access to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills, safety initiatives, and sustainable environment programs by 2030. The investment will directly benefit middle and high school students participating in educational learning programs designed to support STEM, technical careers, and development opportunities to fuel a high-potential, future workforce. The grant will benefit students in Explore’s Kanawha Valley and Mid-Ohio Valley hubs.

“As a chemistry company, we are passionate about inspiring the next generation of STEM professionals through early access to STEM education and mentoring,” said Nicholas Martino Chemours Belle Plant Manager. “This is more important than ever with 800,000 expected job openings in STEM-related fields by 2031.”

The Vibrant Communities grant will have a broad impact on Explore’s programming, helping the organization to expand engagement throughout the Kanawha and Mid-Ohio areas. Significant enhancement will occur in five program areas:

Explore Academies (field day) and Explore Workshops (in-class) give middle schoolers the opportunity to meet some of the region’s manufacturers and learn about how their workers help to produce products for local, national, and international clients.

Manufacturing Day Virtual Lab Series provides all West Virginia middle schools with in-class learning opportunities that have been developed to meet state educational curriculum objectives. The series explores the manufacturing processes, products, and employees who make it all happen.

The Manufacturing Innovation Challenge introduces problem-solving learning projects for high school career and technical education students. Each project allows a group of students working as a team to serve as consultants for a local manufacturing company to solve real-world challenges with real-world solutions.

Emerging Elite in Manufacturing and Outstanding Industry Educator awards annually recognize a select group of West Virginia high school students and technical education teachers who are committed to careers in manufacturing.

Explore the New Manufacturing Educator’s Roundtable provides the opportunity to hold in-depth conversations with middle and high school educators who have participated in the Explore Program. Their insight is used to space future educational initiatives, so the program remains on target to assist West Virginia teachers involved in career learning classrooms.

“The Explore Program is grateful for Chemours’ generous support,” said Executive Director Monica Cross, who oversees the Explore the New Manufacturing program’s efforts to create student awareness and excitement about careers in manufacturing and the educational opportunities toward these positions. “We are very excited that Chemours’ funding will support the development and release of two 30-minute videos as part of the Manufacturing Day Virtual Lab Series. The new videos, provided to schools in all fifty-five counties, will help middle school students better understand West Virginia products and the diversity of careers necessary to deliver them to consumers around the world. The year ahead of us will be transformative for Explore the New Manufacturing, thanks to Chemours’ belief and support of our mission.”

Originally published by TriplePundit

Research shows that women and people of color often suffer from advanced heart and vascular disease at disproportionately high rates. But their burden doesn’t end there. While these populations tend to be overrepresented in their disease rates, they also tend to be underrepresented in their treatment.

For example, take peripheral artery disease (PAD), a potentially serious vascular condition that reduces blood flow to the limbs, usually the legs. Black Americans have twice the rate of PAD than their white counterparts. Yet while PAD is a condition that can be managed if caught and treated early enough, Black patients also have dramatically worse outcomes, including being twice as likely to receive amputations due to severely blocked blood flow.

Treatment rates for other cardiovascular conditions show similar disparities, including:

Coronary artery disease: Hispanic patients with heart attack symptoms are 15 percent less likely to receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI, also called angioplasty), a procedure to open blocked coronary arteries.Heart failure: Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to receive a pacemaker or implantable defibrillator to keep their hearts beating normally.Atrial fibrillation: Black patients are 50 percent less likely than white patients to receive a treatment called catheter ablation and represent only 4 percent of those who undergo an effective stroke-prevention treatment called left atrial appendage closure. Black AFib patients also have double the risk of stroke as white patients.Heart attack: Women wait 30 percent longer than men to receive cardiovascular care. Such delays are associated with worse outcomes: Women who have a heart attack are nearly twice as likely to die in the hospital than men.

That last statistic is especially personal for me. A few years ago, my mother, a Black retired nurse, developed terrible leg pain. Over three weeks she visited three different doctors, but none could provide a diagnosis or reduce her pain; even so, my mother’s reverence for physicians made her reluctant to seek yet another opinion. At last, however, she saw a fourth doctor, who realized my mother had had a heart attack and hurried her into treatment. Her just-in-time diagnosis allowed her to undergo life-saving procedures, for which I am thankful. She received the gift of two and a half extra years of life before her passing last November from her chronic coronary artery disease. But no one should struggle to get critical care the way my mother did.

Working with health systems to close the treatment gap

Today, health systems have begun recognizing the need to close treatment gaps and provide patients the equitable access they deserve. But creating change can be hard, especially with a problem so vast and deeply entrenched as health inequity. The difficulty in knowing where to start can be enough to paralyze even the most educated individuals and well-meaning organizations.

Fortunately, this is where equity-minded healthcare organizations have stepped up to help. Our 20-year-strong Close the Gap initiative at Boston Scientific, for example, supports healthcare systems in taking meaningful steps toward greater healthcare access for those who are typically underserved, including Black, Hispanic, and women patients living with cardiovascular disease. Through its targeted Heart and Vascular Health Equity Level-up Program, Close the Gap uncovers care disparities and collaborates with healthcare providers on strategies to better engage and treat these underrepresented groups, with an emphasis on improving the diverse patient experience through system change and building trust.

Close the Gap’s approach is also data-driven. Using national and local prevalence statistics for four common disease states (peripheral artery disease, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure), the team uses ZIP code-based data to identify which specific demographics are missing access to equitable care. Close the Gap then collaborates with providers and administrators to connect with those patient populations and improve the care experience based on health equity best practices.

Last year, for example, Close the Gap was approached by Piedmont Healthcare, a 22-hospital system that serves 3.4 million cardiology patients across Georgia. “We wanted to introspectively look at how we were faring in identifying individuals at high cardiovascular risk and providing care relative to their sex and ethnicity,” explains Dr. David Kandzari, chief of Piedmont Heart Institute. “For us, Close the Gap became the catalyst.”

Digging into the data, the Close the Gap and Piedmont teams looked at the treatment rates of a minimally invasive procedure used to treat coronary artery disease – the most common type of heart disease in the U.S. – and compared groups according to ethnicity and sex. While these procedures were broadly used across all patients, opportunities emerged to further explore differences. With those findings, the team came up with customized strategies for Piedmont, including plans for sharing information at a physician retreat, distributing patient educational materials in English and Spanish, and launching an educational web page on the Piedmont website.

Using that action plan, Piedmont has gotten off to a running start. “We’ve already raised awareness to more than 7,000 providers across the healthcare system,” says Dr. Kandzari, adding that Piedmont is also distributing patient materials through community programs, health fairs, and churches. “It’s been a rewarding experience for everyone here, and something we’re proud of,” he says. “And it’s motivated us to not stop there. This is really about a continuing initiative toward greater equity, so that all patients can receive the care they need.”

Equity progress over time, not overnight

When it comes to advancing health equity, we know that progress comes over time, not overnight. But those of us involved in this work can see how each small victory gets us a little closer to our goals. Each hospital willing to have those tough conversations, each doctor who takes a second look at a patient in light of a new awareness, each person who reads a flyer about cardiovascular health and decides to schedule a screening – every one of these is a step toward systemic change for the better.

The social return on this investment is worth it. Certainly, every life improved through more equitable treatment is well worth it. We’ll keep thoughtfully moving the work forward, celebrating every small victory along the way, until the day healthcare is finally fair and accessible to all.

This article series is sponsored by Boston Scientific.

Originally published on Built From Scratch

The Home Depot Foundation’s nationwide week of service runs from Jan. 12 – 19, 2024. This is in partnership with Home Builders Institute (HBI), 100 Black Men of America, Construction Ready and other local and national nonprofits. The goal is to help drive sustainable change and social equity across communities and introduce high school students to high-earning career opportunities in the skilled trades.

As part of this week of service, Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate volunteer force, and nonprofit Big Picture Philadelphia upgraded Vaux Big Picture High School’s facilities in Philadelphia, PA. The teams worked with students to build benches and paint the counseling center, learning offices and picnic tables at the high school. This is where students regularly participate in professional development workshops. Beautification projects like this will also allow the students to demonstrate hands-on skills they’ve learned through the Home Builders Institute pre-apprenticeship program.

In Atlanta, GA, Team Depot joined with Westside Future Fund (WFF) and Hands On Atlanta to take part in service projects across the city. On Monday, dozens of associates volunteered at a local elementary school, building an outdoor classroom, landscaping and beautifying the property, painting murals, assembling blankets, organizing the library and more. WFF is a place-based nonprofit supporting equitable neighborhood revitalization on Atlanta’s historic Westside. Projects like this help preserve the community so it remains a place Dr. King would be proud to call home.

Across the coast, in Oakland, CA, The Home Depot Foundation is partnering with HBI and 100 Black Men of the Bay Area to guide students as they build new storage spaces for the Cypress Mandela Training Center. This nonprofit organization provides free pre-apprenticeship construction training and employment assistance to local underrepresented communities.

Other projects include helping build desks with local junior high school students in Coralville, IA, constructing benches and raised garden beds for a senior center in Leicester, MA, and making athletic equipment for a high school athletic program in Vancouver, WA.

Visit HomeDepotFoundation.org to learn more.

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