Tag: 3BL

Originally published in Key’s 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance report

At Key, diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t just cornerstones of our culture – they are business accelerators. Advancing DE&I efforts involves a collaborative partnership between our DE&I team, Human Resources team, lines of business, and other support teams.

Each line of business is required to develop an annual DE&I action plan, which is approved by its respective Executive Leadership team leader and managed by one of the appointed DE&I champions across the organization. DE&I champions help to align line of business DE&I action plans with Key’s overall strategy. Progress against these plans is monitored monthly.

For the past year, we focused on three areas to deliver strategic and meaningful DE&I initiatives and solutions:

To be the employer of choice for diverse professionals 
 Define concrete and uniform actions across the enterprise to drive meaningful progress toward our strategic framework 
 Focus on disciplined execution

We recognize this journey is not about reaching an end destination, but delivering continuous improvement, proactively raising our own bar, and addressing areas of opportunity head on. We believe each and every one of us has a role to play – in our company and in our communities.

Our DEI Strategic Framework

Workforce: Attract, engage, and develop a talented and diverse team to better reflect the communities we serve.

Workplace: For all Key employees to bring their full, authentic selves to do their best work.

Marketplace: Advance equity and inclusion in our communities by building mutually beneficial relationships with diverse clients and partners.

To learn more about Key’s DEI efforts, read the 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance Report here.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of the 21st century and has only become more prevalent in recent years. A key component of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s sustainability strategy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations, aiming for a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030 compared to 2020. To achieve this goal, the company focuses on four areas:

New Construction & CapEx SustainabilityProcess Emissions (emissions from industrial processes)Renewable EnergyEDISON – Energy Efficiency

Launched in 2009, the EDISON program focuses on reducing energy consumption within our operations through investment in energy efficiency and onsite renewables. In 2022, the program expanded to focus on both energy and water efficiency, and a central pool of funding was allocated to support site projects.

What are Scope 1 and Scope 2 Emissions?

Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions (otherwise known as direct emissions) are emissions released on-site – for example from the combustion of natural gas in our boilers, and the loss of refrigerants from our HVAC systems.

Scope 2 emissions occur off-site, but as the end consumer of these utilities, we are responsible for the emissions. For Life Science, these emissions are mainly caused by electricity consumption.

How does EDISON work?

EDISON brings together our various high-impact energy and water reduction activities under one roof. This fosters the sharing of best practices across sites, operating regions, and business sectors worldwide, helping drive a continuous improvement culture. EDISON focuses on investment in more energy (and water) efficient equipment and controls while simultaneously pursuing onsite renewable energy opportunities.

To ensure we are allocating funding to projects that yield the highest sustainability impact, we developed a scoring framework we call the “EDISON Score” which evaluates projects across four impact dimensions.

Energy SavingsWater SavingsCO2 SavingsSimple Payback

EDISON in Action

In 2022, the first year of our EDISON re-launch, Life Science invested €4.6 million in CapEx towards projects that reduce energy and water consumption at our sites. See below for two project highlights from our sites around the world.

Heat Pump Installation – Wuxi, China

Description: Installation of a heat pump to replace steam heating in HVAC unitResult:298 metric tons of CO2 reduced annually1,617 MWh of energy savings

Onsite Solar Installation – Bangalore (Jigani), India

Description: 100 KW solar panel installation on the rooftop of our manufacturing facilityResult:131 tons of CO2 reduced annually175 MWh of energy savings

What’s in store for 2023?

The EDISON program has hit the ground running in 2023. The initiative will bring more than 40 high-impact projects into action this year, estimated to save 24,000 MWh of electricity and 73,000 cubic meters of water annually.

Learn more about the sustainable operations efforts of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany by visiting its sustainability and social business innovation webpage.

A diverse global workforce is one of our firm’s most valuable assets. We thrive because our culture is built on collaboration and the diverse backgrounds, perspectives, talents, and experiences of our associates.

As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May, we recognize the importance of creating opportunities for associates from these communities across globe. By engaging our Asian American and Pacific Islander associates, they not only develop professionally and have an opportunity to advance as leaders, but they also help support the firm’s agility and ability to serve our clients, and sustain and enhance our inclusive culture.

A few of our associates shared the importance of advancing leaders through opportunity:

Christine Akins, Head of Client Engagement, Individual Investors

To advance leaders through opportunity, you have to promote curiosity. Today’s business environment requires nimbleness and an adaptability to see and seize strategic opportunities in a shifting landscape. A highly dynamic business world requires curious leaders who can create value by tapping into different corners of the organization, and who seek diverse talent with different experiences and expertise that bring new perspectives. Creating solutions for our clients means creating opportunities for our leaders to continue to develop and contribute and learn from one another in the process.

Sue Bhogal, Audit Director and Immediate Past Chair of MOSAIC @ T. Rowe Price 

When advancing leaders through opportunity is truly put in practice, it signals recognition of the potential of pan Asian professionals beyond the stereotypes of being strong individual contributors. Specifically, the organization and leaders make a conscious effort of overcoming the bias of Asians only being strong mathematicians and technical experts in their fields. The right opportunity can provide meaningful exposure, make the talent visible within the organization, and enable Asian associate(s) to build a personal brand that showcases their leadership skills across various dimensions.

Edgardo Carlos, Principal Architect 

T. Rowe Price provides our associates with tools and opportunities to improve their leadership skills. Opportunities to apply those skills, however, are not always obvious or available to some members of underrepresented communities. As a leader of MOSAIC’s Asian Heritage Community, I try to live by a philosophy that leaders should lend a hand to others in need and provide opportunities for them to advance. It could be as simple as enabling a mentee to explore opportunities by connecting them to other leaders in the firm or as structured as hosting networking events to connect aspiring leaders with the firm’s senior leaders to expand their visibility and impact.

Suzanne Cho, Global Product Program Manager and Chair of MOSAIC @ T. Rowe Price’s Asian Heritage Community

Opportunity to tell our stories. Opportunity to be heard and seen. Opportunity to be valued. An inclusive corporate culture creates a sense of belonging and empathy and promotes productivity, profitability, and team morale. Jobs become careers, and those who aspire to positions of greater accountability, responsibility, and company impact can develop to become leaders—regardless of race, color, national origin, disability, or any other distinguishing trait.

As we commemorate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and other celebrations of diversity, we invite you to learn more about our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and how our differences bring us together at troweprice.com/diversity.

International Girls in ICT Day is a global movement encouraging girls and young women to pursue science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) education and careers.

Cisco hosts events through our Women Rock-IT program, which began in 2014 and has seen more than two million participants, with over half enrolling in one of our Cisco Networking Academy courses as a result.

Join us on April 27 to hear from women who are working on critical environmental issues like climate change and learn how developing digital skills now can help protect our planet!

This is a guest blog from Dr Pandora Hope, a Principal Climate Scientist at the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia, and one of six guest speakers on Girls in ICT Day. Dr Hope will discuss how climate data reveals the human influence on our extreme weather and share her passion for climate knowledge, the outdoors and her expertise in climate models.

Starting out

I studied science and mathematics at school and university. The options were wide — I could study biology, physics, chemistry, psychology — and I did. I was interested in how our bodies worked, so I majored in physiology. Still, something was missing. I missed maths. So the next year, I also majored in applied mathematics. And I discovered maths that could be applied to the real world — how fluid flows, and long equations that could describe our weather.

During my Honours year my supervisor introduced me to the world of climate studies — how can we integrate weather systems together to reveal underlying patterns over the whole Southern Hemisphere? What did those patterns look like in the 1950s? What do they look like now? The study required huge amounts of data from weather stations, and statistics and coding. My Honours thesis was titled “Variability of the Southern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation”, and my Ph.D in 2005 was titled “The weather and climate of Australia at the Last Glacial Maximum”.

Coding

In first year University we all learnt Fortran. And everyone failed the test. I was astonished that everyone (including me) just didn’t “get it”. But somehow over time, as I used coding in my assignments and for my Honours research project, something clicked. Then I couldn’t understand how anyone could not “get it”. It was just there, as obvious as reading.

Years later, I was reminded of my process of learning coding as I watched my children learn to read. At first it was impenetrable. Then, they just “got it”.

When I reflect on the skills I’ve used to do what I do, I wonder how these will change over the coming years?

Early career

I loved thinking of ways to code up solutions to novel questions, interrogating data to explore the signals that we might draw from it. Really figuring out what was going on by combining those answers with my understanding of weather systems and the large-scale transfer of heat from the tropics to the poles.

In my first job after university undergraduate studies, I was given the opportunity to play with a general circulation model — otherwise known as a global climate model. It was a huge computer program that created weather by solving the equations of motion of air around the globe, and parameterising processes like clouds and rainfall. Fun things I did included:

Doubling the number of vertical levels up through the atmosphere (and crashed the model — clouds are tricky!).Adding a dune-building module to compare with the fixed dunes of Australia, which are indicators of past winds.Adding an enormous permanent lake into the arid centre of Australia.Blocking evaporation over parts of the ocean to see where our rain derived its water from.Altering the temperature gradients across the tropical Pacific Ocean and moved the winds over Australia north or south.Trying to grab as many nodes on the university’s supercomputer as I could. Sometimes at 2 o’clock in the morning.

Building my passion

As fun as it is to “play” in a virtual world, I began to realise that my work had real-world applications in the here and now. Results from my work could help guide policy and make Australia a better place.

When I started work at the Bureau of Meteorology, I was very keen to be part of an operational institution, working with real-life people who had real-life concerns — like running out of water. I worked closely with government departments across southern Australia — where a drying signal emerged in the late 1960s in the west and the late 1990s in the east — to help them understand why, and whether the wet years would return.

Recognition

Along the way, I have been recognized for my efforts — usually as a part of a much larger group. As an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) author, IPCC was the co-laureate of the 2022 Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity. Also, the Victorian Climate Initiative received the Australian Water Association Research Innovation Award (Victoria) in 2019, where I was a key lead.

I received a Bureau of Meteorology Australia Day Achievement Medallion in 2018 for outstanding leadership of major projects and representation of the Bureau and Australia at significant national and international forums. And I also received a Bureau of Meteorology Community Award — Positive Working Culture, State of the Climate co-editor 2016.

Interacting with other people in the climate and weather community was a big part of my education — I was a Committee Member for “Women in Australian Weather and Climate Research” from 2013 to 2019. And Chair of Melbourne Centre of Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) and Member of AMOS National Council from 2003 to 2005 — despite one member saying I couldn’t be, because I was too young. I initiated and edited the AMOS policy on global warming during that time.

Now

I now work as a Principal Climate Scientist at The Bureau of Meteorology in Australia, which provides daily weather forecasts and multi-week to seasonal forecasts every two days. For research, we have access to major super-computing infrastructures where we can run global forecast experiments to understand the impacts of climate change on extreme weather events.

Working with the IPCC, I trust that my sharing of how we can quantify the human influence on climate trends and extremes will continue to help guide policy on the world stage and make the world a better place.

View original content here

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 1, 2023 /3BL Media/ – To help educators nationwide observe Mental Health Month, Discovery Education is presenting a curated collection of free standards-aligned resources empowering educators to support student mental health. Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art digital platform supports learning wherever it takes place.

Established in 1949 by Mental Health America and observed each May, Mental Health Month raises awareness and educates the public about mental illnesses and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness. This year’s theme, “Look Around, Look Within,” encourages communities to explore and understand how factors like education and the environment impact mental health. In recognition of Mental Health Month and the 2023 theme, Discovery Education presents the following collection of resources in collaboration with partners:

Virtual Field Trip 
Grades 3-5

This virtual field trip from Soar with Wings – a program with Wings for Kids and the Allstate Foundation – introduces students to the key pillars of emotional intelligence. Accompanying educator guides, student activities, and family engagement materials help students apply mental wellness concepts in their daily lives.

Lesson Plan 
Grades 6-12

In this digital lesson plan featuring an educator guide and a video from a CVS pharmacist, students learn that mental health is a key component of overall health, review strategies to support their mental health, and explore the effects stress, anxiety, and depression can have on the brain and body. The lesson plan is part of CVS Health’s Pharmacists Teach program, Dose of Knowledge which offers a suite of no-cost digital content aligned to learning standards empowering K-12 grade students with the facts about substance misuse and how to make good decisions for the health and well-being of themselves and their community, while also connecting classrooms to pharmacists.

Career Profiles 
Grades 6-8

Better Health in Action – a program created in partnership with global biopharmaceutical company Takeda – empowers the next generation of health leaders to learn about the urgent widespread issue of health equity. The career profiles take students inside the lives of a diverse portfolio of biopharmaceutical professionals with career paths centered on STEM offering students opportunities to imagine their future and potential in the journey towards health equity. Accompanying videos available in nine languages analyze community inequities and empower students to take action toward improved health and education.

Professional Development 
Deepen educator support around mental health in a variety of learning environments with professional learning resources. A network of partners committed to bringing important mental health resources into core instruction, this coalition supports educators and students nationwide.

Create teaching strategies that incorporate support for students’ mental health with on-demand e-learning modules. Designed in collaboration with Ready, Set, RISE! – an educational initiative with Kaiser Permanente and an Alliance for a Healthier Generation (Healthier Generation) – these resources help create student-centered and trauma-informed learning environments.

Finally, with a Masterclass series from Amazing Me – a program with the Dove Self-Esteem Project – educators can gain the skills they can use to encourage kindness and open communication in their classrooms that reduces weight-based bullying and instilling body confidence. The series is hosted by Marisol Perez, a clinical psychologist and researcher at Arizona State University and The Institute for Research and Education Advancing Children’s Health (REACH).

These resources and more are available on Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform and within the Wellness channel. The Wellness channel features content partners such as the Child Mind Institute and Everyday Speech. Explore four exciting new series including “MyYounger Self” and “Getting Better Together” from the Child Mind Institute, a children’s mental health nonprofit dedicated to stamping out stigma around mental illness and learning differences. The Everyday Speech collection showcases videos and activities that focus on topics like mindfulness, friendship, respect, decision-making, and empathy.

“It’s important we offer educators a wide range of free resources to support teaching and learning during, and beyond, Mental Health Month. These powerful digital materials are designed to promote student mental health in any learning setting,” 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

by Matthew Trowbridge, MD, MPH

As a Doctor of Medicine by trade, I often think about how my work impacts others – specifically, how I can use my career to maximize impact on the health and well-being of people. Following this pursuit, I generally focus my efforts and attention outside the hospital; looking to impact upstream opportunities to address social and environmental determinants of health for my patients and community. The rationale and evidence are simple and quite strong for this – improving daily conditions of life prevents illness and supports overall well-being.

A similar rationale and evidence base underlies stakeholder capitalism – an economic and business approach rooted in theories originating in the 1970s from Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, and R. Ed Freeman, professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (my academic home). The core tenet of stakeholder capitalism is that the long term success of a business is intertwined with its stakeholders. Therefore, investments made to support the ‘daily conditions’ of its suppliers, the health and well-being of its employees and the communities in which a company resides always pays back in the long term. And vice versa. Freeman’s theory states that if a business treats its stakeholders–including employees–poorly, the business, too, will suffer. It’s a core business practice, which informs and supports environmental, social and governance (ESG) pillars by integrating specific principles, including health and well-being, into sustainable finance, resilience and corporate governance.

This spring, I moderated a panel discussion on Capitol Hill regarding the critical role health plays in supporting better performing organizations and a stronger economy. The event was led and hosted by two distinguished Congressional leaders, Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), who founded the Stakeholder Capitalism Caucus in 2021. In addition to inspiring opening remarks from Representatives Phillips and Houlahan, as well as IWBI Founder Paul Scialla, we heard from an expert panel made up of Alison Omens, Chief Strategy Officer at JUST Capital; Kelly McCarthy, Head of Impact at Vistria Group; and Wendy Feldman Block, Executive Managing Director at Savills US.

From employee health to workplace strategies, the panel shared important points about how investors and corporations are taking steps to elevate human health, well-being and equity at the organizational scale:

“…Prioritizing worker health and improving a company’s bottom line are not mutually exclusive undertakings…When our workers’ health is prioritized, our families, companies and communities benefit.”
Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA)

“My great grandfather used to tell me regularly that ‘business is a means to an end.’ And the end is not aggregating as much wealth as possible; rather, sharing as much as possible with those that make it happen and communities that provide that platform.”
Congressman Dean Phillips (D-MN)

“When your employees are sick less, you do better. When they’re more loyal, you do better.”
Paul Scialla, Founder of IWBI, Founder and CEO of Delos

“If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s the outsized role human health plays in the success of our organizations and on our society as a whole.”
Kimberly Lewis Inkumsah, Executive Vice President, Equity, Engagement and Events, IWBI

“If there’s a pay equity gap… that’s an area of risk. Simply not knowing by not measuring doesn’t protect companies from that risk.”
Alison Omens, Chief Strategy Officer, JUST Capital

“Demonstrating that you care about employee health and safety will help get people back to the office.”
Wendy Feldman Block, Executive Managing Director, Savills North America

“…Looking at what is a good business and what is a good employer. And those things are fairly simple. Are you treated as a human when it comes to healthcare? Are you treated fairly when it comes to wages and equitable performance reviews?..You want to be cared about.”
Kelly McCarthy, Head of Impact, Vistria Group

Intentional support of health, well-being, equity and other social issues that are truly material in business at the federal level demonstrates the importance of this dialogue. It’s a priority that employees are increasingly voicing, too: a recent poll found that 95% of employees agree that a healthy workforce is essential to a company’s financial success.

Our time working with the Stakeholder Capitalism Caucus underscored the fact that investing in the health and well-being of people and communities–impacted by and contributing to private industry–is a long-standing practice based on old-fashioned economics.

This is particularly important to remember in a time when concepts such as “ESG” are becoming increasingly politicized. In the end, investing in people isn’t solely a good thing to do for the world, it’s simply good business.

View original content here.

CINCINNATI May 1, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Organic growth for small businesses is always a win, but if an owner truly wants their business to grow, they will need to strategically plan ways to expand, including ensuring they have the right digital solutions. Never was this more evident than during the global pandemic. Established and new companies had to flex to the “new normal” – including new purchasing behaviors and delivery channels. Fifth Third Bank, National Association, helped clients navigate changes in the economy with additional guidance and solutions.

Restaurants who rely on patrons dining in were hard hit during the pandemic, however, those who expanded their online capabilities were able to capture new revenue streams to stay afloat, and in many cases, thrive.

Eat Pallet Restaurant and Food Advice reported that digital food ordering has increased by 135 percent since June 2020 and restaurant sales in the U.S., on average, have recovered to approximately 75 percent of pre-pandemic levels as of 2023. The global online food delivery market size was valued at $189.70 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8 percent from 2022 to 20281.

Although this is an industry of opportunities, owners and management teams are facing four key challenges in 2023:

Tackling inflation and rising food costsFinding and retaining quality staffControlling growing operational costsReaching new customers

There are solutions to these issues and having a banker that proactively works with clients can not only address economic concerns but help a customer grow.

Fifth Third’s Business Banking Relationship Manager Betsy Brace did just that when she recently met the operations manager of a historic, family-owned restaurant in Chicago, Carson’s Ribs. The manager walked into a Fifth Third branch seeking advice. Her time, like many of the 1.2 million small business owners in Illinois, was limited.

Brace listened, reviewed the accounts, and knew immediately that Carson’s Ribs would benefit from a suite of online treasury management services. These are cash management solutions that allow clients to focus on growing their business—rather than managing the complexities of reporting, reconciliations, and end-of-day cash deposits to the bank. Brace was also able to offer significant cost savings to her now, new client, that will help offset inflation and the rising cost of labor.

Regular operating rhythms

Regardless of the economic landscape, a best practice for business owners and relationship managers is to establish consistent operating rhythms with each other. By doing so, the sharing of information becomes seamless and integral to proactive vs reactive actions. Risk can be more easily mitigated, clearing the course to grab opportunities to protect and grow the business.

Fifth Third bankers are trained to look for operational efficiencies, uncover hidden risks, align specific solutions for their clients’ specific needs – one size does not fit all. Bankers share their clients’ needs with a team of industry experts, who can come to the table with solutions that will preserve business owners’ hard-earned cash for other purposes such as expansion, working capital, purchase equipment and savings during period of growth.

Strong partnerships in action

Small businesses represent 99.6 percent of all businesses in Illinois with Chicago ranking seventh among the nation’s 20 largest cities for small business growth2.

When Chicago Fifth Third Relationship Manager Sam Elhaj learned that his client, 1st Class Auto & Truck Repair wanted to relocate their auto repair shop to allow more space for their growing business, he immediately engaged his SBA Market Specialist Ana Delic. Together, they introduced Fifth Third’s 100 percent financing option tied to an SBA loan to help them secure a new commercial real estate property. These bankers implemented an overall strategy that successfully closed the loan and put their client on the path of further growth.

Malvaes Solutions, a wooden pallet manufacturing and recycling company in Chicago, expanded their business by utilizing an SBA loan as well. This time, Ana Delic teamed up with Relationship Manager Agustin “Gus” Tinoco to help his long-time customer purchase the commercial property they were currently occupying. Gus and Ana also helped secure a second loan to purchase multiple pieces of equipment and consolidate other existing equipment loans. This helped have better debt management, reduce monthly payments, and subsequently improve cash flow to effectively support their aggressive growth plan.

Transformation is the new rule for maximizing return on investment. Companies that consistently engage in strategic conversations with their bankers can gain quicker access to the right solutions while staying ahead of the curve.

Visit Fifth Third’s Business Banking site to learn more about business solutions. While there, visit the SBA Small Business Lending page for details on loan programs. By clicking on Find a Banker, you can see how to connect with an experienced relationship manager who will lead you through the entire process.

About Fifth Third

Fifth Third is a bank that’s as long on innovation as it is on history. Since 1858, we’ve been helping individuals, families, businesses and communities grow through smart financial services that improve lives. Our list of firsts is extensive, and it’s one that continues to expand as we explore the intersection of tech-driven innovation, dedicated people and focused community impact. Fifth Third is one of the few U.S.-based banks to have been named among Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies® for several years. With a commitment to taking care of our customers, employees, communities and shareholders, our goal is not only to be the nation’s highest performing regional bank, but to be the bank people most value and trust.

Fifth Third Bank, National Association is a federally chartered institution. Fifth Third Bancorp is the indirect parent company of Fifth Third Bank, and its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Deposit and credit products offered by Fifth Third Bank, National Association. Member FDIC.

1Grand View Research: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/online-food-delivery-market-report

2 Illinois Small Business Statistics: https://lbg-online.net/small-business-statistics/illinois/

CONTACTS  
Beth Oates (Media Relations)  
Beth.Oates@53.com | 313-230-9002

Chris Doll (Investor Relations)  
Christopher.Doll@53.com | 513-534-2345

The 2023 Alkermes Inspiration Grants® program is now open for applications! These grants are designed to support programs or organizations for people affected by serious mental illness, addiction and cancer. Apply here: https://www.alkermes.com/responsibility/alkermes-inspiration-grants-2023

Owens Corning is taking a major step in Europe toward achieving its goal of sourcing 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 with a 10-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Shell Energy Europe B.V. effective March 9, 2023.

The agreement involves three separate VPPAs for a contracted capacity of guarantees of origin corresponding to 81.9 MW (megawatts) supplying eight of the facilities in Europe. The guarantees of origin correspond to renewable electricity produced by three third-party solar projects in Spain that are collectively expected to produce around 223 GWh (gigawatt-hours) per year. According to Eurostat statistics for 2020, this is equivalent to the household electricity consumption of 140,000 European citizens.

In addition to the two wind driven VPPAs already in operation, this agreement means that 100 percent of Owens Corning’s European production sites and science & technology centers will be covered by contracts and VPPAs supplying guarantees of origin enabling renewable electricity and supporting Owens Corning’s sustainability goals.

“This is a major achievement for Owens Corning in Europe and a significant contribution to reducing our carbon emissions. It demonstrates our commitment to build a more sustainable future through material innovation and to grow in the markets we serve. Collaborating through a network of strategic partners such as Shell also enables us to be more agile and accelerate our progress.”

– Nico Del Monaco, senior vice president and managing director for Owens Corning Europe

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., May 1, 2023 /3BL Media/ – The UNFCU Foundation announced that it is now accepting grant applications for funding support in 2024. Applicants may submit funding requests up to $50,000.

Eligible organizations must align with the UNFCU Foundation’s mission to sustain paths out of poverty for women and youth. New applicants and returning partners can view grant information on the online application portal on unfcufoundation.org. This includes timeframes for submission, and a quick guide with responses to frequently asked questions.

“In collaborating with innovative partners, we want to expand and create new opportunities for vulnerable women and youth to flourish,” said Yma Gordon, the Executive Director of the UNFCU Foundation. “Our approach centers on advancing impactful programs in the communities we serve. At this midway point in the world’s accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals, the moment is now to do more.”

Grant Application Guidelines

UNFCU Foundation will prioritize applications for projects that emphasize access to quality education, critical healthcare, and successful livelihood training outcomes. Particular consideration will be given to projects which incorporate sustainability and sustainable development practices.

Projects will specifically benefit marginalized women and youth in:

KenyaSenegalUgandaUnited States locations: New York City; Washington, DC; Virginia; Maryland

Entities from designated regions must be either a US-based 501(c)(3) organization, a United Nations agency or program, or an international organization with a US-based 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.

We look for these criteria when evaluating new grant requests:

Alignment with the mission of the UNFCU FoundationAlignment with the Sustainable Development GoalsStrong track record over at least a three-year period or an extended pilot periodSustainability with access to additional supportAbility to track the impact of the project or organization through reporting of results

UNFCU Foundation does not provide grants to the following:

Private individualsProjects without measurable goals and impactsPolitical campaigns or candidatesReligious, fraternal, or professional sports organizationsDocumentaries, performing arts groups, or productionsOrganizations without the tax-exempt status stated in the grant application guidelinesUndergraduate scholarships, personal needs, or operational expenses/existing deficits

ABOUT UNFCU FOUNDATION

UNFCU Foundation is an accredited New York-based, non-profit corporation launched in 2015. It was established by the United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU) with a mission to sustain the path out of poverty through healthcare and education for women and youth. Since its inception, UNFCU Foundation has supported programs to enable more than 43,600 marginalized women and youth to unlock their potential.

To learn more, follow UNFCU Foundation’s progress on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACT

Elisabeth Philippe, UNFCU Foundation, ephilippe@unfcufoundation.org, Tel. +1 347‑686‑6776; Mobile +1 347‑510‑4036