Tag: 3BL

By Candace Higginbotham

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 11, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Regions Bank on Thursday announced the launch of a new initiative designed to support, complement and advance work that is under way to foster more Black-owned businesses in the bank’s headquarters city.

The Birmingham Black-Owned Business Initiative will be led by Kendra Key, who recently joined Regions as Senior Vice President in the bank’s Community Affairs division. Key will collaborate with community partners to leverage Regions’ resources and business development experience in ways that support and strengthen a vibrant Black-owned business ecosystem. The initiative will specifically aim to reach entrepreneurs throughout the Magic City, including and especially in underserved neighborhoods. Key and a network of organizations will work toward the following priorities:

Identify and amplify current resources for Black entrepreneurs: Already, various organizations offer mentorship, technical assistance, or even funding to help new businesses go from concept to reality. The Birmingham Black-Owned Business Initiative will raise awareness of existing resources and evaluate opportunities for providing greater financial or technical support for programs with a proven track record of results. The impact over time will be greater opportunities for current and future business owners to receive customized guidance in launching and operating a successful business.Address gaps where additional resources are needed: Often, the difference between whether a business succeeds or fails comes down to access. Did the business owner have access to the right tools and training? Was there enough access to capital and liquidity? What are ways the existing business community can help address a lack of access and help more business owners thrive? These are foundational questions Key and community partners will consistently address as they identify ways to reach more people with tangible benefits.Build collaboration that focuses on results: While many organizations share in the goal of building a more prosperous Birmingham, it is important for these organizations to have strong awareness within the community and strong collaboration to ensure as many business owners as possible are benefiting. Key and community partners of Regions Bank will work extensively to ensure business accelerator programs, mentorship opportunities, technical assistance, co-working spaces, potential funding sources, and more are increasingly available to entrepreneurs to maximize their likelihood for success and growth.

“Over the last several years, Regions Bank has focused its community engagement on fostering more inclusive prosperity, and one of the most powerful ways we can build on this commitment is by creating new strategies to support and uplift Black-owned businesses in our headquarters city,” said John Turner, President and CEO of Regions Financial Corp. “Regions is proud to be based in Birmingham, and we are deeply invested in our hometown. By enhancing our collaboration with community groups and focusing more of our time and resources on the growth of Black-owned businesses, we can address an important need in the Magic City while strengthening the quality of life for more entrepreneurs, families and neighborhoods.”

Turner is a member of the Board of Directors of Prosper, an initiative created by corporate, civic and community leaders to build the most inclusive and thriving economy in the Southeast. The Birmingham Black-Owned Business Initiative is a shared priority for Regions and Prosper and is designed to work with a range of organizations that are all united in the goal of helping more Black-owned businesses thrive.

A recent Brookings Institution study reported the Birmingham region has the lowest rate among all large U.S. metro areas (53rd out of 53) for Black business ownership of companies that are large enough to have employees in addition to their owner. But many areas of the country are seeing an increase in Black entrepreneurship. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, Black neighborhoods with moderate income levels experienced a large uptick in new business startups between 2019 and 2020. Key and community groups are focused on ensuring Birmingham builds a positive trajectory through collaboration and innovation to support more business owners.

“I’m excited about this initiative, which is a pivotal step toward a long-term goal at Regions to make a meaningful difference in addressing the plight of Black businesses in Birmingham while helping create a best-in-class Black business ecosystem.”

Kendra Key, Senior Vice President in the bank’s Community Affairs division

“We have an entrepreneurial spirit, enthusiastic community partners, and higher engagement from the existing business community that recognizes the importance of a stronger Black-owned business climate,” Key said. “I’m excited about this initiative, which is a pivotal step toward a long-term goal at Regions to make a meaningful difference in addressing the plight of Black businesses in Birmingham while helping create a best-in-class Black business ecosystem.”

Key reports to Leroy Abrahams, head of Community Affairs for Regions Bank and president of the Regions Foundation. Key’s work will also complement the work of the Regions Community Development Corporation, which was established under Abrahams’ leadership.

“The deeper collaboration Kendra is building today will create a more prosperous tomorrow,” Abrahams said. “We are deeply grateful for community partners like Prosper and others that share a strong vision for fostering more Black-owned business success. Financial inclusion is crucial to the success of the communities where we live and work, and we know Kendra’s experience and passion will drive tangible results in neighborhoods across Birmingham.”

The deeper collaboration Kendra is building today will create a more prosperous tomorrow.

“Prosper is committed to working with leading businesses, including Regions, and a wide range of community partners to empower more people with crucial resources for business success,” added Prosper President J.W. Carpenter. “We saw through the pilot launch of Prosper’s Magic City Match program that Black-owned businesses are ready to grow, compete and succeed in the marketplace. We appreciate the leadership position Regions is taking and cannot think of a better person than Kendra to lead this work. As a Prosper Board member, Kendra has already had a tremendous influence on Prosper’s work, and this has the potential to make a generational impact for entrepreneurs and families across our city. We are excited to partner with her and with Regions.”

Before joining Regions, Key served as head of Minority Depository Institution Engagement for Citigroup. Prior to Citigroup, Key served as senior vice president of community and economic development and market leader for Hope Enterprise Corporation. She was also an associate attorney at Maynard Cooper & Gale. Her legal and financial experience has focused on community development initiatives including tax credit financing, opportunity zones, real estate and commercial banking.

Key earned a juris doctor at Vanderbilt University Law School and a bachelor of arts in Political Science at the University of Alabama, where she was a Truman Scholar and Blackburn Institute Fellow.

Key is a member of the Board of Advisors for both the Vanderbilt University Law School and the University of Alabama Division of Community Affairs. She serves on the New Markets Tax Credit Advisory Board for Habitat for Humanity International and the boards of Prosper, Woodlawn United, Birmingham Talks and the Jones Valley Teaching Farm.

About Regions Financial Corporation

Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE:RF), with $155 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 500 Index and is one of the nation’s largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, wealth management, and mortgage products and services. Regions serves customers across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates more than 1,250 banking offices and more than 2,000 ATMs. Regions Bank is an Equal Housing Lender and Member FDIC. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com.

About Regions Community Development Corporation

Regions Community Development Corporation (RCDC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Regions Bank and serves as a catalyst to help revitalize communities and improve the lives of economically disadvantaged families in the Regions footprint. RCDC helps fulfill Regions’ mission to make life better by providing debt and/or equity financing for projects and entities with a community-development purpose.

About Regions Foundation

Regions Foundation supports community investments that positively impact the communities served by Regions Bank. The Foundation engages in a grantmaking program focused on priorities including economic and community development; education and workforce readiness; and financial wellness. The Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation funded primarily through contributions from Regions Bank.

Our friends at Good Jobs First recently extended their Violation Tracker (VT) product to include companies in the UK. They have now shared with us the legal violation and fine history for 725 British entities.

We had at least some CSRHub data on 638 (88%) of these entities. We had full ratings (including all twelve of our subcategory scores on 592 (82%) of these UK companies—enough for us to get pretty good statistics on how the VT data connects with CSRHub’s ratings.

The first thing we saw was that entities tracked by VT had better scores than the average UK company. As you can see below, the difference is marked for Social (Community and Employee) and Environment ratings. However, the entities that VT is focused on had much lower average Governance scores. We suspect this relates to the fact that Governance includes issues such as Board supervision, Leadership Ethics, and the quality of an entity’s Transparency and Reporting. It seems reasonable that entities that have had legal issues and paid fines for violations would be seen as weak in these areas.

See “Tracked Entities Are Weakest In Governance”

We did our normal correlation analysis work on this new data set. We did not find a direct correlation between the number of legal events that a company experienced and our ratings. Similarly, the total fines paid (or the events or fines paid in the competition, consumer protection, environment, financial, or safety details that VT provides) did not correlate with our ratings. We suspect that CSRHub’s scores reflect the existing situation for an entity and therefore include the effect of past violations. To understand how VT connects with CSRHub, we will need to look at the change in violations and fines over time. We hope to do more of this work in future, when we ingest future VT UK data sets.

CSRHub currently tracks about 2,400 UK entities, and has full ratings for almost 1,000 of these. We hope that Good Jobs First will continue expanding its VT UK coverage and perhaps move on to studying violation information for entities in the rest of Europe. Their work will help us better understand the connection between a company’s involvement in legal issues and how it is perceived by the ESG ratings community.

 

Bahar Gidwani is CTO and Co-founder of CSRHub. He has built and run large technology-based businesses for many years. Bahar holds a CFA, worked on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody, and with McKinsey & Co. Bahar has consulted to a number of major companies and currently serves on the board of several software and Web companies. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy. He plays bridge, races sailboats, and is based in New York City.

About CSRHub

CSRHub offers one of the world’s broadest and most consistent set of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings, covering 50,000 companies. Its Big Data algorithm combines millions of data points on ESG performance from hundreds of sources, including leading ESG analyst raters, to produce consensus scores on all aspects of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. CSRHub ratings can be used to drive corporate, investor and consumer decisions. For more information, visit www.CSRHub.com. CSRHub is a B Corporation.

It’s baseball season once again! But before the fans gathered in stadiums across the leagues for Opening Day, players first took part in an important yearly ritual: spring training.

Spring training is a critical time for baseball teams to prepare for the upcoming season. It is when players reconnect as a team, define their roles, set new performance goals, and discover how they will contribute to franchise success.

While environmental, health, and safety (EHS) training doesn’t immediately call to mind baseballs, bats, and bubble gum, the purpose remains essentially the same: creating a workforce that can turn up for their teammates and deliver wins for the good of the organization.

The good news is that you don’t need to wait for the grass to turn green before rounding up your team for training. Hold on tight as we step from the sun-soaked outfields into the nebulous space of EHS training at a time when the discipline (like so many others) is fundamentally transforming.

EHS Training Fundamentals 

EHS training is designed to provide employees with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to identify and manage workplace hazards and prevent accidents and injuries. There are also regulations to follow, compliance mandates to meet, and reporting that needs to be filed correctly.

Meeting all of these demands is the purview of the EHS team and quality training is the key to getting it right.

Unlike baseball, your organization’s training window isn’t limited to a yearly, intensive camp. This frees you up to craft a training plan that ensures your employees have the right balance of learning, repetition, and practical experience across the entire year.

Here are some great lessons to learn from those training pros in baseball that you can apply to your ongoing EHS training.

1. Develop strong teams 

Strong teams deliver results, whether in sports or business. When the result you’re looking for is a safe work environment, it’s important to invest training time in developing collaborative teams.

Group EHS training provides an opportunity for employees to work together and develop a shared understanding of workplace hazards, safe practices, and emergency procedures. By building a culture of safety and cooperation, teams can better identify potential hazards and work collaboratively to mitigate risks, preventing accidents and injuries.

Online courses and group e-learning opportunities are excellent tools for bringing together learners from disparate departments and locations to learn together and build stronger bonds.

2. Establish clear communication 

The way baseball players communicate using hand signals and body language has an almost mystical quality to it and demonstrates the power of establishing clear patterns of communication.

For your workforce, breakdowns in communication often have consequences more significant than simply losing a game. When employees have a shared vocabulary around safety, they are better equipped to communicate effectively with each other, identify potential issues, and work together to solve problems.

3. Build skills that benefit the whole team 

Some safety skills are universal while others require specialized knowledge. Without the right balance of skills, your team won’t be ready to meet challenges as they arise.

Just as baseball players need to master the fundamentals of throwing, catching, and hitting, your workforce needs to develop strong foundational skills for workplace safety. This might mean learning about basic safety rules and regulations, identifying common workplace hazards, and understanding emergency procedures. Learning CPR and basic first aid also falls under this category.

When it comes to those specialized skills, however, it’s wise to employ targeted skill-building, offering more in-depth training to those who need it. This way you can ensure that your whole team is receiving the individualized training they need to ensure everyone’s health and safety needs are met.

4. Use technology to your advantage 

Technology has revolutionized baseball training by providing players and coaches with sophisticated tools to improve their skills and performance. Every movement, every pitch, and every swing can be broken down and analyzed with remarkable detail and sophistication.

Technologies like virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR), wearables connected to the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) have revolutionized training across all functions.

The same is true for the EHS field. VR and AR are being used to train workers in hazardous situations, so they can walk through procedures risk-free before having to attempt a real-life scenario. Wearables are monitoring vital signs and locations of workers so emergency aid can be dispatched promptly.

5. Practice makes perfect 

Repetition and practice are key to skill-building in EHS training. Just as a baseball player might spend hours in the batting cage or on the field, EHS teams need to practice their skills in a variety of scenarios to ensure that they can apply their knowledge effectively in real-world situations.

This might involve hands-on exercises, simulations, or other training methods that allow team members to practice identifying and responding to workplace hazards.

It’s Time For EHS Training Camp

Building a strong and consistent EHS training program has countless downstream benefits. Not only will your workforce be ready to respond to situations as they arise, but they will also have the knowledge and skills to avoid issues in the first place.

Baseball has been benefiting from focused, purposeful, and consistent training programs for over 150 years. Now is the best time to revamp your training programs and ensure you’re getting the results your workforce is capable of delivering.

Learn how Antea Group’s EHS training services can help you get started building a winning safety team.

About Antea Group

Antea®Group is an environment, health, safety, and sustainability consulting firm. By combining strategic thinking with technical expertise, we do more than effectively solve client challenges; we deliver sustainable results for a better future. We work in partnership with and advise many of the world’s most sustainable companies to address ESG-business challenges in a way that fits their pace and unique objectives. Our consultants equip organizations to better understand threats, capture opportunities and find their position of strength. Lastly, we maintain a global perspective on ESG issues through not only our work with multinational clients, but also through our sister organizations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America and as a founding member of the Inogen Alliance. Learn more at us.anteagroup.com. 

SWORDS, Ireland, April 11, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Trane® – by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator – is celebrating its 110th anniversary as a world leader in creating comfortable, energy efficient indoor environments for commercial buildings, industry and homes.

The Trane Company was incorporated in 1913, 28 years after James Trane and his son Reuben started a family plumbing business in La Crosse, Wisconsin. It established its position as a pioneer in climate control in the 1930s with the patent of its first air conditioner and the launch of Turbovac, a water chiller that fundamentally altered the industry’s approach to large-building air conditioning systems. Today, the company’s solutions can be found in renowned landmarks such as New York City’s Grand Central Station and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building, as well as numerous buildings and homes around the world.

“Since 1913, Trane has been pioneering innovation that advances industries and improves lives and communities,” said Donny Simmons, president, Commercial HVAC Americas, Trane Technologies. “Today, Trane Technologies continues to challenge what’s possible for a sustainable world – a purpose built on more than a century of big ideas, bold action and extraordinary impact.”

Through industry-leading action and innovation, Trane Technologies is decarbonizing buildings, industry and the cold chain. The Trane business has been granted more than 6,000 patents to date world-wide, and is helping customers succeed with new innovative solutions such as the Thermal Battery™ Storage-Source Heat Pump System, which eliminates the need for fossil fuels by making all-electric heating and cooling possible in commercial buildings even in cold climates and dense urban environments. 

“I’m pleased to congratulate everyone involved with Trane on the celebration of 110 years of business success,” said Jill Billings, Wisconsin State Representative, 95th Assembly District. “Trane Technologies is certainly a leader in industry innovation and furthers the values and legacy of its founders. Trane continues to work to make buildings more safe, comfortable and energy efficient, to the benefit of people worldwide.”

By advancing its 2030 Sustainability Commitments, including the Gigaton Challenge, Trane Technologies was the first in industry and among the first across all sectors to receive validation from the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) for its near-term 2030 emissions reduction targets and its long-term 2050 net-zero target. Trane Technologies was named 18th and first in its industry category in the 2023 JUST 100 and is among FORTUNE Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies and Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers.

# # #

About Trane Technologies 
Trane Technologies is a global climate innovator. Through our strategic brands Trane® and Thermo King®, and our portfolio of environmentally responsible products and services, we bring efficient and sustainable climate solutions to buildings, homes and transportation. Visit tranetechnologies.com.

About Trane 
Trane – by Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT), a global climate innovator – creates comfortable, energy efficient indoor environments for commercial and residential applications. For more information, please visit www.trane.com or www.tranetechnologies.com.

Originally published in Sealed Air’s Global Impact Report

Sealed Air (SEE) is implementing measures to increase energy efficiency and implementation of renewable energy sources across its value chain. The company invested in renewable energy credits which resulted in 16 of the company’s facilities being fully credited with 100% renewable energy as of December 31, 2021.

In 2021, SEE operations consumed 1,370,232,395 kilowatt hour (kWh) energy equating to 4,932,836 gigajoules. The breakdown was 55% grid electricity, 12% renewable electricity, and 33% self-generated energy (natural gas, propane, scrap plastic, diesel, gasoline).

The goal is to achieve energy intensity reductions of 17% by 2025 and 28% by 2030 from a 2019 base year.

Energy Intensity

2021: 0.249 kWh / USD*

2020: 0.273 kWh / USD

2019: 0.277 kWh / USD

Through 2021, SEE achieved a 10.1% reduction in energy intensity from a 2019 base year. Within its operations, SEE measures electricity, natural gas, diesel, propane, gasoline, and waste-to-energy converted to megawatt hour. Intensity is calculated by dividing the total megawatt hour by the net trade sales.

*To normalize foreign exchange rates, net trade sales are adjusted to 2019 foreign exchange rates, except for one currency which has been designated as highly inflationary under U.S. GAAP and uses 2021 foreign exchange rates.

Diverting Waste

In 2021, SEE expanded its waste reduction goal to include diversion from external incineration. The company aims to achieve diversion of manufacturing waste* from landfill and external incineration of 85% by 2025 and 100% by 2030.

SEE diverted 67% of waste from landfill and external incineration in 2021.

*Manufacturing waste is from production of the company’s materials, including scrap, and is measured by weight.

Conserving Water

SEE is managing water across its value chain in terms of quantity and quality, including operational consumption, effluent mitigation, wastewater treatment, and water scarcity considerations.

Protecting and conserving natural resources such as water is a priority. The products SEE manufactures do not contain water, so direct use of water is limited. The primary use of water in direct operations is either heat transfer in manufacturing equipment or for quenching the molten polymer during the film extrusion process. These operations must use water of a reasonable quality, but it does not need to be potable.

In isolated cases where there was a temporary issue with the availability of potable water, SEE was able to successfully use recycled water from local waste treatment plants. Since it is not critical that potable water is used for manufacturing SEE products, it was determined that the availability of fresh water is not important to SEE’s direct operations.

Water Intensity

The company’s goal is to achieve water intensity reductions of 17% by 2025 and 28% by 2030 from a 2019 base year. In 2021, SEE achieved a 13.4% reduction in water intensity from a 2019 base year.

2021: 0.29 Liters / USD*

2020: 0.32 Liters / USD

2019: 0.34 Liters / USD

Intensity is calculated by dividing the total cubic meters by the net trade sales.

*To normalize foreign exchange rates, net trade sales are adjusted to 2019 foreign exchange rates, except for one currency which has been designated as highly inflationary under U.S. GAAP and continues to utilize 2021 foreign exchange rates.

Absolute water use in 2021 was down 7,326 cubic meters from 2019

2021: 1,597,933 cubic meters

2020: 1,595,017 cubic meters

2019: 1,605,259 cubic meters

Read Sealed Air’s Global Impact Report here.

Learn More About Sealed Air’s ESG efforts here.

The following is an excerpt from the 2022 Cisco Purpose Report, published on December 8, 2022.

Encouraging Cisco employees to contribute to their local and global communities is one way we bring our purpose to life.

In fiscal 2022, for the third year in a row, we maintained over 80 percent employee participation in community impact. We measure impact by employees’ actions, including advocating for causes they care about; environmental sustainability actions; hybrid volunteering (virtual and in-person); donating; digital give-back experiences; survey sharing; and participating in programs that positively impact people, society, and the planet. The fact that we have engaged four out of every five Cisco employees, representing 95 countries, for the past three years—even throughout a global pandemic—is proof of a purpose-driven culture where small acts of kindness can add up to incredible impact.

Principles of behavioral science and economics and data-forward insights drive our strategy and allow all employees to contribute, no matter where they are. For example, we use nudges like giving all new hires a credit to donate to a nonprofit of their choice and integrating easy give-back actions into digital spaces, meetings, and business events. Now, we are leveraging the power of Webex to increase engagement and help create positive habits. By communicating with a chat bot, employees can make donations and pledges directly in chat. With a digital widget, anyone can more easily track Cisco’s and their team’s participation, anytime, anywhere.

Community impact continues to be an integral part of Cisco’s Conscious Culture. Our ELT integrates community impact into their business operations, reinforcing their commitment to supporting communities in need and setting the expectation that community impact is a business imperative. In addition, many of our Global Inclusive Communities have their own impact goals and participate in giving. As we’ve transformed our approach to giving back over the years, we are uniquely positioned to share strategies and outcomes with others through forums like the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. This allows us to accelerate and multiply impact for good.

Engaging employees in supporting equal rights for all

As part of Social Justice Action 1, Influence Ecosystem, which seeks justice and equal rights for AA/B people by supporting nonprofits and policy change, community impact partnered with Cisco’s Connected Black Professionals (CBP) Inclusive Community to create the Power to Empower Campaign. The campaign encouraged CBP members and other employees to nominate racial equality and social justice nonprofit organizations that were meaningful to them. Through this campaign, over 100 new nonprofits were added to our matching gifts portal so our employees could have their volunteer time and donations matched by Cisco.

Additionally, Cisco’s Black Equity Grant program (BEG) awards US$500,000 in cash grants each fiscal year to Black-serving and/or Black-led nonprofit organizations who support social justice and racial equity. Through the BEG program, community impact partnered with CBP to identify organizations and distribute US$75,000 in cash grants to five organizations they were passionate about.

A journey for a cause

The Camino de Santiago extends for more than 500 miles across northern Spain, attracting tens of thousands of hikers each year. In 2022, 425 Cisco employees, friends, and families from 21 countries came together to train, prepare, and hike the trail—while raising funds for global charities battling cancer. Many employees made use of Time2Give, the 10 days of time off each employee receives to volunteer, to take part. In total, employees raised more than €100,000 for cancer charities in nine European countries. The experience was an opportunity for colleagues to connect after an extended time apart—as well as to make a positive impact on people and the environment throughout the journey. Watch a video of the event above.

Engaging employees on sustainability

Cisco encourages employees to contribute to environmental sustainability. We have numerous programs and platforms through which people can access resources, get inspiration and share ideas (learn more in the ESG Reporting Hub). In fiscal 2022, we launched Sustainability Central, an internal site that provides information on Cisco’s commitment to sustainability, resources for sales teams, and sustainability news and highlights from across the business. We also began a new Sustainability Ambassadors program to train employees to represent Cisco’s global sustainability strategy and portfolio internally and to customers, partners, and other external stakeholders. Over 60 employees became Cisco Sustainability ambassadors during the initial launch of the program.

Employees continue to participate in 24 Green Team Networks (Global Inclusive Communities focused on driving sustainability impacts) and join in our annual Earth Day celebration, Earth Aware, that culminates in SustainX each year. And for the first time since the pandemic began, we were able to host an in-person Recycle IT Day for the 25th anniversary of this event, during which employees brought in used electronics for recycling. During the event, we collected 128 metric tonne of equipment from 100 sites around the globe.

To grow awareness and inspire employees to contribute to Cisco’s circular economy transformation, we publish a quarterly circular economy newsletter (which is now a sustainability newsletter), manage a circular economy Webex space, and have embedded trainings across key groups at Cisco. In fiscal 2022, our newsletter readership grew by 20 percent, and over 5500 employees in the design community were trained on incorporating Circular Design Principles into their roles.

View original content here.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. April 11, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Discovery Education and Creative Visions—a nonprofit supporting positive change through storytelling, impact media, art, education, and technology—announced today the launch of a new education initiative called Creative Visions Classroom. Designed to inspire 6-12 grade students to become the next generation of storytellers and leaders, Creative Visions Classroom offers dynamic, hands-on learning experiences at no-cost to students nationwide.

Creative Visions Classroom provides educators and students with a comprehensive, thoughtful collection of standards-aligned resources applicable in multiple disciplines for use in any learning environment. Classroom activities harness storytelling and creative expression as tools that students can use to solve challenges and make a positive difference.

In addition, the Changemakers in Action Virtual Field Trip – premiering on April 11 at 1 PM EST – introduces students to peers who are taking creative action in their communities. Also available on-demand, the VFT features an interactive tool empowering students to explore issues they care about in the world through the lens of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The VFT includes a companion educator guide, featuring hands-on activities to engage students before, during, and after watching.

“Young people worldwide are confronting challenges like never before—and Creative Visions recognizes the importance of empowering them to take creative action in overcoming these challenges,” said Pat Chandler, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Visions. “For 24 years our organization has supported, promoted, and amplified the work of creative activists who use storytelling, art, education, and technology to bring about positive change. Now, by partnering with Discovery Education, students everywhere can learn to utilize their creativity to make a difference and transform the world around them.”

Creative Visions Classroom is supported by Blue Chip Foundation, Hasbro, Inc., and The William, Jeff & Jennifer Gross Family Foundation. The program will present educators and students with additional resources that will be released regularly over the next three years. Learn more about the existing content and new materials here.

“Empowering students to be the storytellers and creators of their own action is paramount. In partnership with Creative Visions, classrooms everywhere now have the resources needed to be leaders in their communities,” said Amy Nakamoto, General Manager of Social Impact at Discovery Education.

Learn more about Creative Visions Classroom at CreativeChangeMakers.org or within Discovery Education’s K-12 learning platform. 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.

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.

For more information about the Creative Visions’ Impact Education programs and educator resources, visit their Learning Hub at www.cvchangemakers.org.

###

About Creative Visions 
Creative Visions empowers artists, filmmakers, musicians and other impact media makers to raise awareness of critical issues and drive positive change through storytelling – one of our most powerful tools for creating a more just, caring and sustainable world. A nonprofit organization and United Nations NGO, Creative Visions’ Impact Education programs support youth, educators and changemakers to understand how to use media, arts and technology to take creative action about the things they care about.

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 
Jess Burnquist 
Creative Visions 
jessica.burnquist@creativevisions.org

Grace Maliska 
Discovery Education 
gmaliska@discoveryed.com

BRUNSWICK, Maine, April 11, 2023/3BL Media/ – The Genesis Community Loan Fund has received a three-year $300,000 grant from KeyBank Foundation to expand resources and help remove barriers to creating affordable housing in Maine.

KeyBank’s funding will enable Genesis to share expert training and guidance for BIPOC-led organizations and entrepreneurs. (BIPOC means Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.) To help create affordable housing and other community projects that advance equity and opportunity, Genesis staff will provide no-cost professional assistance on project planning, financing, and development, from start to finish. Based on the scope of the outreach, the Genesis Fund hopes these efforts lead to the creation of at least 120 new units of affordable housing.

“Genesis is grateful for the KeyBank Foundation’s support, to help us expand and focus our outreach to Maine’s BIPOC-led organizations and entrepreneurs,” said Liza Fleming-Ives, executive director of the Genesis Fund. “In partnership with these organizations and community leaders, Genesis can help turn community-based ideas into financed projects that create homes and services for individuals and families.”

To address Maine’s affordable housing crisis, the Genesis Fund has been expanding its outreach to organizations and community developers statewide to help them access resources and navigate complex community development processes. Under a contract with MaineHousing, Genesis is helping rural communities become ready to pursue project funding. KeyBank’s investment will be targeted toward Southern Maine.

Genesis Board Member Shima Kabirigi, director of the Immigrant-Led Organizations Fund of Maine Initiatives said, “I’m delighted that Genesis will have additional resources for this outreach and assistance to organizations and individuals who know best what their communities need. Their lived experience and expertise enable them to connect with and advocate for individuals and families in their communities who will benefit from housing that is accessible and affordable.”

The Brunswick-based Genesis Fund is a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution with a 30-year history of delivering innovative financing and expert assistance to create affordable housing and vital community facilities. Since its founding, Genesis has made more than $80 million in loans and supported some 400 projects. Its financing and assistance have helped borrowers leverage another $430 million to create and preserve affordable rental housing, build affordable homeownership opportunities, and expand capacity for community services such as food pantries, childcare centers, and health clinics.

“Guidance from the Genesis Fund can assist BIPOC-led organizations and entrepreneurs to obtain public funding and programs they’ve had difficulty accessing in the past,” said KeyBank’s Maine Market President Tony DiSotto. “In turn, these organizations can develop affordable homes for residents. KeyBank is impressed with the Genesis Fund’s innovative approach to addressing housing challenges in our community, and we are proud to support their work.”

KeyBank’s grant is made under Key’s National Community Benefits Plan, which has already delivered more than $29 billion in lending and investments across Key’s national footprint supporting affordable housing and community development projects, home, and small business lending in low- and-moderate income communities, and philanthropic efforts targeted toward education, workforce development, and safe, vital neighborhoods.

About the Genesis Community Loan Fund 
The Genesis Fund connects communities who are creating affordable housing and other essential community resources with the capital and expertise they need to overcome barriers to opportunity and prosperity. A Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Genesis works throughout Maine and Northern New England to make flexible loans, deliver expert project guidance, and promote policy solutions and systemic change. We offer impact investing for individuals and institutions to move resources toward community needs. As simply as possible, we make projects happen that otherwise wouldn’t.

About KeyBank Foundation 
KeyBank Foundation serves to fulfill KeyBank’s purpose to help clients and communities thrive, and its mission is to support organizations and programs that prepare people for thriving futures. The Foundation’s mission is advanced through three funding priorities – neighbors, education, and workforce – and through community service. To provide meaningful philanthropy that transforms lives, KeyBank Foundation listens carefully to understand the unique characteristics and needs of its communities and then backs solutions with targeted philanthropic investments. KeyBank Foundation is a nonprofit charitable foundation, funded by KeyCorp.

About KeyBank/KeyCorp 
KeyCorp’s roots trace back nearly 200 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $189.8 billion as of December 31, 2022. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,000 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.

In the voluntary carbon market, carbon emitters voluntarily pay to offset unavoidable emissions by investing in high-quality carbon credits from carbon-reducing projects across the globe. According to Ecosystem Marketplace, the total market value for voluntary carbon market transactions in 2021 was nearly $2 billion, which represents a quadrupling in market value since 2020. Nearly 350 million carbon credits were issued in 2021 alone, as more companies set ambitious net zero targets in line with the Paris Agreement, and shareholders and investors continue to push for ESG performance.

Research indicates that companies that buy carbon credits also tend to lead in climate action by engaging in decarbonization efforts. And, by paying for carbon credits companies promote the understanding that the environmental externality of emitting carbon has a cost that affects the bottom line.

So how much does a company pay for one carbon credit – representing a tonne of carbon? The answer: it depends. Companies don’t get to determine the price of their carbon credits themselves. Instead, they purchase credits that have been verified against a scientific methodology, issued by a Carbon Crediting Program and listed on a secure registry. From there, carbon brokers, traders and nonprofits will connect projects with interested buyers.

The first influence on price is the middleman: be sure to know the cost per credit charged by the person trading that credit and ask about commissions and the cost per credit paid to the project. Beware a second or third-hand sale where most of the value of the credit is not with the project developer but with the middlemen.

The price of a carbon credit can be dramatically affected by whether the carbon emissions are reduced or removed. Reduction offsets are generated by activities that prevent emissions from ever reaching the atmosphere with actions like installing clean cookstoves that cut fuel use and avoid burning and releasing CO2 or that avoid the conversion of grasslands to croplands that release enormous amounts of CO2 from the soil. Removal offsets actively, verifiably remove carbon from the atmosphere and include planting trees, creating biochar, mineralizing CO2 and other experimental methods.

There is controversy over which is better: the IPCCC recommends preventing as many emissions as possible but also recommends that, in a transition over the next 25 years, it will become more important to remove CO2 than to avoid it. For now, we follow this ideal: We need everything.

Many quality projects have co-benefits – meaning they help the local community with human development and improved infrastructure as well as contribute to lowering carbon emissions. These benefits can also influence the cost of a carbon credit. The age, or “vintage year,” of the credits can also influence price; generally, credits that have been issued more recently are more expensive.

Price can also be influenced by the project location. Carbon-reducing projects can come from all over the world, and they are embedded in different communities and economies, which will naturally make one project cost more than another.

Scarcity of one type of credit can also affect the price. For example, it takes a great deal of upfront investment to plant and grow a forest; and emission reductions may not be able to be counted until 7-10 years later. Although a wonderful nature-based solution to climate, for obvious reasons this makes this credit type scarce.

Some removal technologies in early stages can be very expensive but companies may want to be at the forefront of a particularly innovative form of nature conservation or carbon reduction and may be willing to spend more per credit. For example an exciting project that sucks CO2 out of the atmosphere and pumps it underground to mineralize the CO2 has obvious technological costs which are reflected in the price. Early-stage support for these kinds of technologies also promotes and helps drive down future costs.

Lastly, some companies are motivated by investing in a carbon-reducing project that’s available in their local community, and are willing to pay a higher price to do so.

Regardless of cost per credit, it is important to ask questions about how the proceeds from the sale of carbon will be used. As a rule of thumb, we believe that 20-25% should be compensation for the project developer and help pay costs of documentation, testing, monitoring and verification. The rest should go to the project for project operations and community benefits.

“Pricing can be a confusing subject for people who are new to the voluntary carbon market. Many expect that the cost of one particular tonne of carbon will always be equivalent to the cost for any other particular tonne of carbon, and that’s simply not the case,” says Jodi Manning, VP, Director of Marketing & Partnerships for Cool Effect. “Cool Effect is here to help individuals and businesses navigate the complexity of pricing. The factors that influence the price will continue to change but our dedication to price transparency will not.”

Cool Effect supports only projects with pricing transparency, backed by science, and rooted in integrity. All of Cool Effect’s projects are verified by a leading carbon crediting program and come with additional co-benefits. To learn more about Cool Effect or how to partner with the organization to develop a meaningful sustainability and carbon offset program, please visit cooleffect.org/for-business.

Originally published on HARMAN News Room

NEW YORK– April 7, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Infor, the industry cloud company, and HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co, LTD., today announced a global strategic partnership that will allow healthcare and life sciences organizations to modernize their data platforms, strategies, and roadmaps through customer-centric services and solutions. HARMAN, through its Digital Transformation Solutions (DTS) business unit, and Infor, will deliver a jointly developed integrated healthcare platform – built on the cloud – that will help industry clients seamlessly transform data, analytics, intelligence, and governance functions in a secure, cost-effective, and privacy preserving manner.

“We are confident the partnership will help our clients streamline data and deliver insights that can improve patient and clinical outcomes for operational efficiency and effectiveness,” said David Owens, senior vice president, Digital Transformation Solutions at HARMAN. “Output from the HARMAN Intelligent Healthcare Platform and Infor Cloverleaf® Data Integration Suite output will be integrated back into existing applications and workflows to effect positive change within the healthcare environment. By working with esteemed partners like Infor, HARMAN can deliver business impact through integrated, creative connected solutions.”

Infor, with a 30-year history of modernizing technology for healthcare businesses, will support the HARMAN Intelligent Healthcare Platform (IHP), a data integration platform and ETL tool. Through Infor Cloverleaf® Integration Suite, HARMAN artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms securely process both structured and unstructured data extracted from databases, interface engines, and CDA XML documents. The HARMAN IHP output is then integrated back into existing provider systems (e.g., EHRs, etc.) to offer a host of benefits including predicting readmission or attrition risks, providing transparency into payer systems to help predict and detect claims fraud, and assisting with intelligent document processing. The integration also enables enhanced video monitoring, allowing one nurse to monitor multiple patients beyond vitals; this includes unusual movements (i.e., spasms post-surgery). Pharmaceutical, life sciences, and biotechnology organizations can also use the HARMAN IHP and Infor Cloverleaf Integration Suite to process real-world evidence data critical to clinical trials management. One key benefit of the HARMAN IHP integration with the Infor Cloverleaf Integration Suite is that all output can be seamlessly integrated back into existing applications and workflows.

“Healthcare organizations face continued pressure to operate faster and more efficiently, while simultaneously needing to find new and innovative ways to digest and interpret data to create better patient outcomes. It’s paramount that healthcare organizations manage information, maintain confidentiality, integrity, privacy, and security, uphold high levels of encryption, and then make that data available in digestible formats. This is, and would be impossible, without modern technology solutions,” said Jeff Mueller, vice president, Infor. “This new partnership is all about healthcare innovation: Infor’s wealth of industry knowledge and perspective plus HARMAN’s acumen and reputation for developing cutting-edge technology.”

About HARMAN
HARMAN International (harman.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co, LTD., designs and engineers connected products and solutions for: automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

About Infor 
Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. We develop complete solutions for our focus industries. Infor’s mission-critical enterprise applications and services are designed to deliver sustainable operational advantages with security and faster time to value. Over 60,000 organizations in more than 175 countries rely on Infor’s 17,000 employees to help achieve their business goals. As a Koch company, our financial strength, ownership structure, and long-term view empower us to foster enduring, mutually beneficial relationships with our customers. Visit Infor.com.

For more information: 
Infor 
Christina Ledger 
312-662-2135 
christina.ledger@infor.com

HARMAN 
Soumi Bhattacharya 
soumi.bhattacharya@harman.com