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Ingersoll Rand Joins “We Are Still In” Panel Discussion

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SOURCE:Ingersoll Rand

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Holly Emerson, senior analyst, Center for Energy Efficacy and Sustainability at Ingersoll Rand, joined other North Carolina industry leaders in a “We Are Still In” regional panel discussion at the ClimateCon 2018, Business of Climate Forum. The discussion explored the importance of being “still in,” and how deep collaboration between stakeholders and the We Are Still In network helps everyone achieve their own climate goals through expertise and resources.  

Learn more about the We Are Still In coalition and Ingersoll Rand's Climate Commitment: https://bit.ly/2GeHn9t 

Tweet me:Ingersoll Rand Joins “We Are Still In” Panel Discussion http://bit.ly/2GtN5np

KEYWORDS: Ingersoll Rand


VMware Recognized as One of America's Best Employers for Diversity by Forbes Magazine

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SOURCE:VMware

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VMware was recently recognized in Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s Best Employers for Diversity. VMware placed #109 on the list that ranked 250 employers across all industries in the United States, based on thousands of employee surveys, employer diversity policies, and diversity in executive suites and on boards. 

To see the full list, click here.

Tweet me:.@VMware is one of America's Best Employers for #Diversity 2018 http://bit.ly/2o5rciW @Forbes #CSR #Inclusion

KEYWORDS: Forbes, VMware, America's Best Employers For Diversity

Barbara Rusinko: A Career Solving Problems in Engineering

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SOURCE:Bechtel

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Rusinko was elected to the 2018 class of the National Academy of Engineering in February 2018. Barbara is the first female Bechtel employee to receive the honor and the 17th in the company’s 120-year history.

Rusinko is a registered professional engineer and Six Sigma champion with a master’s degree in engineering from The University of Alabama – Huntsville and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of South Carolina. She serves on the corporate partnership council of the Society of Women Engineers. Rusinko was elected a Bechtel principal vice president in 2009 and a senior vice president in 2012. She was honored as The #3 Most Powerful Female Engineers in 2017.

A Career Solving Problems

Engineering is in Barbara Rusinko’s blood. Her father, now 93 years old, was a Bechtel engineer and she’s been with the global engineering, construction, and project management company since starting as a summer intern in 1985.

Thirty-three years later, Rusinko has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, among the highest honors for an engineer. 

She is now president of Bechtel’s Nuclear, Security & Environmental global business unit, with responsibility for more than 5,000 employees at more than a dozen project sites in the U.S., UK, Australia, and other locations including complex, first-of-a-kind megaprojects, such as:

She also serves on the governing boards of two U.S. national laboratories.

Inspiring future engineers

For the past two years Barbara has served as featured speaker for the Future City finals competition in Washington, DC. 

Her engineering skills have influenced design and construction of multi-billion dollar megaprojects on several continents. But she says the designs that solve the world’s most complex problems are born in the skills children learn as early as middle school. These are critical thinking skills including problem solving and the math, science, engineering and chemistry behind what makes things strong, what makes them break, and what makes them give.

“It’s about the teamwork”

For Rusinko, engineering is never a solo sport. 

“It’s almost always a team,” she told hundreds of young people at the 2017 Future Cities finals. “And it’s not just about the math and science. It’s about the teamwork. The presentation skills. The other skills you’re learning as you’re working with your teachers, your mentors, and your teammates.”

Bechtel employees elected to NAE  

2018: Ms. Barbara Estelle Rusinko

2009: Dr. Amos A. Avidan

2007: Mr. Adrian Zaccaria

1994: Dr. John J. Cassidy

1992: Mr. John Neerhourt

1993: Dr. William L. Friend

1989: Dr. Robert G. Bea

1989: Dr. Harold K. Forsen

1987: Dr. Lawrence T. Papay

1986: Mr. Alden P. Yates

1981: Mr. Vivian F. Estcourt

1980: Mr. Edgar J. Garbarini

1978: Mr. Rex A. Elder

1976: Mr. Milton Levenson

1975: Mr. Stephen D. Bechtel Jr

1970: The Honorable W. Kenneth Davis

1967: Mr. John R. Kiely, Bechtel Power Corporation

Tweet me:Barbara Rusinko has been her career solving problems in #engineering @Bechtel for http://bit.ly/2FnsDAH #WomenInSTEM #WomenInEngineering @theNAEng

KEYWORDS: Bechtel, Build 100 blog, barbara Rusinko, National Academy of Engineering

Restoring Power in Puerto Rico was ‘Experience of a Lifetime’

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Duke Energy workers reflect on what they gave, what they received in Puerto Rico

SOURCE:Duke Energy

DESCRIPTION:

For Duke Energy lineworkers who helped restore power in Puerto Rico, the nearly two months they spent on the hurricane-ravaged island changed them in ways they never expected.

Some returned home with a refreshed outlook on life.

“You realize what you’re blessed with back at home, as far as family, work and friends – the things you hold dear to your heart,” said Craig Mustard of Lebanon, Ohio.

Others learned to become more resourceful on the job.

“It was just a good learning opportunity, trying to make do,” said Shane Byrd of Mooresville, N.C. “In Puerto Rico, we had to salvage everything we could.”

They also came back with a new respect for the resiliency and kindness of Puerto Ricans.

“It was a humbling experience,” said Mike Haynes of Marion, N.C. “It’s so simple a way of life down there. These folks are not used to having all the luxuries we have back in the States. They were grateful to see us. We definitely made a difference in their lives.”

When the contingent of 227 Duke Energy workers began in January, islanders greeted them with joy. They cooked meals for the lineworkers. They worked side by side, helping to clear brush in their remote mountain communities. Residents of the U.S. territory had been without power since Hurricane Maria swept ashore on Sept. 20, yet they never complained or asked the perennial question that lineworkers hear on the mainland:

“How long is it going to be?”

“One gentleman, I guess he was in his upper 60s, early 70s, he had a machete and he was out there with us two or three days in a row, helping clear out paths,” Byrd said. “There was so much undergrowth. The wires were covered with weeds. In some cases, we would come back the next day and they would have the whole path cleared out to make it easier for us to pull the wire back to the house.

“The city of Ponce, where we were staying, they had shopping malls, Lowe’s, Home Depot. But in the mountains, 20 minutes up the road," he said, it was completely different.

The harsh terrain made restoration work much more challenging than the lineworkers were accustomed to. They woke at around 4:30 every morning and worked 15-hour days with only a few mandatory days off to rest and recover. As grueling as it was, they said they would do it again.

“It was the experience of a lifetime,” said Jimmy Guzman, emergency preparedness manager for Duke Energy Florida. “What we were able to accomplish with limited materials was truly amazing.”

“They would climb through treacherous terrain, climb down gorges, anywhere they could go to find material,” said Rufus Jackson, vice president of Distribution, Construction & Maintenance in the Carolinas-East region, who led Duke Energy’s effort in Puerto Rico. “Many days, we would park our equipment on the side of the mountain and they would have to either hike or utilize rental ATVs to reach our actual work location.

“They were not taking ‘No’ for an answer. They were going to get the lights back on. This could have really turned into an event where high levels of frustration set in within the first week. When we accepted that material would not be readily available to us, that’s when we started thinking: How can we do it?

“Defeat was not an option.”

They restored power to 7,021 customers. It was slow going. Sometimes it took two to three days just to get the power back on for two or three customers, Jackson said.

“They nicknamed us ‘the Dukies,’” Jackson said. “They loved the Dukies.”

Lineworkers are typically a rugged breed, he said, but the outpouring of gratitude moved even the toughest among them. “It gave us all chills.”

On one of their rare days off work, Byrd said he returned to the home of an 84-year-old woman who lived alone in the mountains. While restoring power to her house, he noticed a tree that had fallen across the path and broken her water line. Byrd and others, including his wife, Sonya, who was visiting from North Carolina, cleared away the tree and other brush so the water line could be repaired.

“It was rewarding to help people,” Byrd said. “My wife and I are both very involved in our church. She’s been on mission trips but I’ve never been able to go. In a way, this was kind of like being on a mission trip.”

In the two weeks since they’ve been back, Mustard has spent time reflecting on the patience of the Puerto Ricans in the face of adversity and on Duke Energy’s role in helping them.

“Being such a big company like we are, we have the resources to help and we have a lot of very skilled individuals that a lot of different places don’t have,” he said. “Just to be able to help and use our skills and see how it affects people in a positive way, it is a good feeling.”

Tweet me:.@DukeEnergy workers reflect on what they gave, what they received in Puerto Rico during power restoration effort http://bit.ly/2GAWjhI #CSR #actsofkindness #HurricaneMaria

KEYWORDS: Duke Energy, Puerto Rico, Ponce, power restoration, disaster relief, Hurricane Maria

    

WBCSD's Panorama Podcast | How to Feed 9 Billion People Within Planetary Boundaries

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SOURCE:World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

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To mark our 10th Panorama podcast, we take a closer look at the global food system: what are the challenges and what do we need to change to be able to feed 9 billion people by 2050? Joining us in our studio to discuss these issues is  Joanna Kane-Potaka, Director, Strategic Marketing and Communication at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Listen to this podcast on our Panorama iTunes channel.

Follow WBCSD on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Tweet me:Listen to the latest Panorama #Podcast from @WBCSD: How to feed 9 billion people within planetary boundaries http://apple.co/2A3tgNz #SDGs #ZeroHunger @ICRISAT

KEYWORDS: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Panorama Podcast

Republic Services Awards Grant to Arizona Fearless Kitty Rescue

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SOURCE:Republic Services

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At Republic Services, we are dedicated to supporting our customers and being a good neighbor in the communities in which we live and work.

Each year in coordination with the Town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, Republic Services awards a $10,000 grant to a deserving Fountain Hills non-profit organization. Local Fountain Hills organizations interested in being considered for the grant may submit an application with a business plan for the grant monies.

Together with the Town of Fountain Hills, Republic reviews each application thoroughly and then shares between 3-5 of those finalists with Fountain Hills residents for their final vote. The local residents vote on the charity by utilizing recycle points they have accumulate throughout the year by registering each time they utilize Republic’s recycle curb side services.   

The Town of Fountain Hills and Republic Services are pleased to announce the winner of the most recent Community Grant for Fountain Hills is Fearless Kitty Rescue. Fearless Kitty won with a total of 459,514 votes, followed closely by River of Time Museum and Thunderbird Artists.

Fearless Kitty Rescue is a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill rescue committed to finding homes for homeless and abandoned cats of all ages. The organization is funded one hundred percent by donations and is staffed by enthusiastic volunteers. For more information about the organization or to volunteer, please visit www.fearlesskittyrescue.org.

 

Tweet me:.@RepublicService supports @FearlessKitty12 #catrescue and free-roaming #adoption center http://bit.ly/2pKLTS5 #pets #animalwelfare

KEYWORDS: Republic Service, Fearless Kitty, animal rescue, animal welfare, no-kill shelter, cats

Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier Honored with Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award

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SOURCE:Merck & Co., Inc.

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On March 23, Merck Chairman and CEO Ken Frazier received the Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award. The award, given annually, honors outstanding Americans who exemplify the vision and transformative ideals of Ron Brown, the first African-American U.S. Secretary of Commerce.  At the ceremony, Ken expressed hope about Americans coming together to develop workable solutions to the problems we face and spoke to the Ron Brown Scholars, young African Americans of outstanding promise who are helping to shape our society. Watch this video to read excerpts of Ken’s advice for the scholars.

About the Awards: The Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award is given to role models who demonstrate the importance of mentoring, service and fostering the next generation of diverse leaders in America. Ron Brown Scholars are offered academic scholarships, service opportunities and leadership experiences. 

Learn more about the program here.

About Merck
For more than a century, Merck, a leading global biopharmaceutical company known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. Today, Merck continues to be at the forefront of research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world - including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, emerging animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and infectious diseases including HIV and Ebola. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on TwitterFacebookInstagramYouTube and LinkedIn.

Tweet me:.@Merck Chairman and #CEO Ken Frazier Honored with Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award http://bit.ly/2GDHsmz @ronbrownscholar #education #diversity

KEYWORDS: Ron Brown Scholars, Ronald H. Brown American Journey Award, Merck, Ken Frazier

Recycling Facility Fire Sparks Warnings about Improperly Discarded Batteries

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SOURCE:Republic Services

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Tossed-out batteries are being blamed for a fire at a recycling plant.

The fire was big enough to force all the workers out and shut down the near west side facility Tuesday morning.

Continue reading on Fox59.com

Tweet me:Improperly discarded lithium ion batteries to blame for fire at @RepublicService #recycling center in Indiana https://bit.ly/2utlIEZ @Fox59

KEYWORDS: Republic Services, Recycling, waste management, lithium ion, Fox 59, Indianapolis, hazardous materials


SCE and Other Power Companies Across the Country Transform

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Utility leaders agree, customer expectations and new technologies are demanding an industry evolution.

SOURCE:Edison International

DESCRIPTION:

Electric utilities across the country are seeing an industry change, driven by evolving customer demands and technological advancements. This change looks different and is occurring at different paces in different states, but there are commonalities as new technologies such as battery storageelectric vehicles and smart meters become increasingly available and affordable.  

Three utility CEOs from different regions sat down recently to discuss their industry, customer expectations, new technologies and their companies’ response at CERAWeek, an annual energy conference in Houston. Technology has primed customers’ appetite for more choice and flexibility to manage their energy. They want energy to be more reliable, more affordable and cleaner.

“SCE is changing … because our customers demand it,” said Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, Southern California Edison’s parent company. “In California, customers are concerned about climate change.”

In California, 72 percent of voters favor the law requiring greenhouse gas emissions reduction to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, according to a Public Policy Institute of California July 2017 poll. California state law also calls for legally binding emission reductions, and SCE is moving quickly to meet these targets in just 12 years.

Electrifying transportation is one of the most effective ways to meet California’s GHG emissions reductions goals, and EV adoption is happening quickly in California. In January, Gov. Jerry Brown called for a target of 5 million EVs by 2030 with half of all EV sales in the U.S. already concentrated in California last year.

Utilities across the country are preparing for EV charging to become a major part of their demand for energy.

PNM chairman, president and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn discussed the EV challenges in her service territory in New Mexico, where there is a low-density population. The charging infrastructure for EVs is complicated since people are spread out across a vast area. Texas faces similar challenges according to Scott Prochazka, president and CEO of CenterPoint Energy, however he sees near-term adoption of EVs in Texas’ urban areas like Austin.

One thing the industry leaders agree on is that the industry, in response to customer expectations and new technologies, is going to look very different in a few years, especially as EVs increase in popularity.

Tweet me:Customer expectations and new technologies are demanding an industry evolution for #energy providers http://bit.ly/2uikdtg @SCE #cleanenergy #evs #emissions #sustainability

KEYWORDS: Edison International, Souther California Edison

 

General Motors Highlights Water Management and Reuse Efforts in Mexico

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SOURCE:General Motors

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As a company committed to reducing water intensity across its global operations by 15 percent by 2020, General Motors is constantly looking for innovative ways to conserve water and increase efficiencies. This mindset has led the automaker to adopt a circular economy approach to maximizing water reuse in water-stressed regions, such as Mexico.    

In 2008, General Motors’ San Luis Potosi facility in Mexico became the first zero liquid discharge plant in the company’s history. Due to the lack of municipal sewer services and water stress in the area, the assembly plant developed and perfected a closed treatment system that purifies and transforms wastewater into reusable water for the facility’s paint and machining processes, as well as irrigation, resulting in zero liquid discharge at the end of the treatment cycle. Since then, this solution has become a key part of the facility’s operation in the area, where water use is restricted.

Building on the success of this closed loop approach is General Motors’ Silao Complex, where the production facility is working to achieve near zero liquid discharge using a similar water management process.

Collaborating with Arcadis, an engineering consulting firm, and leveraging its engineering analysis, General Motors developed a water recycling project in 2015, in response to the declining water levels in water wells in Silao. While this project is still in the installation phase, data shows that General Motors will be able to recycle and reuse up to 85 percent of its wastewater – an increase from the 25 percent that it currently recycles – and decrease the amount of groundwater it extracts on a daily basis by half. Not only will this greatly decrease the amount of wastewater discharged to municipal facilities, but this project will yield beneficial cost savings as the automaker is required to pay for rights to access groundwater.

This partnership with Arcadis is a key example of General Motors’ inherent collaborative approach when it comes to reducing its environmental footprint and scaling impact. For the automaker, effective water management is not just about reducing water use within its factory walls, but about engaging the right partners at the right time to implement solutions that minimize the stress placed on local water sources and help local communities.

To learn more about General Motors’ global conservation efforts, click here. For best practices on industrial water conservation, click here.

Tweet me:.@GM Silao Complex in Mexico to recycle and reuse up to 85 percent of its wastewater – up from 25 percent – and decrease the amount of groundwater it extracts daily by half in 2018 https://bit.ly/2J1322P

KEYWORDS: General Motors, water management

Why Green Consumerism Isn’t Taking Off - Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability

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By Paula Luu, MBA/MS Candidate 2019 Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability

SOURCE:University of Michigan: Erb Institute | Business for Sustainability

DESCRIPTION:

Paula Luu is currently enrolled at the University of Michigan and pursuing a dual-degree MBA/MS between the Ross School of Business and the School for Sustainability and Environment. Paula is interested in developing and improving organization-wide processes along the supply chain.

If sustainability is so “in,” why aren’t more people buying ethically made clothes? The past few decades have changed the shape of the apparel industry. A few iconic media scandals over child labor and sweatshop labor have made Western shoppers sensitive to certain social responsibility topics. People are willing to pay 5 percent more for a product to ensure that it was made under ethical working conditions. The rise of conscious consumption has created new consumer markets in which labels like fair trade, organic and “made in USA” comingle and overlap.

But Americans are buying and throwing away 80 pounds of clothes per person per year, contributing to a massive global textile waste problem. Fast-fashion brands’ attractive prices have changed how we shop and value our clothes.

Factories, pressured to produce goods quickly, neglect worker safety and the impacts of dyeing, cutting and sewing the next batch of trendy clothes. The Rana Plaza factory collapse left 1,137 people dead because garment workers were working overtime in a building that hadn’t passed structural inspections. For months, nonprofit groups and consumers protested outside stores, and culpable and non-culpable brands that did and did not source from that factory formed the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety to ensure this wouldn’t happen again.

You would think that consumers would react by avoiding brands like Primark and Joe Fresh, which were linked to the accident and admonished by the media. However, only three months after the incident, Primark reported a 20 percent increase in sales.

A disconnect exists between how people want to buy their clothes—in a manner that reflects their values—and how they actually buy their clothes. And this isn’t new news. More than 20 years of polling has shown that a large majority of Americans say that they would gladly buy a green or ethical product, but less than 10 percent of them actually do.

What gets in the way of us putting our money where our mouth is?
Science can explain why: Shopping makes us feel good enough to ignore our ethics, and it’s hard to turn down a good deal. The pleasure areas of the brain light up when we’re pursuing something we want, and once we’ve invested time, energy and money, sunk cost bias makes it hard for us to let go of the item we’ve grown attached to during the search.

Fast fashion plays into our neurological pathways by giving us not only the pleasure from the act of looking for clothes but also the pleasure of getting a good bargain. A University of Michigan study found that the price of an item or how much a person liked it didn’t alone explain the amount of pleasure experienced during shopping. It was how much the person liked it and what he or she paid for it. So when a shopper finds a top at Zara that fits well, sees that it only costs $19.99, and remembers the news story of a Zara customer finding a note from an unpaid factory worker sewed into the clothes, he or she faces a decision: Do I buy this shirt from a questionably responsible company, or do I keep looking for an option that matches my values.

We lose most people at this point—even if they claim to be sustainability oriented—because it takes too much effort to change how we shop and to find another option that matches our budget, style and body type. So we just ignore or forget about the news of human rights violations and carry on with our lives.   

We also tend not to feel pressure to change our behavior if it is culturally appropriate. If our peers are paying for ethically sourced clothes, we’re more likely to do the same. If they’re not, we are unlikely to change our behavior, because the risk of not changing is minimal. This suggests that until the majority of people pay a premium for ethically sourced clothing, most people will not change how they shop.

Also, we’re not really telling the whole truth when we answer pollsters. Our need to present ourselves in the best possible light causes us to respond inaccurately to sensitive-topic questions. It’s a response bias referred to as the social desirability bias.

How can we do better?
Brands need to tell better stories during the shopping experience to get consumers to make more ethical decisions. The group Fashion Revolution ran a social experiment to test the effect of information at the point of purchase of cheap, unethically made clothes. They installed a vending machine that sold t-shirts for 2 euros. Before the t-shirt was dispensed, the customers learned how that low price point came to be: Garment workers in developing countries spent up to 16 hours a day in the factory and earned as little as 13 cents per hour. After receiving this information, the customers could opt to continue with the purchase or donate the 2 euros. Nobody in the experiment followed through with the purchase. Honest but emotional information presented at the point of purchase could influence consumer behavior.

We could create more conscious shoppers if we educate them about what to ask for specifically. On average, prices need to increase by 1 to 3 percent on individual garments to provide a living wage and safer working conditions, and consumers can pressure their favorite brands to make those changes.

Consumers who want businesses to act responsibly need to communicate their expectations to their favorite brands. Brands can better tell stories that support consumers’ willingness to pay fair prices for goods. A little nudging both ways will help build a more sustainable fashion system that doesn’t degrade our environment and upholds everyone in it, from garment worker to consumer.

This is the second of a series of blogs. In the coming weeks, I will continue to highlight how both indie and global brands are reinventing how we design, make and sell our clothes—and how consumers are influencing industry-wide change as well. Read Part I here

Tweet me:READ: What will it take for more consumers to shop #ethically? How brands can change the shopping experience to support #greenconsumerism http://myumi.ch/aZV8R @erbinstitute #sustainablebusiness

KEYWORDS: university of michigan, Erb Institute, Sustainable Business, Apparel, Fashion, Paula Luu, Green Consumerism

NeighborWorks America — Advancing Opportunity for All

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Celebrating 40 years of helping millions with affordable housing and making homeownership a reality for Americans with low and moderate incomes.

SOURCE:Wells Fargo & Company

DESCRIPTION:

Viewpoints’ invites guest authors from outside of Wells Fargo to share an important perspective related to their work. Today, we welcome Jeffrey T. Bryson, interim president and CEO of NeighborWorks America.

Since 1978, NeighborWorks® America has focused on creating opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities. With a network of more than 245 of the nation’s best community development organizations, we tackle some of the nation’s biggest housing and community development challenges in low- and moderate-income communities.

We build the skills, supplement the resources, and amplify the reach of these organizations so they can provide more housing opportunities, empower more individuals and transform more communities than they would be able to do on their own.

We also offer a comprehensive spectrum of courses to help professionals broaden their skill sets and make a meaningful impact when counseling homebuyers, coaching individuals with limited budgets, and preserving and redeveloping communities.

As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year, NeighborWorks America is proud of our many accomplishments. Over the past four decades, we have invested approximately $70 billion in communities across the country, assisted 4 million families with affordable housing, and assisted or built homes for 731,000 families.

And over the past 10 years, we’ve ramped up our efforts to help families at risk of losing their homes, offering foreclosure mitigation counseling and legal services to 2.1 million households.

Strategies to ensure sustainable homeownership

For most working Americans, homeownership is the primary tool for building wealth. However, barriers to homeownership — such as saving for a down payment, lack of financial knowledge, and credit problems — can keep this important asset out of reach for many.

We know that successful homeownership begins with educated homeowners who have the tools, capacity, and options to make good choices about their homebuying decision.

To prepare borrowers for the responsibilities of owning and maintaining a home, we first require them to complete a homebuyer education curriculum. We also offer financial capability education — providing strategies to improve credit and better manage finances — to build a stronger economic future to those who do not currently qualify for a mortgage.

However, even with the proper education on what it takes to be a successful homeowner, saving enough money for a down payment remains the most significant challenge for many Americans. Many of our network members help alleviate this obstacle by providing eligible residents with down-payment assistance.

Our biggest supporter in this area is Wells Fargo and its NeighborhoodLIFT® program. This collaboration between Wells Fargo and NeighborWorks America provides down-payment assistance and financial education to make homeownership a reality for working families who qualify for the program. Last year the program added special benefits for military service members, law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians.

To date, the LIFT program has invested more than $372 million in 57 communities, creating nearly 17,000 homeowners and providing homebuyer education to more than 52,500 people.

Wells Fargo also supports our Safe and Sound program, which provides rehab and weatherization services for houses in rural areas. In its first two years, the program made badly needed improvements on 154 homes, increasing property values and enhancing quality of life for their owners.

Community resiliency in the wake of natural disasters

A natural disaster can devastate a community, especially when that community suffers from a lack of resources. NeighborWorks America stands ready to assist struggling communities when disaster strikes. 

Just last year, our network moved quickly to respond to the devastation left behind by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, making $800,000 in grants available to 20 organizations in affected areas to help them with a variety of needs at the local level. Additionally, we provide volunteer opportunities for our staff to offer hands-on assistance in these areas.

And more than a decade later, we are still on the ground in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita as well.

Safe, quality rental homes matter for many

While creating a path to homeownership is a key focus of our organization, we also recognize that providing affordable rental homes is critical to the local workforce and the overall vibrancy and sustainability of communities.

Our goal: To make affordable rental homes rewarding for residents, communities, developers, owners, managers, and investors. To accomplish this, the NeighborWorks network invested more than $2.7 billion in affordable rental housing last year alone, supporting our member organizations with capital investment, tools, techniques, training, and other resources.

NeighborWorks organizations own and manage more than 165,000 high-quality, affordable rental homes nationwide. Many NeighborWorks-managed rental properties work to enrich residents’ lives by providing services such as financial education, after-school programs, employment training, and programs for seniors.

We want our member organizations to be the best affordable housing providers in the country and to serve as models for all other organizations offering affordable housing.

Across the spectrum of providing safe and affordable housing options in communities throughout the U.S., we look forward to continuing this important work for the next 40 years as America’s community development network.

Tweet me:.@NeighborWorks America celebrates 40 years of helping millions with affordable housing and homeownership http://bit.ly/2pNSZ8f

KEYWORDS: Wells Fargo, NeighborWorks, Housing, affordable housing, homeownership, LMI

 

Weleda is Powering Her Potential through Whole Planet Foundation

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$50,000 Donor Makes a Difference through Personal Care Products

SOURCE:Whole Foods Market Foundations

DESCRIPTION:

Whole Planet Foundation is proud to welcome Weleda, a new $50,000 donor to our cause of global poverty alleviation. Weleda's generosity this year will fund approximately 275 microloans and 1,500 opportunities for microentrepreneurs and their family members to live a better life through microcredit. Microloans are small loans – the current average first loan size supported by Whole Planet Foundation is $182 – with no formal collateral or contract, provided to microentrepreneurs to create or grow a home-based business for the opportunity to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. 

Watch the video to learn more.

Whole Planet Foundation’s global impact has reached the world’s poorest people – mostly women – in the United States and 70 other countries thanks to supplier donors like Weleda who have collectively contributed more than $10 million for poverty alleviation.  

Weleda’s mission: For nearly 100 years, Weleda’s mission has been to help women rebalance body, mind and spirit by leveraging nature’s wisdom and the symbiotic relationship between people and plants. Weleda’s plant-rich skincare is carefully crafted help to activate the body’s own healing abilities to help us stay in balance. Discover more

During March, Weleda’s generosity is being spotlighted in Whole Planet Foundation’s Annual Prosperity Campaign, taking place in Whole Foods Market stores and online.  Please join Weleda in alleviating poverty and make your donation today to power the potential of more women entrepreneurs.

Click here to watch the video.

Tweet me:.@Weleda funds approximately 275 microloans to help @WholePlanet Foundation alleviate global poverty http://bit.ly/2IInLrZ #PowerHerPotential #WPFProsperity #WeledaCares

KEYWORDS: whole planet foundation, Annual Prosperity Campaign, Weleda

350 Advocates From Across the Country Storm D.C. for Population Connection’s Capitol Hill Days 2018

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SOURCE:America's Charities

DESCRIPTION:

This past weekend, 350 activists stormed D.C. for the weekend to speak out against Trump’s Global Gag Rule, and to urge their elected officials to support the Global HER Act, and a robust $1.2 billion U.S. investment for international family planning, including $70 million for UNFPA.

Student activists and Population Connection Action Fund members and supporters from thirty states and D.C. gathered for a weekend of learning about the impact of U.S. policy on real lives abroad, the international effort to halt the damage of the Gag Rule, and to defend the reproductive rights of individuals around the world. 

Advocates also engaged in discussions about reproductive justice and effective storytelling, and learned tangible skills about how to effectively engage with our #Fight4HER campaign and to plan attention grabbing grassroots events and actions. 

The weekend kicked off with the presentation of the fourth annual “Empower Her, Empower Humanity” award, presented to Congresswoman Jacky Rosen of the 3rd district of Nevada.  In her relatively short time in Congress, Congresswoman Rosen has proven to be a fierce voice for women and reproductive rights.

One of the many highlights of the weekend was hearing from Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng-better known as “Dr. T”- an abortion doctor and reproductive justice advocate from Johannesburg, South Africa, who rousingly inspired the crowd to use their voices to speak up for social, reproductive, and economic justice for all people, and to trust black women, who’ve been organizing and standing up to oppression for a very long time, and who are the backbone of the current resistance to Donald Trump.

At the lobby day following the weekend, student and veteran advocates swarmed the Capitol, meeting with their Senate and House offices. For our large contingents from Arizona, North Carolina, and Ohio, constituents stood for meetings in hallways and gathered in special reserved meetings spaces to accommodate the huge numbers of activists eager to speak to their legislators.

A highlight of the day was a young Pittsburg advocate, a constituent of Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, who bravely hosted a “meeting” with a cardboard cutout of the Congressmen after he refused to meet with her.  She asked him loudly and clearly to support the #Fight4HER, and the millions of individuals abroad whose lives depend on repealing Trump’s Global Gag Rule.

Armed with resources about how best to #Fight4HER, we’re looking forward to this tremendous group of activists leading the #Fight4HER through the remainder of 2018 and beyond.

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Support Population Connection through your employee giving program:

As a donor, you can support Population Connection by donating to them through your employer’s workplace giving program. Payroll pledges made through employer-sponsored charitable giving programs represent a cost effective and near effortless way to support your favorite charities.

As Population Connection's workplace giving partner, America’s Charities can help your company design and implement a program centered on supporting their work - through workplace giving campaigns, employee fundraising, cause-focused signature programs, volunteerism, donation drives, matching gifts, Dollars-for-Doers, In-Kind Giving and other employee engagement and philanthropic initiatives. Click here to request a demo and learn how we can help you do this.

Tweet me:.@AmerCharities: 350 Advocates From Across the Country Storm D.C. for @popconnect’s Capitol Hill Days 2018 https://impact.ac/2GeAJzX #Fight4HER #Activism

KEYWORDS: America’s Charities, workplace giving, employee giving, Corporate Social Responsibility, csr, charity vetting, payroll deduction giving, Fundraising, Population Connection, Advocacy

  

School Is Expensive, We Can Help

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We are now accepting applications for TransCanada Community Scholarships

SOURCE:TransCanada

DESCRIPTION:

If you or somebody you know needs help paying for school, we are now accepting applications for TransCanada Community Scholarships.

Whether starting university or college for the first time, or returning to school to learn a new trade, paying for education can be challenging, especially when costs can vary from $5,000 to $50,000 per year. That’s one of the reasons why we launched the TransCanada Community Scholarships Program last year — to help students from the communities where we live, work and operate across North America reach their academic goals.

Our goal for this program is to support the development of a skilled energy workforce, while also giving back to our neighbours.

“I am so appreciative of TransCanada for awarding me with a Community Leaders Scholarship,” said Katie Bresnahan from Marquette, Neb. “The support for students, especially those from rural communities, is great to see."

We’ve made sure our Community Scholarships are available to students pursuing different post-secondary disciplines. Whether training to be a tradesperson, engineer or business professional, our scholarships can make school more affordable, and academic performance is not the only focus of our evaluation criteria.

“We look for more than good grades in our evaluation. We award students who show a strong commitment to leadership, volunteerism, community involvement and who describe a passion for learning,” said Leanne LeBlanc, Community Investment Lead, TransCanada.

Investing in education and developing high-demand and transferable skills in the communities where we do business is important to us and our neighbours — to promote sustainable local economies and to ensure that we have the workforce required to build and maintain TransCanada’s assets.

More scholarships and a trans-continental reach

In 2017, close to 300 TransCanada Community Scholarships, valued at more than $400,000, were awarded to passionate, hard-working students in all kinds of post-secondary programs across Canada and the U.S. In 2018, we’re back with more scholarships and we’ve increased our program footprint.

This year, we have expanded our Community Scholarships to support students in Mexico — increasing the value of the overall program to more than $600,000.

350+ scholarships are now available in four categories:

  • TransCanada Community Leaders Scholarship (Canada, U.S. and Mexico)
  • TransCanada Indigenous Legacy Scholarship (Canada, U.S. and Mexico)
  • TransCanada Trades Scholarship (Canada and U.S.)
  • TransCanada Women’s Scholarship (Mexico)

Apply in just two easy steps

Answer five easy questions to find out if you pre-qualify, and once pre-qualified, completing the full application is simple.

If you know a student who could use some help paying for school, please share this article, tag them in the comments, or send them this link: TCScholarships.com. The application deadline is April 15, 2018 at 11:59:59 EST.

French Canadian students can visit TCBourses.com and students from Mexico can visit BecasTCMexico.com.

More Information

Tweet me:School is expensive, TransCanada can help. There are more than 350 #TransCanada #CommunityScholarships. Pre-apply now or tag somebody you know today. http://ow.ly/GjA130iA0SK

KEYWORDS: TransCanada, Community Investment, scholarship


Tiny Fish, Big Impact for Duwamish Waterway

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Boeing's cleanup in Puget Sound pays off for salmon counts

SOURCE:Boeing

DESCRIPTION:

Due to efforts by The Boeing Company, a stretch of habitat in Puget Sound's Lower Duwamish Waterway is booming with baby salmon, called smolt. By restoring the shoreline habitat, the juvenile salmon have a place to play before they swim out to sea to become adults. Boeing, in collaboration with local partners along the Duwamish, continue to monitor the habitat is working as designed.

And it is. The first count of the season welcomed over 1,600 smolt to Seattle.

Tweet me:The tide is turning for salmon thanks in part to Boeing’s continued cleanup of Puget Sound's Duwamish River. http://bit.ly/2pMg24b

KEYWORDS: Boeing, csr, CSG, Duwamish Waterway, Duwamish River Cleanup, Salmon

Domtar's Sustainability Monthly Minute: March 2018

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SOURCE:Domtar

DESCRIPTION:

Pulp, Paper and Pancakes
March marks the time of year when maple trees are tapped to create maple syrup. With selective harvests of the sugar maple trees surrounding Domtar's Windsor, Quebec mill happening approximately once every 20 years, it only made sense to find creative uses for the forest in the meantime. Learn about the innovative partnership with local syrup producers that is driving long- term sustainability.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT

The Financial Side of Forests
International Day of Forests being celebrated this month, it's worth remembering that trees provide not only environmental benefits, but economic ones as well. In fact, the forest products industry is critical to both the U.S. and Canadian economies, and is often the lifeblood of many rural communities. Find out more about the often- overlooked financial impacts of forests.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW

Farm-to-Table for Your Paper
Studies show that today's customers want to know more than ever about the products they use, as seen by the popular farm- to- table movement. Still consumers rarely get more than a "Made in (insert country name here) " statement from the manufacturer. The Paper Trail was recently updated to include more products, more impact data and more details on the origins of Domtar's pulp and paper products, meeting the market's evolving needs for supply chain transparency.

CLICK HEFRE TO READ MORE

Tweet me:What’s the #ecotip of the month? Read the March issue of @DomtarEveryday’s #Sustainability Monthly Minute to find out http://bit.ly/2Gi1pQz

KEYWORDS: Domtar, eco tips

   

HanesBrands Earns 11th United Way Campaign Excellence Honor, Raising $1.97 Million to be Donated In 2018

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Employees Also Donate Nearly 2,000 Volunteer Hours to Local Non-Profit Agencies

SOURCE:HanesBrands

DESCRIPTION:

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., March 29, 2018 /3BL Media/ – HanesBrands announced today that the company and its employees have pledged $1.97 million this year to the United Way of Forsyth County and surrounding communities, earning the United Way’s 11th campaign excellence award.

The United Way of North Carolina awarded Hanes with its Spirit of North Carolina Award for campaign excellence, the 10th consecutive Spirit Award and 11th earned in the past 12 years by Hanes and its employees.

“HanesBrands demonstrated excellence in its United Way campaign, but also a strong philanthropic culture and community engagement,” said Cindy Gordineer, UWFC President and CEO. “HanesBrands received high marks (in the Spirit Award selection process) for overall organizational volunteer culture, collaborative work with United Way, employee engagement, and participation.”

The United Way also cited the company’s use of special events to engage and educate employees and the role of its leadership team in promoting a culture of philanthropy and community support.

Hanes was one of 30 organizations in the state to be highlighted and one of five companies in Forsyth County to receive the Spirit Award.

Hanes is a longtime leader in supporting the United Way. Since 2006, the company and its Forsyth County employees have contributed more than $25.5 million to United Way agencies.

“The employees of HanesBrands continue to generously support the vibrancy and health of our community,” said Maria Teza, HanesBrands United Way 2017 campaign chairperson and Hanes’ vice president, general manager, marketing, classic bras.

To support employee volunteerism, Hanes granted paid time off to nearly 400 headquarters employees to participate in the company’s Day of Caring at 13 local community agencies. Employee volunteers contributed more than 1,600 volunteer hours performing various tasks at the agencies including landscaping, painting, administrative duties, and more.

During the weeklong campaign, activities held on campus included a kickoff celebration, silent auctions, and an agency fair that provided employees an opportunity to learn about the various local non-profit agencies in attendance.

“This year’s campaign brought out the superhero in all of us and we had fun, while making a difference in our community, added Maria Teza.”

Contact:                        
Chyna Broadnax
(336) 519-6292

HanesBrands

HanesBrands, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia-Pacific. The company sells its products under some of the world’s strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Maidenform, DIM,Bali, Playtex, Bonds, JMS/Just My Size, Nur Die/Nur Der, L’eggs, Lovable, Wonderbra, Berlei, Alternative, Gear for Sports, and Bras N Things. The company sells T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and activewear produced in the company’s low-cost global supply chain. A member of the S&P 500 stock index, Hanes has approximately 68,000 employees in more than 40 countries and is ranked No. 432 on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies by sales. Hanes takes pride in its strong reputation for ethical business practices. The company is the only apparel producer to ever be honored by the Great Place to Work Institute for its workplace practices in Central America and the Caribbean, and is ranked No. 110 on the Forbes magazine list of America’s Best Large Employers. For eight consecutive years, Hanes has won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star sustained excellence/partner of the year award – the only apparel company to earn sustained excellence honors. The company ranks No. 194 on Newsweek magazine’s green list of 500 largest U.S. companies for environmental achievement. More information about the company and its corporate social responsibility initiatives, including environmental, social compliance and community improvement achievements, may be found at www.Hanes.com/corporate. Connect with HanesBrands via social media on Twitter (@HanesBrands) and Facebook.

Tweet me:.@HanesBrands and its #employees have pledged $1.97M for @UWForsyth and give almost 2K #volunteer hours to local #nonprofits http://bit.ly/2GW5XsT @UnitedWay #employeegiving @UWNorthCarolina

KEYWORDS: HanesBrands, United Way

French Translation of the GRI Standards Now Available

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SOURCE:GRI

DESCRIPTION:

More than 260 French-speaking organizations use the GRI framework to produce sustainability reports that clearly show their economic, social and environmental impacts.

Companies whose main working language is French can now access the GRI Standards in French. The translation appears after a successful crowdfunding campaign in which participating sponsors raised funds to ensure the quality, consistency, accuracy and ease of use of the translations. Moving closer to the deadline of transitioning from the G4 Guidelines to GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Standards (GRI Standards), these organizations can now work with a clear, modular model to help them improve on their reporting.​

Other available translations

Interest in this campaign has helped to highlight the importance of having the GRI Standards available in other languages, to ensure that companies around the world have tools to talk about their impacts in a way that is accessible to all stakeholders. We have translations currently available in French, Indonesian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese. Translations into Arabic and German are being finalized and will be released shortly.

For more information on the process of translating the GRI Standards, visit the GRI Standards Translation page.

Tweet me:Another language added to the @GRI_Secretariat #GRIStandards translations: Companies whose main working language is French can now access the first global #sustainability #reporting standards in their mother tongue. Download for free here: http://bit.ly/2tTXvr4

KEYWORDS: GRI, global reporting initiative, GRI Standards, sustainability reporting, GRI Standards translation

MGM Resorts International Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination With Donation to National Civil Rights Museum

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SOURCE:MGM Resorts International

DESCRIPTION:

TUNICA, Miss., March 29, 2018 /3BL Media/ - MGM Resorts International, (NYSE: MGM) parent company of Gold Strike Casino Resort, donated $150,000 to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. The funds will support the Museum’s programming surrounding the 50th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, which took place at the Lorraine Motel, now the location of the National Civil Rights Museum, as well as enhancements of the museum’s physical plant.

The National Civil Rights Museum, in conjunction with partner organizations and civil rights leaders across the country, has structured a year-long program of events and activities to encourage others to continue the Civil Rights Movement while focusing on the theme, “MLK50 - Where Do We Go From Here.” 

Through the years, Gold Strike Casino Resort has developed a strong partnership with the Museum. In what has become a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day tradition, resort employees travel to Memphis and volunteer by providing directional assistance and venue information to guests visiting the Museum’s annual King Day celebration. Gold Strike also is a proud supporter of the Museum’s Freedom Award. 

Gold Strike and MGM Resorts are committed to continuing their support of the Museum and its mission through collaborative efforts including both financial contributions and volunteer efforts. 

“The 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. King presents an opportunity for our entire nation to reflect on his vision of the equality of all humanity – the essence of our modern-day inclusion values, and his struggle to abolish poverty, injustice and violence among all mankind.  This occasion also gives our country yet another chance to join in his quest for spiritual brotherhood and peace among all mankind,” said Phyllis A. James, Chief Diversity & Corporate Responsibility Officer of MGM Resorts. “For these reasons we are proud to support the National Civil Rights Museum’s preservation of the monumental legacy of Dr. King, whose courageous contributions made our nation and our world a more equal place, and remind us that it is our collective calling to complete his quest.”

In 2000, MGM Resorts took the leadership as the first company in the gaming and hospitality industry to voluntarily adopt a formal diversity and inclusion policy. This is a critical pillar of our company’s enterprise-wide social responsibility.  

For additional information about the company’s inclusion initiative, and to learn more about its efforts in corporate social responsibility, please visit: www.mgmresorts.com/csr

About the National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum located at the historic Lorraine Motel where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, gives a comprehensive overview of the American Civil Rights Movement from 1619 to the present. Since the Museum opened in 1991, millions of guests from around the world have visited, including more than 80,000 students annually. Serving as the new public square, the Museum is steadfast in its mission to chronicle the American civil rights movement, examine today’s global civil and human rights issues, provoke thoughtful debate and serve as a catalyst for positive social change. 

A Smithsonian Affiliate and an internationally acclaimed cultural institution, the Museum was recognized as TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Top 5% U.S. Museum, USA Today's Top 10 Best American Iconic Attractions; Top 10 Best Historical Spots in the U.S. by TLC's Family Travel; Must See by the Age of 15 by Budget Travel and Kids; Top 10, American Treasures by USA Today; and Best Memphis Attraction by The Commercial Appeal and the Memphis Business Journal.

About Gold Strike Casino Resort
Gold Strike Casino Resort, MGM Resorts International's 1,200-room resort located 20 minutes south of Memphis in Tunica, Miss., completed the largest renovation and remodeling project in its history. The multi-million dollar transformation included all of Gold Strike's deluxe rooms and suites, hotel lobby, 30,000-square-foot conference and convention center, casino, high-limit gaming area, Chicago Steakhouse and Buffet Americana. The resort also features a refreshing spa, the 800-seat Millennium Theatre, Atrium Café and 50,000 square feet of gaming space with 53 table games and more than 1,100 slot machines. For reservations or information, call 888-245-7529 or visit www.goldstrike.com.

About MGM Resorts International
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and retail offerings. MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences through its suite of Las Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses 27 unique hotel offerings including some of the most recognizable resort brands in the industry. The company is expanding throughout the U.S. and around the world, developing MGM Springfield in Massachusetts and MGM COTAI in Macau, and debuting the first international Bellagio branded hotel in Shanghai. The 77,000 global employees of MGM Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies®. For more information visit us at www.mgmresorts.com.

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For More Information:
Sonya Padgett, MGM Resorts International, 702-692-6807; spadgett@mgmresorts.com
Keisha Oliver, Gold Strike Casino Resort, 662-357-1166; koliver@goldstrike.com

Tweet me:MGM Resorts International Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination with Donation to National Civil Rights Museum http://bit.ly/2pPCN6I

KEYWORDS: National Civil Rights Museum, Martin Luther King Jr., MGM Resorts International

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