Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

"Kendra's investment will transform the lives of thousands of future leaders, and all of society will reap the benefits," said Jay Hartzell, president of UT Austin. "I am thrilled she is expanding her partnership with UT to attract top talent and leverage the strength of our city and university as an engine for entrepreneurship."

A combination of personal and company investments will create a $13.25 million endowment to provide expansion and support in perpetuity for the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI): a cross-disciplinary program between the College of Fine Arts, the McCombs School of Business, the College of Natural Sciences, and The LaunchPad in Undergraduate Studies, that empowers, equips and builds a community for women and creatives traditionally underrepresented in entrepreneurial roles.

"This gift is about supporting the next generation of women entrepreneurs," said Kendra Scott, multi-hyphenate philanthropist, designer and professor of practice at UT College of Fine Arts. "Since the inception of the KS WELI in 2019, I've loved seeing UT create a space where women are inspired, and motivated to be leaders in business and to use their knowledge, skills, and energy to keep changing the world and outdated business stereotypes. Through this new gift, women will continue to dismantle barriers and forge ahead to redefine entrepreneurship for many years to come."

The investment will seed and launch the Women in Entrepreneurship (WiE) Specialization in Fall 2022, a partnership with the McCombs School of Business giving students the opportunity to earn a minor in entrepreneurship.

"Since 2019, the KS WELI has supported more than three-dozen women-led startups and engaged with and equipped thousands of students through rigorous coursework, mentorships, and enriching workshops and this investment will help us continue to make an impact," said Lesley Robinson, founding director of the KS WELI.

This new corporate and personal investment from Scott supports UT's What Starts Here fundraising campaign the largest campaign in Texas higher education history. The university publicly launched the campaign on March 4, 2022, with a goal to raise $6 billion, with $1 billion earmarked for scholarships and student support programs like the KS WELI.

For more information about the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, please visit the website here or follow us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn.

About Kendra ScottKendra Scott is a leading fashion meets philanthropy accessories brand inspired by the personal experiences, travel, and purpose driven desire to create good in the world of its founder and executive chairwoman, Kendra Scott. With over 2,000 employees, Kendra Scott has over 115 standalone stores across the US and is sold in premiere retailers including Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Dillard's, and nearly 1,000 specialty boutiques worldwide and boasts a thriving web business. Kendra Scott is known for its kaleidoscope of fashion, sterling, and fine jewelry accessories for women and men, along with the innovative Color Bar, a customizable experience in addition to engraving. As the brand continues to grow, the company remains true to its founding philosophy of "Family, Fashion, and Philanthropy" and since 2002, the company has given back significantly to local, national, and international causes supporting organizations that serve women and youth in the areas of health & wellness, education & entrepreneurship, and empowerment. We invite you to learn more by visiting kendrascott.com/philanthropy.

About the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership InstituteThe mission of the Kendra Scott Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (KS WELI Institute) at The University of Texas at Austin is to strengthen the next generation of courageous, creative female leaders who will change the world in business and beyond. Through an environment of community, diversity, inclusivity and empowerment, the program aims to redefine leadership and entrepreneurship by growing the number of women-owned and women-led businesses. For more information, please visit http://www.kswelinstitute.utexas.edu.

About The University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin, founded in 1883, ranks among the 40 best universities in the world. It supports some 51,000 diverse students with top national programs across 18 colleges and schools and significant financial aid. In 2016, UT became the first major university in 50 years to build a new medical school when the Dell Medical School welcomed its first class. UT attracts more than $650 million annually for research. The university's holdings include more than 170 million objects including rare manuscripts and works of art. And Texas Longhorn student-athletes have won more than 50 national championships. For more information, please visitwww.utexas.edu.

Media Contact:Susan McPhersonMcPherson Strategies(917) 859.2291[emailprotected]

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Kendra Scott Donates $13.25M Endowment to The University of Texas at Austin - PR Newswire

Endeavour recently hosted the fourth annual Women on the Water event in honour of International Womens Day.

A spokesperson said, Endeavour is a registered charity and nonprofit that engages Bermudas youth in experiential learning through sailing that builds their self-confidence and life skills.

Endeavour aims to improve access for young people of all backgrounds, skills, and abilities to be represented in the sport of sailing and more widely in the maritime industry, including greater participation by young females.

Since 2015, Endeavour has engaged over 5,684 young people across its programmes, with 50% being females overall and the highest representation in the Endeavour Graduate Programme, with 62% females participating from 2020 to 2021.

Endeavours commitment to gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls throughout its programmes aligns with Goal 5 of the United Nations UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The total percentage of female seafarers working in the global maritime industry is just 1.3% according to figures released by the International Maritime Organisation [IMO]. This equates to approximately 24,059 women seafarers out of a total workforce of 1.5 million. While trends appear to be increasing for more females to be employed in the maritime industry, there is still much work to be done in this area.

Since 2018, 54 young Bermudians ages 16 and older have benefited from participating in the Endeavour Maritime Career Springboard Programme, including nine females a roughly 20% female participation rate.

16-year-old CedarBridge Academy student and 2022 Springboard Grad Nijanae Pemberton said, I was one of four females amongst the cohort of 14 young Bermudians in the 2022 Endeavour Maritime Career Springboard Programme and three of us completed the Royal Yachting Association Dinghy Instructor course offered as part of the programme.

It is amazing to see other young females who are interested in pursuing sailing and maritime opportunities come together and support each other along the way while inspiring younger female sailors as they see what we have achieved and feel that they can do it too.

The spokesperson said, International Womens Day is a UN-sanctioned global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, raises awareness, and marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, and inspires support for organisations that support women globally.

On Sunday, March 20th, Endeavour hosted the fourth annual Women on the Water event in honour of International Womens Day to inspire, empower, and connect diverse female youth sailors to foster interest in sailing and maritime initiatives while providing skills development and networking opportunities.

The 2022 event brought together 21 young women ages 11-19 years old from across the Island for a fun-filled day of empowerment and inspiration. They represented 12 schools including: Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning, Bermuda Institute, CedarBridge Academy, Sandys Secondary Middle School, The Berkeley Institute, The Bermuda High School, Mount Saint Agnes, Saltus, Somersfield Academy, Warwick Academy, Whitney Institute Middle School, and home schools.

Danielle Frith, Endeavours Community Engagement Coordinator, said, We are grateful for Endeavours youth volunteers who volunteered their time and talent contributing to the events success. They represent some of the female youth sailors who first participated in Endeavours programmes six years ago who completed the Endeavour Assistant Instructor Programme and now lend their time to support and inspire younger sailors.

Ms Pemberton said, It was such an awesome day seeing all of the female sailors have fun together. This special event encourages female youth sailors of all backgrounds to continue to get involved with youth sailing activities. Promoting women in sailing and maritime opportunities is critical as young women need to be supported toward accomplishing their goals and ensuring their achievements are recognised and celebrated.

Ruth Mello-Cann, 17-year-old Berkeley Institute student and 2022 Springboard Grad, said, The Endeavour Women on the Water event is an inspiring day to be a part of! I was thrilled to be a part of this event again this year supporting female youth sailors with diverse interests and different levels of sailing for a fun-filled day on and off the water.

It is rewarding to be a qualified instructor this year to be able to support the on-water aspects of the event using my skills and qualifications achieved during the Endeavour Maritime Career Springboard Programme. The positive vibes throughout the day as the girls made new connections and friends was definitely a highlight. I look forward to seeing more female representation in sailing and the maritime industry in the future.

Jennifer Pitcher, Endeavours Community Engagement, Development and Partnerships Manager, said, We are inspired by the phenomenal young women who we meet during their engagement in Endeavours programmes. We are grateful for the opportunity to support their growth and we love seeing their confidence thrive as they build new skills and gain new experiences.

We wish to thank our amazing volunteers Amy Taylor and Phoebe Twigg who dedicated their positive energy to ensure the success of the 2022 Women on the Water event. Special thanks to our guest speakers who shared their passion and expertise to inspire and encourage our female sailors to reflect on the importance of self care and positive self-esteem.

Sophia Cannonier of Padma Bermuda led an interactive yoga session and Allison Lacoursiere of Clear Coaching facilitated a goal setting and vision boarding workshop to encourage the girls to plan for their futures.

Allison Lacoursiere, CEO of Clear Coaching, said, It is an honour to be a part of a young womans journey of self discovery, self belief, creating a big, bold future and helping them truly know that they can achieve anything from a young age! The future is female and it starts with the personal belief that anything is possible!

Sophia Cannonier, Owner Padma Bermuda, stated, The work Endeavour is doing is more important than ever recognising what our young people are going through, especially young women, focusing on building resilience, courage, and to strive for the best version of themselves. Its a pleasure to teach them.

Build your life with women that empower you, that help you believe in your magic and aid them to believe in their own exceptional power and incredible magic too. Women that believe in each other can and will survive anything.

The spokesperson said, Endeavour would like to thank Salt & Cedar who generously donated beautiful eco-friendly gifts for all of our Women on the Water participants along with Tuck Shop for donating delicious cupcakes, and Bonefish Catering who helped us ensure a healthy lunch for everyone.

We are grateful to Endeavours valued donors and supporters for enabling us to create a positive impact in our community, in particular for Endeavours founding lead sponsor, Orbis Investments, for their unwavering support of Endeavours programmes and community engagement.

Visit http://www.endeavour.bm to learn more about Endeavours work with Bermudas youth.

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Endeavour Hosts Women On The Water Event - Bernews

Days after the successful launch of the ItsNotOk campaign on Womens Day to generate awareness of womens harassment, Network18 and Truecaller are now set to host an event named The Call It Out Conclave on March 29 in New Delhi.

The event which is being held at the Oberoi Hotel will be addressing issues pertaining to online safety and security in todays digital world and take into account the steps taken toward making the online space safer for women and building a safe environment for them where they can report harassment.

It will be attended by dignitaries including, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Bollywood star Raveena Tandon, Special Commissioner, Delhi Police, Shalini Singh, among others. There will also be a special address by Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for the Ministry of Communications. Rakesh Asthana, Police Commissioner of Delhi, will also be giving a special address.

Besides enlightening the audience on tips to create cyber security awareness, speakers will also talk about cyber laws (for women against harassment) and the recourse available to report cases of harassment and future discourse with regards to womens safety.

The attendees will also get to witness an elaborate discussion between Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18 and Alan Mamedi, Co-Founder & CEO, Truecaller on what led to the campaign and how they are bringing all the stakeholders of the society together to build a safer environment for women where they can voice out their issues without any concern. The conversations will take a global turn with a dialogue between Sweden Ambassador Klas Molin and Annika Poutiainen, Board of Director, Truecaller on personal stories and lessons from around the world.

The other eminent personalities to be a part of The Call It Out Conclave event include political activist and MLA, Atishi, designer and politician Shaina NC, Social Activist & Director, Centre for Social Research, Dr Ranjana Kumari, lawyer Puneet Bhasin, DCP (IFSO), Delhi Police, KPS Malhotra, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation, and Osama Manzer, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation.

The event will start at 6 pm and will be live-streamed across CNN- News18 & CNBC-TV18 site and social media channels on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

First Published:Mar 29, 2022, 11:35 AM IST

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'Call It Out': Network18 and Truecaller to host event on womens online safety on March 29 - CNBCTV18

While there are seemingly endless resources available to small business owners in any given industry today, there are some that naturally stand out in the crowd. But, why? The answer is simple. The best resources are those in which business owners take their advice one step further to thoughtfully discuss what motivated them to build their own startup in the first place; these stand head and shoulders above the ones that do not.

While containing the unique experiences of their authors, each of these five books are some of the bestatprovidingauthentic advice to small business leaders that will inspire them to take charge of scaling their startup with greater confidence. The timeless advice these authors provide can help startups advance their business from good to great in no time.

1. Rare Breed by Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger

Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger are co-founders of Motto, a consultancy for leadership and branding. While working with companies such as Google, Microsoft, the NFL, and others, Motto has helped each one pinpoint and build their next gen leaders, referred to as "Rare Breeds." These employees are the ones who have been constantly overlooked, despite their compelling traits.

While these distinctive traits include being hot-blooded, audacious, obsessed, rebellious, weird, hypnotic, and emotional, that's what makes them invaluable. Igniting the Rare Breeds on your team is an essential milestone on the road to innovation, creating a better reputation for brands, and deconstructing business as we know it.

2. Bigger & Better: A Playbook for Quickly Scaling Your Small Company With Limited Resources by Esther Kestenbaum Prozan

Esther Kestenbaum Prozan is anexample of someone who has a history of scaling small companies into great enterprises. Prozan is abeliever in the importance of scaling revenue efficiently, which is an important part of building a small business.

Based on her ten first-hand successes quickly scaling companies, she wroteBigger & Better with the purpose of helping others scale their companies. This book gives insights for business owners, providing a range of ways in which scaling their small business can be made possible in a resource-limited manner. Sample topics include how to avoid diluting business ownership and using radical generosity to build relationships. Any small business needs actionable, real-world solutions, in order to grow quickly. Bigger &Better provides exactly that and should absolutelbe on business owners' reading list when looking to scale a company.

3. She Made It: The Toolkit for Female Founders in the Digital Age by Angelica Malin

Angelica Malin shares her latest insight with female founders on what she has learned throughout her career as a woman in business. From finding voice to honing in on personal branding to managing stress, She Made It is a resourceful book that can provide any startup with practical advice on how to overcome challenges and persist onward to success.

Malin is the founder of #SheStartedItLIVE, a festival of female empowerment, and Editor-In-Chief at About Time Magazine, alifestyle-focused blog in the UK. With her experience, it is no surprise her book is a good resource for small business owners.

4. Startup CXO: A Field Guide to Scaling Up Your Company's Critical Functions and Teams by Matt Blumberg

Matt Blumberg is the CEO and Founder of Bolster, a company that focuses on connecting executives with companies. Startup CXO offers a unique perspective on how businesses as a whole can scale by first scaling each of the functions within the team.

Using his first-hand experience by means of trial and error, Blumberg wrote Startup CXO to guide department leaders in how each of their functions can grow, what to expect, and what could go wrong. By offering a thorough understanding of individual function growth, as well as knowledge on how to harmoniously work with other roles, this book makes scaling a business as precise as clockwork.

5. TeamWork by Natalie Dawson

Natalie Dawson, an expert at building scalable teams, says that no matter what someone's business does, their success depends on their own ability to manage and develop the people who work for them.

In her new book, TeamWork, Natalie maps out all the strategies she has used with thousands of businesses as a Partner at Cardone Ventures with a goal of hiring, scaling, and growing their businesses effectively.

Look to Experience

As each of these books detail a different perspective of the process to scale a company, all of them provide something worthwhile: Authentic advice from real individuals who accomplished this very goal. When deciding to share their insider knowledge of scaling a company, it is clear that the authors of these five books had small business leaders in mind.

In addition to teaching the how-tos of scaling a business successfully, it's just as well that these books teach business owners to understand what did not work so they can avoid making the same mistakes. With all of their original viewpoints on how to reach a common goal, these books provide invaluable answers to the assortment of difficulties small business owners might encounter.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Here are 5 Books for Small Business Owners Wanting to Scale Their Companies - Inc.

Mangilal, a man in his fifties from village Khedi Savli in Betul, and his wife Kaveri for the most part of their lives did not have a house of their own and had to suffer a lot in their personal and social life. The couple is part of 5.21 lakh houses built under PM Awas Yojana (Rural) which were dedicated to the beneficiaries in the virtual presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

Mangilal said that despite facing hardships due to a kaccha house for decades, his family was in trouble as their guests who would visit their house for the marriage of his son and daughter refused to finalize the relation seeing their house. But after the house was built under PMAY, both the siblings got their marriage fixed in the last few months.

Another beneficiary named Vinod Kushwaha from gram panchayat Jarguva in Vidisha said that the life of his family was a painful one as they used to cover their kaccha house with polythene sheets every now and then and could not sleep at night due to the rattling sound of their rooftop and faced leakage in monsoon. Now thanks to PM Modi and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, we could lead a peaceful life, said Kushwaha.

For women like Vidyabai, a native of village Kadhaiya in Guna, the scheme not only brought a pucca rooftop but also came with added facilities like tap connection, toilet and LPG connection. We not only managed to get a pucca roof but also got water supply, LPG connection and an in-built toilet which has made our lives easier and I dont need to venture out for daily chores, said Vidya.

Women co-ownership, a case study for global universities: PM Modi

Addressing the Grah Pravesham programme event which marked the dedication of 5.21 lakh rural households built under PM Awas Yojana, in virtual mode, Prime Minister Modi described the co-ownership in PMAY houses as a new chapter in women empowerment. The co-ownership has offered women a greater say in other domestic decisions and this can be a good case study for global universities as well as for those in Madhya Pradesh. Saying that around 2 crore houses built in the scheme have co-ownership of women and linked the same to women empowerment concept inherent in countrys culture which will be symbolised shortly during Navratri festival.

The event was organised by the MP government in Chhatarpur in Bundelkhand.

We are giving these houses with added facilities like a toilet, tapped water supply and LPG connection so the family does not need to run here and there for these added facilities, said the Prime Minister. The previous government built only a few lakh houses for the poor but my government has till now built 2.5 crore houses for the poor out of which around 2 crore are in the rural areas which also symoblise sense of service prevalent in BJP, the PM said.

The Prime Minister also said that the PMAY has also bolstered the rural economy by boosting construction and related activities. We are close to offering tapped water to 50 lakh rural households, he added.

We have provisioned Rs 2.25 lakh crore for building 80 lakh houses in rural areas in this budget, said PM Modi, adding an honest government and empowered poor population can fight poverty easily. Post-2014, we deleted 4 crore fake names from the ration lists and installed thumb impression machines at ration shops to ensure ration reaches the beneficiaries, Modi said.

Underlining aims set for Azaadi Ka Amritkaal, the Prime Minister said the aim is to reach out to every single beneficiary with welfare schemes and saturation (100 per cent completion) of schemes as well.

He underlined the importance of the construction of Amrit Sarovars (75 ponds) in every district to make up for the loss of groundwater due to indiscriminate exploitation of water resources.

Shivraj Chouhan extends invitation to PM Modi

CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the occasion invited PM Modi to inaugurate Ken-Betwa river link project in Bundelkhand as and when the event is completed. The scheme will invest Rs 44,000 crore and will extend the irrigation facility to 20 lakh acres. He thanked PM for transforming the lives of the poor with this scheme. He announced to increase in the financial assistance amount of Kanya Vivah Yojana from Rs 51,000 to Rs 55,000. Next year, we will be building 10 lakh more houses for the poor.

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Women's Ownership of PMAY Houses Has Strengthened Their Say in Household Decisions: Modi at 'Grah Pravesham - News18

Release Date: March 21,2022

Akron, Ohio,March 21, 2022 The City of Akron and the national nonprofitCities for Financial Empowerment Fund(CFE Fund)announced the launch of Small Business Boost, a new pilot to connect small business owners and entrepreneurs to one-on-one Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) financial counseling. Akron joins Lansing, MI; Pittsburgh, PA; Polk County, IA; and Rochester, NY in connecting local small business support services to the Financial Empowerment Center initiative, which offers professional one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service.

While starting a small business can be a promising pathway to financial stability, entrepreneurs often begin this pathwith existing financial challenges, which both exacerbates their inability to access capital to start or grow their small businesses and translates into inadequate savings to manage irregular cash flow. This new initiative called Small Business Boost, supported generously by Principal Foundation, will help local entrepreneurs and small business owners in Akron improve their personal finances, better positioning them to access capital and achieve their business goals.Entrepreneurs and small business owners interested in FEC financial counseling can access services by visitinghttps://www.uwsummit.org/FEC.

"The literal definition of 'entrepreneur' is one who 'assumes the risk'," said Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan. "I think it's one of our jobs in government to help our entrepreneurs mitigate that risk of opening up a business. Ultimately, our small businesses are the life blood of our economy. This new initiative will help us better support and empower these individuals as they seek to improve their finances and grow their businesses and I'm proud to partner with CFE Fund to launch this new program here in Akron."

Running a small business can be a critical driver of opportunity, helping entrepreneurs build financial stability and wealth for themselves, their families, and their communities but for too many people, their own finances are a barrier to making a strong start, saidJonathan Mintz, President and CEO of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund.Were thrilled to partner with Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and Principal Foundation on Small Business Boost, which will help entrepreneurs manage their personal finances to they can better access capital and generate wealth, and to share lessons learned from this pilot so that local governments across the country can build strong and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystems.

"Principal Foundation is committed to advancing financial security. Small businesses, notwithstanding the tremendous losses they suffered due to the pandemic, are still the engines for local growth and the pathway to financial security for many Americans. Thus, we are thrilled to support the work of CFE Fund and its Financial Empowerment Center partners to remove barriers and expand opportunities for entrepreneurs to launch businesses that meet community needs, improve local economies, and strengthen local communities," said Jo Christine Miles, director, Principal Foundation and community relations.

The CFE Fund received a $1 million grant from Principal Foundation to pilot Small Business Boost, and worked with Akron and other Financial Empowerment Center partners to connect local entrepreneurship and small business support services with FEC financial counseling. Akron entrepreneurs and small business owners may access Small Business Boost directly through the Akron Financial Empowerment Center. Akrons Small Business Boost pilot has integration partners, which include the Western Reserve Community Fund, Bounce Innovation Hub, the Minority Business Assistance Center at the Akron Urban League, and the Microbusiness Center at the Akron-Summit County Public Library, who will refer their clients to the Akron FEC for assistance. The Akron Financial Empowerment Center has already helped 2,568 residents reduce debt by $3,392,692 and build savings by $2,008,693.

Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs) offer professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service; the CFE Funds nationalFEC Public platformlooks to grow this movement across the country, including through the newly expandedFEC Academyentry point. First piloted in New York City under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2008, the FECs have worked with over 133,000 clients, helping them reduce individual debt by over $192 million, and increasing their families savings by over $38 million. There are currently over 30 cities that have launched, or are working to launch, a local Financial Empowerment Center initiative. ACFE Fund evaluationshowed that this program works even for residents with very low incomes and other complex financial challenges.

At the Financial Empowerment Centers, professionally trained FEC counselors help consumers with low and moderate incomes manage their finances, pay down debt, increase savings, establish and build credit, and access safe and affordable mainstream banking products. At the core of the FEC model is the integration of counseling into other social services, including housing and foreclosure prevention, workforce development, prisoner reentry, benefits access, domestic violence services, and more Small Business Boost is an example of one such targeted integration. Through the Small Business Boost pilot, Akron FEC counselors will support business owners and entrepreneurs in addressing personal financial challenges that present barriers to success in building wealth through business ownership. In addition, Akron FEC counselors will receive significant training on the relationship between personal finance and business growth, how to navigate entrepreneurial ecosystems, and how to drive business outcomes through improving personal finances.

About the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund)

The CFE Fund supports municipal efforts to improve the financial stability of households by leveraging opportunities unique to local government. By translating cutting-edge experience with large scale programs, research, and policy in cities of all sizes, the CFE Fund assists mayors and other local leaders to identify, develop, fund, implement, and research pilots and programs that help families build assets and make the most of their financial resources. The CFE Fund is currently working in over 100 cities and counties representing 75 million people, and has disbursed over $59 million to city governments and their partners to support these efforts. For more information, please visitwww.cfefund.org or follow us on Twitter at@CFEFund.

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With Support From Principal Foundation And The Cities For Financial Empowerment Fund, Akron Announces New Small Business Boost Initiative - Downtown...

CHICAGO, Ill. -- On March 18, 2022, the three nationwide credit reporting agencies (NCRAs) Equifax (NYSE: EFX), Experian(LON: EXPN), and TransUnion(NYSE: TRU) announced significant changes to medical collection debt reporting to support consumers faced with unexpected medical bills. These joint measures will remove nearly 70% of medical collection debt tradelines from consumer credit reports, a step taken after months of industry research.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, two-thirds of medical debts are the result of a one-time or short-term medical expense arising from an acute medical need. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and a detailed review of the prevalence of medical collection debt on credit reports, the NCRAs are making changes to help people to focus on their personal wellbeing and recovery.

Effective July 1, 2022, paid medical collection debt will no longer be included on consumer credit reports. In addition, the time period before unpaid medical collection debt would appear on a consumers report will be increased from 6 months to one year, giving consumers more time to work with insurance and/or healthcare providers to address their debt before it is reported on their credit file. In the first half of 2023, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion will also no longer include medical collection debt under at least $500 on credit reports.

The companies' CEOs provided a joint statement on the decision to change medical collection debt reporting:

Medical collections debt often arises from unforeseen medical circumstances. These changes are another step were taking together to help people across the United States focus on their financial and personal wellbeing, said Mark W. Begor, CEO Equifax; Brian Cassin, CEO Experian; and Chris Cartwright, CEO TransUnion. As an industry we remain committed to helping drive fair and affordable access to credit for all consumers.

For more information, please visit: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

About Equifax

At Equifax (NYSE: EFX), we believe knowledge drives progress. As a global data, analytics, and technology company, we play an essential role in the global economy by helping financial institutions, companies, employers, and government agencies make critical decisions with greater confidence. Our unique blend of differentiated data, analytics, and cloud technology drives insights to power decisions to move people forward. Headquartered in Atlanta and supported by more than 13,000 employees worldwide, Equifax operates or has investments in 24 countries in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, visit Equifax.com.

About Experian

Experian is the world's leading global information services company. During life's big moments from buying a home or a car to sending a child to college to growing a business by connecting with new customers we empower consumers and our clients to manage their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime.

We have 20,000 people operating across 44 countries, and every day we're investing in new technologies, talented people, and innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Learn more at http://www.experianplc.com or visit our global content hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from the Group.

About TransUnion

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences, and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

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Experian

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TransUnion

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Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion Support US Consumers With Changes to Medical Collection Debt Reporting - insideARM.com

The partnership unlocks targeting across high-quality publisher inventory without the use of third-party cookies and device IDs.

RESTON, Va., March 22, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Neustar Inc., a TransUnion company, today announced a partnership with Permutive to enable trusted connections between advertisers and publishers by bridging the gap between consumer identity data and a privacy-first web.

The partnership brings together the Neustar Fabrick data connectivity platform within the Permutive Audience Platform for advertisers and publishers to collaborate securely without the use of third-party cookies or device IDs. The partnership safeguards advertiser and publisher first-party identity data to bring addressability, transparency and privacy to digital advertising.

"This partnership unlocks the connection between leading publishers and advertisers by delivering addressable advertising that scales while safeguarding publisher data and reinforcing their direct business," said Steve Francolla, Head of Partnerships at Permutive. "Permutives Audience Platform powers the leading Publisher Cohort Infrastructure on the open web. Extending Neustar Fabrick into cohorts allows publishers to meet advertisers' demand for their audiences in a secure environment. This partnership is the first integration of this kind at Permutive and paves the way for a more responsible web."

With this partnership, advertisers and publishers can work together to build and activate their desired audiences at scale via Publisher Cohorts across high-quality, premium publisher inventory. Publisher Cohorts are a privacy-preserving approach to activation that groups like-minded users based on similar characteristics and behaviors - without identifying individuals.

Advertiser audiences are activated as Publisher Cohorts through Permutives Audience Platform in real-time. This approach improves accuracy and meaningfully addresses consumer privacy. Advertisers will benefit from the wealth of publisher first-party data, real-time audience insights, and transacting on privacy-focused infrastructure. Publishers will benefit from building revenue from trusted, direct connections to advertisers while maintaining control of their data.

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"For the first time, publishers and advertisers can execute highly accurate audience targeting campaigns without the use of cookies or mobile ad IDs," said Steve Silvers, SVP of Product at Neustar, a TransUnion company. "Buyers and sellers can transact using valuable consumer insight without fear of data leakage, or loss of scale, and which meaningfully addresses privacy considerations given the changing landscape."

Sign up here to begin testing this solution today. The solutions offers high-quality addressable inventory that sits behind billions of impressions every month and outperforms campaigns built from third-party data - driving brand metrics such as uplift, intent, and consideration.

ABOUT TRANSUNION (NYSE: TRU)

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionable picture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good. A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences, and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people. http://www.transunion.com

ABOUT NEUSTAR

Neustar, Inc., a TransUnion company, is a leader in identity resolution providing the data and technology that enable trusted connections between companies and people at the moments that matter most. Neustar offers industry-leading solutions in marketing, risk and communications that responsibly connect data on people, devices and locations, continuously corroborated through billions of transactions. Learn how your company can benefit from the power of trusted connections. https://www.home.neustar

About Neustar Fabrick

Neustar Fabrick is the data connectivity platform underlying Unified Identity and Unified Analytics, that provides marketers with the identity linkages, privacy-protections, and data connections they need to maintain and grow their marketing and analytics capabilities in a privacy centric, post-ID marketing environment. Learn more at https://www.home.neustar/fabrick

About Permutive

Permutive is built on the core principle of responsible marketing, which includes privacy, consent and transparency. Its Audience Platform empowers publishers and advertisers to responsibly activate audiences without any third-party access to personal data.

Permutive is listed in YCombinators Top 150 companies of all time and is trusted by the worlds largest publishers and advertisers, including News Corp, Hearst, BuzzFeed, Penske Media, Future plc, The Guardian, Vox Media, Insider, Hubert Burda Media and Cond Nast International.

Find out more at permutive.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220322005553/en/

Contacts

Neustar Marketing Solutions Media Erica McDonaldFinn Partners for Neustar646-202-9784Neustar@finnpartners.com

Permutive Media Bluestripe Group - Zoe Baptiezoe.baptie@bluestripegroup.co.uk +44(0)7796 406899

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Neustar and Permutive Partner to Provide Addressability, Scale and Privacy Through Publisher Cohort-Based Advertising - Yahoo Finance

We are living with a misconception that women are born to be homemakers, to manage the family, take care of their children. But, we ignore the other side of the women that they too have skills, knowledge and passion to work and grow ahead in life. This International Womens day 2022, we celebrated with the tagline Break the Bias and we are celebrating the ideas, concepts, believes, practices which encourage equal, equitable participation of women like men. But practically, things are not that easy to follow. Because, in all the parts of the world, the women are still neglected, ignored, underpaid, abused and what not. In this patriarchal society women needs are undermined as if they are not equal to their male counterparts. The empowerment and autonomy of women as well as the improvement of their economic, social, political status is highly important as it is essential for the achievement of the sustainable development. To break the bias its necessary to open avenues for women education, awareness, economic independence as women empowerment is possible through achieving the above goals.

In different parts of the world women are threatened and faced challenges on the grounds of health and their well-being as a result of being overburdened with work along with their lack of involvement, decision making power, influence and lack of power. In many cases, a woman in spite of doing a job is bound to execute all the household chores while a man being in job enjoys some freedom, space as there is no extra burden of work on him like on a woman. Many educated wives are forced to put an end to their careers, many are mentally and physically tortured for not giving birth to a male child, and many are physically abused. If nobody is there to stand for her, the time has come that she must come forward for herself. It has been observed that in most of the cases if a woman is earning then her husband and other family members give her importance while in majority of cases housewives are vulnerable to all types of abuses and exploitations. Many real stories of exploitations are buried under the social pressure when a woman has to live digesting all the ugly things that happens with her. Those who raise their voices, fight are sometimes opposed by many and supported by less.International womens day is gaining momentum, but despite a great deal of progress, women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence. Women are underrepresented in power and decision making roles, in education they dont receive full advantages, of health they dont get all the benefits, receive unequal pay for equal work. If we treat women like this, our country wont develop, our future generation will not get a suitable atmosphere to grow, our countrys economy will stumble and our social development will be obstructed. Before everything gets upside down we can foster gender equality through 5Es.

Education is must for girl child. The parents must save money not for the marriage of the daughters, but for the education and career growth of the daughters. It should be the first priority. If girls are educated, nothing can stop them to compete with men and education will open avenues for their careers. It will make them more aware and sensitized of their rights, they will be able to understand the legal benefits available for them, and education will help them to pursue bright careers ahead. If something wrong happens with them, they will gather courage to fight back, to take actions against crimes and to raise their voices against injustice. It will make them more powerful. Hence, girl child education must be promoted, encouraged and all the parents must understand its importance.

Economic independence is another weapon which can make women more empowered, and every girl must be oriented to follow her dream job or to follow some sort of income generating/entrepreneurial activities which can make her economically independent. If women are economically independent, they can be assets for self, for own family as well as can contribute towards nation building. It can enhance the quality of living among women, they wont have to depend upon their spouses and ask for money for their small needs which often creates dispute among husbands and wives which leads to domestic violence cases. Being economically independent a woman can lead a better and healthy life, can take better care of her children.

Enable women through knowledge, information, skill enhancement, leadership and capacity building to make them competent enough to follow their dreams, to take decisions for their betterment, growth and development. If the women are equipped with all the skills those are required for their growth, for being fearless, daring, to be independent then nothing can beat them.

Encourage women participation be it politics, decision making, policy formation for women, be it government programmes meant for their benefits, just let them participate through different channels, platforms and forums. Encourage maximum participation of women, let them speak; let them take decision for their own benefits. I must say, government should come forward with ideas, programmes that can lead to maximum women participation. They should be encouraged to join in various government and private jobs, positions that can give them new identity; their knowledge, skills can be utilized in various ways which can ensure some income for them, women who are new mothers or who have small kids must be given opportunities to work from home. Our government, CSR units, NGOs, private companies must come together to make our country a better place for women.

Emphasize the roles played by women, consider the hard work done by them, praise them, and appreciate them for the roles they play both at personal and professional spheres. Because, most of the time they are underrated, underestimated and often misunderstood. If we dont highlight, emphasize all the values they add to our family, society then we are blocking their paths. Its the responsibility of all the stakeholders those who are partners in the process of development to think about equal and equitable participation of women in all the spheres.

If the girls, the women of our country are educated, economically independent; knowledge and skill wise equipped, aware and sensitized then it will be easy to break all the barriers, bias and even easier it will be to imagine a better place for women by making them more powerful, by increasing leadership among them and by making them economically empowered.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

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The 5 Es to break the bias and promote women empowerment - Times of India

Not a year goes by without the European Union inadvertently rewriting its own General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), from the e-Privacy Regulation all the way to the Digital Markets Act. While the political agenda of the day may motivate those changes, bridging the gap between multiple disciplines is becoming increasingly important. Absent that, the EU risks letting its gold data protection standard turn rusty.

Four years ago, the GDPR came into force, and was the fruit of intense negotiations to achieve a careful balance between protecting individuals data and leaving breathing room for innovation. For businesses and public bodies handling personal data, three important principles sit at the heart of GDPR: transparency (say what you do), accountability (do what you say), and user empowerment (let users control their data).

Fast forward to the present day, new EU proposals and laws are set to fundamentally disrupt Europes data protection rulebook in all kinds of different ways. While those proposals and laws often explain that they are without prejudice to the GDPR, a closer look reveal laws which (i) selectively choose certain parts of GDPR and purposely omit others, (ii) miss important data protection safeguards, (iii) openly conflict with Europes data protection rules, and (iv) upset the careful balance the GDPR strikes between innovation and data protection.

A common theme across new proposals is the generalization of pop-up consent boxes in all kinds of scenarios. Following some of the latest language circulated in various proposals, users could be confronted with consent obligations to:

This is a non-exhaustive list. Suffice to say that the frustration that people are experiencing with cookie banners is nothing compared to the tsunami of consent boxes thats about to hit European shores. While some of those proposals are designed to disable large tech companies business models, requiring consent for every bit of innocuous and expected processing would equally disable effective data protection. Each and every one of us know that the proliferation of consent forms for every new website we visit is counterproductive. Not only does the proliferation of consent boxes degrade the user experience, it numbs people into clicking onto whatever is presented to them first, without any real sense of empowerment or meaningful transparency. Users that have empowered themselves with privacy enhancing browsers, technologies, or plugins would have to suffer this consent fatigue every time they visit a service.

Consent mechanisms are a useful tool for users in certain situations, when the service does not already offer privacy enhanced options, or when they could not reasonably expect the processing to take place. But as data protection authorities put it, [the EUs data protection framework] does not exclude the possibility, depending on the context, of other legal grounds perhaps being more appropriate from both the [companys] and from the [individuals] perspective. The GDPR indeed contains other grounds of processing, each with their own conditions, safeguards, and limitations, alongside a comprehensive set of contractual, organisational and technical obligations for companies to comply with, and different user control mechanisms for each ground of processing.

A narrow cut-and-paste of GDPR misses the broader picture and does in fact prejudices Europes data protection framework. To put it bluntly, if consent was the silver bullet to protect users from harmful data processing, the GDPR wouldnt be 99-Articles long.

Several recent proposals seek to facilitate public bodies access to various kinds of data, including personal data, to fight against illegal content online or ensure the safety of products sold online for instance.

In an ideal world, those proposals should meet a number of conditions set out in Article 23 GDPR, including the identification of the purpose of the disclosure, safeguards to prevent unlawful use or further disclosure, the identification of the risks for individuals and the categories of personal data processed, etc.

In reality, none of those proposals meet the GDPR conditions for lawful access to personal data held by companies.

Take for example the Data Act proposal which allows public bodies to request access to personal data for an undefined range of purposes in the absence of specific legislation in Article 15(c). While the proposal does attempt to provide some high level safeguards to prevent abuse and unlawful access, public bodies have full discretion to decide for which purpose and public interest they may obtain personal data. Further, the draft Data Act does not define the categories of personal data involved, nor does it spell out clear retention periods or measures that public bodies should take to safeguard the rights and freedoms of data subjects.

Yet, the Data Act scores better than the proposed General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) which does not seem to even consider the personal data and security implications when market surveillance authorities seek to access interfaces of online marketplaces, or require online marketplaces to facilitate data scraping from their platform under Article 20(5) and (6).

Under Article 31 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), vetted researchers and potentially vetted not-profit bodies would be able to get access to data necessary to conduct research on systemic risks. A similarly broad provision applies for the DSA enforcement agencies to monitor and assess compliance with [the DSA]. A handful of paragraphs do provide minimum requirements about who could qualify to receive data from platforms, but the exact conditions under which data may be shared with vetted researchers would have to be spelled out in a delegated act without adequate legislative scrutiny.

This is probably the most worrisome development where competition and industrial policy objectives openly clash with users data protection rights. Under the GDPR, users in Europe are entitled to request their data to be moved from one service to the next, regardless of the service provider. However, the Data Act prohibits users from moving their data to one of the companies designated as a gatekeeper under the DMA. Since the GDPR makes no such exception, companies sending and receiving personal data at the users request would have to decide whether to break the Data Act or the GDPR.

Other proposals such as the proposed EU Artificial Intelligence Act suggest reinventing the GDPR wheel, including how companies should assess AI technologies involving personal data processing that may create a high risk for users.

All these developments raise important challenges for companies to comply, and for users to enjoy meaningful protection of their personal data. No matter how well-intended the motivations behind all those proposals may be, the repeated attempts to rewrite GDPR is likely going to cast doubt on Europes ability to adopt laws that can withstand the test of time and, ultimately, its global normative influence.

While the European Data Protection Supervisor is leading efforts to bridge the gap across multiple disciplines to ensure effective enforcement in the digital world, similar efforts need to be pursued from the outset of each legislative proposal as Europes web of digital regulation continues to grow.

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New Proposals Weaken the EU Data Protection Gold Standard - Disruptive Competition Project