Technology

EMPOWER Leads Foster Care Services for All Children and Families in the Metroplex East Region

Published

10 months ago

March 1, 2024

The Child Welfare Collaborative Begins Managing Foster Care in Nine North Texas Counties

DALLAS, March 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — EMPOWER, a nonprofit child welfare collaborative, now provides foster care case management, kinship and reunification services for all children and families in the Metroplex East region, after entering Stage II of the Community-Based Care (CBC) contract with the State of Texas on March 1, 2024. EMPOWER is led by Texas Family Initiative LLC (TFI) and is supported by local providers in North Texas, including CK Family Services, Jonathan’s Place, The Bair Foundation and Pathways Youth and Family Services. EMPOWER will serve as the lead agency for the nine-county area that includes Dallas, Collin, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Hunt, Rockwall, Kaufman and Navarro counties.

“Our team has worked tirelessly to prepare for the final phase of CBC readiness and get ready to provide children and their families in the Metroplex East region with the most effective services to promote safety, permanency and overall well-being,” says Shirley Dwyer, Texas Family Initiative Chief Executive Officer (CEO). “We are thankful to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for their loyal partnership in ensuring a seamless transition.”

EMPOWER was awarded the CBC contract by the State of Texas in February 2023, and entered a multi-stage process to take over services for the region. Stage II is the phase of implementing and transforming the services and care provided to children and families in the nine-county region through February 29, 2028, the term of this contract.

CBC is an innovative approach to traditional foster care services because it utilizes local nonprofits to outsource out of home placement and case management services. Under CBC, a single entity is responsible for coordinating and delivering all child welfare services in a specific geographic area. The model allows for the CBC contractor to draw on existing community-based local resources and support to meet the unique and individual needs of children and their families. CBC’s goal is to have children placed in foster care close to their home so that they may thrive and remain connected to their family, friends, school and community. In order to promote family preservation and reunification, EMPOWER works with families to identify the root causes of their involvement with the child welfare system and provides the support needed to solve those issues.

“Our team is committed to the safety and well-being of children and families in Metroplex East and we are dedicated to providing them with the best care available,” says Dr. Linda Garcia, Senior Vice President of EMPOWER. “We will also continue to educate our local communities on the crucial role foster parents play to fill the significant need for more foster homes.”

The Metroplex East contract is one of the largest CBC awards in U.S. history, and the fifth region in Texas to transition to CBC services. There are nearly 2,000 foster children in the Metroplex East region.

Since September 1, 2023, EMPOWER has provided placement services in the Metroplex East Region. During that time, all children referred by the State have been placed in a licensed placement and have not stayed in unlicensed child watch. For the first time in over five years, all children in the Metroplex East Region are placed in licensed placements.

According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), from September 2021 to February 2022, on average there were 2,456 children in DFPS conservatorship in Texas’ Metroplex East region. Around 79% of those foster children were placed within the same Metroplex East region, and 37.8% were placed in their home county.

There are many local children in foster care in need of a safe, loving place to call home. To learn more about how individuals and families can help these children in need, please visit www.3empower.org.

EMPOWER:
EMPOWER is a unique partnership between Texas Family Initiative LLC, CK Family Services, Jonathan’s Place, Bair Foundation, Pathways Youth and Family Services that works together to serve some of our most vulnerable children and families. This partnership has almost 190 years of combined child welfare experience and will further our community’s pursuit of caring for our children and families with integrity and success. To learn more, please visit www.3EMPOWER.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Allison Chaney
allison@culverpr.com
214-352-5980

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SOURCE EMPOWER

Technology

Inspur Smart Healthcare Participates in GITEX IMPACT 2024 Exhibition

Published

32 minutes ago

December 23, 2024

DUBAI, UAE, Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — From October 13th to 16th, the GITEX IMPACT 2024, Dubai’s Carbon Neutrality and Technology Exhibition, was held in Dubai. Organized by the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Tourism of the United Arab Emirates, the exhibition focused on the forefront of sustainable development technologies, encompassing a wide range of sectors including construction, oil and gasoline, energy, and healthcare. It stands as one of the largest technology exhibitions in the Middle East and globally. Inspur Smart Health was invited to participate, showcasing its core products and cases of empowering the digital and intelligent transformation of the healthcare industry at the exhibition.

At the exhibition site, Inspur Smart Health introduced a series of products and solutions to government agencies and medical institutions, including the Health and Medical Big Data Intelligent Platform, Inspur Medical Industry International Trade Platform, Integrated Healthcare and Long-term Care Platform, Health Examination Center Solutions, Medical Group Information Management Platform, Internet Hospitals. These presentations comprehensively demonstrated Inspur Smart Health’s product innovation advantages and service capabilities.

Through this “debut” in the Middle East and even the global market, Inspur Smart Health has laid a solid foundation for further expanding its overseas “circle of friends” and establishing international brand recognition. In the future, Inspur Smart Health will continue to leverage its technological advantages in big data and artificial intelligence, constantly enhance the internationalization level of its products and solutions, deepen the exploration of overseas markets, and contribute to the thriving development of the global medical digital industry.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/inspur-smart-healthcare-participates-in-gitex-impact-2024-exhibition-302338199.html

SOURCE Shandong Inspur Intelligent Medical Technology Co., Ltd.

Technology

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND AMAZON MUSIC EXPAND GLOBAL RELATIONSHIP

Published

32 minutes ago

December 23, 2024

Reflects New Era in Music Streaming, Including Artist-Centric Principles and Furthering Authentic Engagement Between Artists and Fans

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, and Amazon Music today announced an expanded global relationship that will enable further innovation, exclusive content with UMG artists, and advancement of artist-centric principles including increased fraud protection.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND AMAZON MUSIC EXPAND GLOBAL RELATIONSHIP

This reflects the two companies’ shared commitment to advancing and safeguarding human artistry, while ensuring UMG’s artists achieve their commercial potential through the service’s continued product enhancements and exclusive content that elevate authentic engagement between artists and fans.

UMG and Amazon Music will work closely to explore new and enhanced product opportunities designed to benefit artists and enrich the experience of their fans. UMG will also collaborate with Amazon Music as it continues to expand in audio, including further innovation in audiobooks, audio and visual programming, and its investment in livestreamed content that has connected millions of fans with their favorite artists across all genres and corners of the world. UMG and Amazon will also work collaboratively to address, among other things, unlawful AI-generated content, as well as protecting against fraud and misattribution.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman & CEO, Universal Music Group said, “We are very excited to advance our long-standing, excellent partnership with Amazon Music that marks a new era in streaming—Streaming 2.0. We appreciate Amazon Music’s deep commitment to the interests of our artists, and look forward to progressing our shared artist-centric objectives through product innovation and accelerating growth of their service.”

Steve Boom, VP of Audio, Twitch and Games for Amazon said, “UMG has always been a collaborative partner to Amazon Music, and as we continue to invent and introduce more artist-to-fan connections through our product and exclusive content, we’re redefining what it means to be a streaming service. We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with UMG which will enable us to partner on meaningful new ways for artists to deepen their engagement with fans around the world, while working together to protect the work of artists, songwriters and publishers.”

Notes to editors:

About Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group exists to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information, visit www.universalmusic.com.

About Amazon Music
Amazon Music is an immersive audio entertainment service that connects fans, artists, and creators through music, podcasts, and culture. Amazon Music brings fans closer to what they love, with curated and personalized playlists, artist livestreams, artist merch, and Amazon Exclusive podcasts. Prime members get access to over 100 million songs in shuffle mode, All-Access playlists, plus the largest catalog of top ad-free podcasts, included with their membership. Customers can upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited for full, on-demand access to 100 million songs in HD, a growing catalog of Ultra HD and Spatial audio, and the world’s largest selection of audiobooks from Audible. Anyone can listen to Amazon Music by downloading the free Amazon Music app, or wherever they listen to music including Alexa-enabled devices. Learn more at amazon.com/music.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-music-group-and-amazon-music-expand-global-relationship-302338093.html

SOURCE Universal Music Group

Technology

Repurchase of Loomis’ shares during the fourth quarter 2024 completed

Published

32 minutes ago

December 23, 2024

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Loomis AB has through the repurchase program that was resolved and communicated on October 28, 2024, repurchased 590,100 shares. Loomis AB’s holding of own shares thereby amounts to 2,514,653 shares, corresponding to 3.54 percent of the outstanding shares in the company. The total number of shares in Loomis AB, including the company’s own shares, amounts to 71,000,000.

For information about transactions in the repurchase program, please see:
https://www.nasdaq.com/european-market-activity/news/corporate-actions/repurchase-of-own-shares.

This press release is also available on the company’s website, www.loomis.com.

For more information, please contact:

Jenny Boström
Head of Sustainability and IR
jenny.bostrom@loomis.com
+46 79 006 45 92

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/loomis-ab/r/repurchase-of-loomis–shares-during-the-fourth-quarter-2024-completed,c4086142

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/51/4086142/3187900.pdf

Repurchase of Loomisâ€™ shares during the fourth quarter 2024 completed

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/repurchase-of-loomis-shares-during-the-fourth-quarter-2024-completed-302338207.html

SOURCE Loomis AB