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RudderStack unveils Profiles in partnership with AWS, enabling corporations to drive higher enterprise outcomes with their buyer information

Daily SF News — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 10:31:42 +0000

RudderStack Profiles enables companies to unify first-party data from every customer touchpoint into complete profiles, build ML user features, and deliver powerful customer experiences

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — RudderStack, the leading warehouse native customer data platform, today announced the release of RudderStack Profiles for AWS Redshift customers. RudderStack Profiles enables data teams to quickly build complete customer profiles in their warehouse, generate user features, and activate them to deliver powerful customer experiences.

RudderStack is the Warehouse Native CDP (PRNewsfoto/RudderStack)

Data teams are often overwhelmed by the complexity of collecting and unifying clean, first-party customer data to create a customer 360 and drive valuable use cases for every business team. The process can take months or even years and cost millions of dollars. RudderStack Profiles solves this problem by providing tools for data teams that automate the SQL grunt work and automatically build a full customer 360 table natively in AWS Redshift.

With RudderStack Profiles, data teams can reduce engineering costs and reallocate their most valuable resources to focus on delivering customer data use cases, not plumbing or cleaning data. They can also improve time to value for critical projects by building on a complete view of their customer in their warehouse. Plus, they can say goodbye to inflexible black box SaaS and configure RudderStack models that generate a customer profile table in their warehouse.

StatPearls, a leading professional healthcare education and technology company, eliminated data silos and disparate schemas by using RudderStack Profiles to build a warehouse native CDP on Amazon Redshift. Now they’re able to use granular user-level data to understand attribution, accurately calculate LTV, and increase return on ad spend (ROAS). Since implementing RudderStack Profiles, StatPearls increased customer retention by 1.7x and nearly quadrupled ad spend while maintaining positive ROAS.

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“Data from RudderStack helped our team turn marketing into a math problem,” said Mike Sperduti, Head of Engineering at StatPearls. “We know that when we spend X on a particular campaign, we are going to get Y yield over time.”

Unlike traditional Customer Data Platforms (CDP), RudderStack’s Warehouse Native CDP does not persist data and is built on top of your warehouse or data lake. With the introduction of Profiles, RudderStack now has a complete platform across each step of the Data Activation Lifecycle:

Collection: RudderStack’s Event Stream and Cloud Extract ETL pipelines make it easy to collect data from every website, app, or SaaS tool.
Unification: RudderStack’s Profiles feature leverages our standardized schemas to significantly reduce the time it takes to build a complete view of the customer, including an identity graph and rich customer features.
Activation: RudderStack’s Reverse ETL pipeline, real-time Profiles API, and 200+ integrations deliver complete customer profiles and user features to downstream destinations to trigger marketing automation, drive real-time analytics, or deliver personalized experiences.

“We’re excited to bring RudderStack Profiles to AWS Redshift. When Redshift users combine Profiles with our data collection and activation features, they can start driving better business outcomes with their customer data faster,” said Soumyadeb Mitra, Founder and CEO of RudderStack. “Profiles enables data teams to take full advantage of Amazon Redshift’s secure, reliable, easily scalable data warehouse while harnessing the power and flexibility of RudderStack’s Warehouse Native Customer Data Platform to deliver revenue growth and reduce cost.”

RudderStack and AWS are excited to see the success that customers have already achieved with RudderStack Profiles and look forward to helping more customers drive better business outcomes with their customer data.

RudderStack Profiles is now available to Enterprise Tier RudderStack customers on AWS Redshift. To learn more, read the blog post or schedule a demo with the RudderStack team.

About RudderStack

RudderStack is the leading warehouse native Customer Data Platform that’s purpose-built for data teams. We run on top of your warehouse or data lake and do not store data, alleviating security concerns, reducing cost, and unlocking the value of your warehouse investment. Hundreds of innovative companies like Stripe, Crate and Barrel, Priceline, and Footlocker trust RudderStack to collect and send their most valuable data to the tools and teams that need it. For more information, visit rudderstack.com.

CONTACT: Eric Dodds, eric@rudderstack.com, +18642703757

Cision

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SOURCE RudderStack

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RudderStack unveils Profiles in partnership with AWS, enabling firms to drive higher enterprise outcomes with their buyer information

Daily SF News — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:29:42 +0000

RudderStack Profiles enables companies to unify first-party data from every customer touchpoint into complete profiles, build ML user features, and deliver powerful customer experiences

RudderStack is the Warehouse Native CDP (PRNewsfoto/RudderStack)

Story continues

Collection: RudderStack’s Event Stream and Cloud Extract ETL pipelines make it easy to collect data from every website, app, or SaaS tool.
Unification: RudderStack’s Profiles feature leverages our standardized schemas to significantly reduce the time it takes to build a complete view of the customer, including an identity graph and rich customer features.
Activation: RudderStack’s Reverse ETL pipeline, real-time Profiles API, and 200+ integrations deliver complete customer profiles and user features to downstream destinations to trigger marketing automation, drive real-time analytics, or deliver personalized experiences.

RudderStack Profiles is now available to Enterprise Tier RudderStack customers on AWS Redshift. To learn more, read the blog post or schedule a demo with the RudderStack team.

About RudderStack

CONTACT: Eric Dodds, eric@rudderstack.com, +18642703757

Cision

SOURCE RudderStack

The post RudderStack unveils Profiles in partnership with AWS, enabling firms to drive higher enterprise outcomes with their buyer information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

RudderStack unveils Profiles in partnership with AWS, enabling firms to drive higher enterprise outcomes with their buyer information

Daily SF News — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 19:28:42 +0000

RudderStack Profiles enables companies to unify first-party data from every customer touchpoint into complete profiles, build ML user features, and deliver powerful customer experiences

Collection: RudderStack’s Event Stream and Cloud Extract ETL pipelines make it easy to collect data from every website, app, or SaaS tool.
Unification: RudderStack’s Profiles feature leverages our standardized schemas to significantly reduce the time it takes to build a complete view of the customer, including an identity graph and rich customer features.
Activation: RudderStack’s Reverse ETL pipeline, real-time Profiles API, and 200+ integrations deliver complete customer profiles and user features to downstream destinations to trigger marketing automation, drive real-time analytics, or deliver personalized experiences.

RudderStack Profiles is now available to Enterprise Tier RudderStack customers on AWS Redshift. To learn more, read the blog post or schedule a demo with the RudderStack team.

About RudderStack

CONTACT: Eric Dodds, [email protected], +18642703757

SOURCE RudderStack

The post RudderStack unveils Profiles in partnership with AWS, enabling firms to drive higher enterprise outcomes with their buyer information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

California Unveils $25 Million Calpine Carbon Seize Know-how Undertaking

Daily SF News — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 19:07:44 +0000

A $25 million project at a Calpine Corp. power plant near San Francisco will test a technology that could capture 95% of a plant’s carbon emissions, a process California officials say is critical to the state’s climate fight.

Carbon capture technology provokes fierce criticism from many environmentalists who consider it a license to keep burning fossil fuels rather than switch to cleaner energy sources. But at the unveiling of the Calpine project Friday, California’s top climate change regulator said some fossil fuel plants will still be needed to keep electricity service reliable as the state moves to eliminate its net carbon emissions by 2045.

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Newsom unveils plan to hurry up infrastructure in California

Daily SF News — Fri, 19 May 2023 15:36:27 +0000

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to introduce a sweeping bill of laws and sign an executive order Friday to facilitate the construction of transportation, clean energy, water and other infrastructure across California. This step is intended to capitalize on a cash injection from the Biden government to promote climate-friendly construction projects.

The proposal aims to shorten the procurement process for bridge and water projects, limit environmental litigation deadlines, and simplify approval of complicated developments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and elsewhere.

Overall, administration officials hope the package could accelerate project construction by more than three years and cut costs by hundreds of millions of dollars – efforts they say are needed to meet the state’s aggressive climate goals.

Newsom unveiled the proposal Thursday at an event in Sacramento, calling it “the most ambitious streamlining, licensing and judicial reform in our state in half a century.”

“This is a profound moment,” Newsom said.

Newsom is expected to formally release his 11-bill bill plan at a Friday morning news conference in Stanislaus County.

Administration officials said they want to integrate the package into the 2023-24 state budget, which has to be passed by both houses of the legislature by June 15. Lawmakers are currently negotiating the final details of the budget with Newsom’s office.

At the heart of Newsom’s plan is the California Environmental Quality Act — a polarizing 1970 statute that supposedly helps preserve the state’s natural beauty but is often criticized for putting needed housing, energy and transportation projects in litigation blocked.

The proposal makes no significant changes to the law, which requires officials, agencies and developers to fully consider and publicize a project’s impact on the existing environment. Rather, it seeks to limit the length of time that CEQA lawsuits can drag on in court.

The proposal aims to prevent lawsuits against certain projects in the water, transport, clean energy, semiconductor and microelectronics sectors from lasting more than nine months.

Eligible projects include the governor’s $16 billion plan to build a tunnel to transport water to southern California under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, water recycling and desalination plants, solar arrays, offshore wind farms and power transmission, according to government officials .

The idea is similar to existing practices that have helped speed construction of NBA arenas in San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as other major projects across the state.

Additional CEQA changes in the plan would give government agencies more control over deciding what is needed in a project’s official administrative records, overturning a recent Court of Appeals decision that required the inclusion of internal emails in those records. The litigation over the e-mail issue related to a large residential and commercial development in San Diego County lasted almost two years after it was approved.

For decades there have been debates about speeding up the state’s sluggish process of building critical infrastructure. Major reforms often foundered in the thicket of environmental, development, local government, and labor interests influential in the Capitol. Newsom said Thursday his administration had made an organized effort to get advocacy groups on board.

Gayle Miller, deputy director for policy at the state Treasury Department, told The Times that the plan offers a “sound approach” to addressing CEQA.

“We are not trying to destroy our environmental protection in California. But we’re definitely trying to say enough is enough,” Miller said. “We must move forward and transition the state to its clean energy future.”

Newsom said it’s important to make changes now because there is a projected $180 billion in state and federal funding available for infrastructure in California over the next decade, an amount increased by allocations from the President Biden-signed Infrastructure and climate change legislation is increased.

“It’s one of the most significant investments in California history,” Newsom said. “The only thing standing in our way is the world we invent.”

To kick-start this process, Newsom is expected to sign an executive order directing various government agencies to work together and form an infrastructure attack team, which will theoretically take care of projects that need to be completed and make sure they get to their destination come line.

The newly available federal money also includes many clean energy grants and other competitive grants. For California to win, it must show the federal government it can deliver, the governor said.

Newsom, a Democrat, said those investments would be at risk if talks in Washington about raising the debt limit collapsed.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said Republicans would agree to raise the limit only if Biden agreed to roll back certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which include ambitious climate plans and funding for infrastructure projects.

“If Kevin McCarthy has his way, that’s going to set us back,” Newsom said Thursday. “What he promotes would have a devastating effect on our progress.”

Other elements of the Newsom package would remove contractual barriers that government agencies encounter when starting and completing their projects.

Newsom wants to allow the State Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Transportation to use a more flexible contracting process for up to eight complex projects each, which could streamline construction and reduce logistical issues that cause delays. Another proposal would allow the transportation department to use a simpler contracting model that could shave months off a project’s schedule.

Departments could use these streamlining tactics to build bridges more quickly, upgrade dams, repair aqueducts, or maintain the state’s highway system. The package would also expedite three planned wildlife crossings along Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County.

The final part of Newsom’s plan would streamline Caltrans’ conservation efforts and approval of projects that affect endangered species or are in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

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Newsom Unveils Restorative, Rehabilitative Imaginative and prescient for San Quentin Jail

Daily SF News — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 00:01:10 +0000

By Katy St Clair
Bay City News

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday unveiled his plan to transform the San Quentin State Penitentiary into a facility where services and support are more important than punishment, naming the new model the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

The governor met with former and current prison staff and inmates, elected officials and advocates of criminal justice reform on Friday for a press conference at the prison announcing the project, which some are calling a Scandinavian approach to incarceration.

“I don’t call it a Scandinavian model,” Newsom said on Friday when asked about the comparison. “This is the California model. The California way, informed by best practices around the world.”

Newsom said he hopes to make San Quentin “the world’s pre-eminent institution for restorative justice.”

Under the new plan, San Quentin would hold only about 2,000 inmates who are serving lighter sentences, and transfer more than 500 inmates who have to spend more time on larger crimes, including those on death row, to other facilities.

The transition would happen by 2025, Newsom said, and he has pledged $20 million for it.

The so-called Scandinavian model emphasizes education, training and rehabilitation over punishment, with the idea that people should leave prison no worse than they came in. Newsom said some approaches have already begun in smaller prisons across the state, but this one would be the largest scale.

In San Quentin, the new model allows prisoners to learn lucrative trades to improve their chances of making it when they get out. Inmates can become plumbers, electricians or truck drivers.

Currently, San Quentin already has its own college program, an award-winning inmate-produced newspaper, and several other opportunities for enrichment.

State Senator Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, also shared his support for the new direction.

“We have put politics ahead of smart politics when it comes to our criminal justice system,” he said. “Newsom’s action today is not just about reform. It’s about changing lives. It’s about ending the prison pipeline that has impacted California’s communities of color. It’s about creating a path for whole families and a stronger future for this state. And it’s about saving taxpayers’ money.”

At the heart of the need for a new approach, both McGuire and the governor said, is the state’s 70 percent recidivism rate. And while he said his office was merely looking at global models of reform and would create its own model, he cited Norway’s 20 percent recidivism rate as an argument for restorative justice over simply emplacement of people.

When asked what challenges he faces in implementing the new model, Newsom jokingly replied.

“Fires, droughts, social unrest, pandemics?” he joked, adding, “Ron Desantis?”

Then he got serious.

“Interested people find excuses. Committed people find ways to get things done,” he said.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, spoke at the press conference in support of the program.

“For a couple of decades, we had the idea that we could be safer as a state,” he said. “If we took our inmates to the most remote parts of the state, if we could just send them out, separate them from their communities, separate them from us, separate them from their loved ones and family members, we’d be safer somehow.

“Actually, I think the exact opposite is needed,” Ting said.

San Quentin, located on prime Marin real estate overlooking the bay, is California’s oldest prison and was once home to the country’s largest death row prison. It currently houses about 3,300 inmates.

In 2019, Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in the state and ordered the death chamber in San Quentin to be dismantled.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, retransmission, or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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San Francisco Unified Faculty District unveils 10-year plan to restore and renovate faculties | Edy Zoo

Daily SF News — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 12:15:51 +0000

Photo ofCDCAtUnsplash

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) recently unveiled a 10-year plan to repair and renovate its schools and facilities after an assessment found many schools needed maintenance and upgrading. The plan comes after an assessment of SFUSD’s facilities revealed a need for $1.7 billion in 2022 to fund improvements and repairs.

The plan includes recommendations for all aspects of SFUSD’s more than 140 structures, from upgrading classroom technology and outdoor learning spaces to ensuring schools have secure water supplies and classroom security locks. In addition, affordable housing for educators is to be created and transitional kindergarten classes are to be expanded across the board.

The report highlighted numerous issues, including problems with HVAC and electrical systems, roofs, windows, furniture, plumbing, etc. For example, in December, the district discovered lead in some faucets at the Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School. Shortly thereafter, “unacceptable levels” of lead and arsenic were found in the school’s garden soil.

According to SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Matt Wayne, the plan aims to provide “comfortable and state-of-the-art learning spaces” for district students. However, he emphasized that modernization must meet the needs of students so that the whole child can come to school feeling supported, engaged and challenged.

SFUSD has a significant cluster of campuses in Mission/SoMa areas with high poverty rates. According to The San Francisco Standard’s analysis of United States Census Bureau data, 18.1% of SoMa households live below the poverty line, and 11.1% of Mission households live below the poverty line.

The district’s facilities department presented the plan to the board of education last week, which will continue to seek public feedback. The school authorities will receive the final draft plan on April 25th.

To fund a significant portion of the project, San Francisco voters must first approve a general commitment bond, most likely in 2024. This bond would help fund the repairs and renovations needed to provide students with modern, state-of-the-art learning spaces to provide .

Investing in school facilities is critical to providing students with a safe and comfortable learning environment. It also helps attract and retain qualified educators who want to work in schools with modernized facilities. The SFUSD plan is critical to ensuring all students have access to the resources and facilities needed to succeed.

SFUSD’s 10-year plan to repair and refurbish its schools and facilities is critical to providing students with comfortable and modern learning spaces. The plan addresses numerous issues, including issues with HVAC and electrical systems, roofing, windows, furniture, plumbing, etc. Although the plan will require significant funding, it is an investment in the future of San Francisco’s students and educators.

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San Francisco unveils taxpayer-funded open-air Christmas market that is change into dystopian hellhole

Daily SF News — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 03:35:16 +0000

A video shows that the Christmas market in downtown San Francisco is not so festive
The video was posted on social media channels by a concerned SF resident
It shows drug paraphernalia and people sleeping nearby
Promotional videos tell a different story and make the event a “family friendly” event.
A local resident who lives in the area said she feels forced to leave her home because of addicts
‘Winter Wanderland Holiday Village’ is located near the now closed Tenderloin Center

San Francisco’s taxpayer-funded open-air Christmas market, intended to be a healthy holiday getaway for families, is actually a dystopian hellhole besieged by the city’s famous drug addicts.

At least that’s what concerned residents living near the market have revealed to DailyMail.com, with one owner filming and posting on social media what she describes as a “horrific decline” in the area.

Her clip shows a homeless man under a blanket just a few yards from the Winter Wanderland market on the sunken Hallidie Plaza near City Hall.

The camera then pans down to the market itself, where two people dressed as stuffed animals perform on a small stage. Our camerawoman then zooms out to the left and films a man drinking from a bottle of brown liquor.

Winter Wanderland was established in Union Square in downtown San Francisco, just minutes from the now-closed Tenderloin Linkage Center. It was set up to help addicts get clean, but DailyMail.com soon revealed widespread illegal drug use had taken place.

The footage of the concerned mother-of-two stands in stark contrast to promotional material posted by holiday market organizers on social media channels, which described the event as “family-friendly”.

What was hoped to be a wholesome holiday getaway for families, San Francisco’s taxpayer-funded open-air Christmas market is actually a dystopian hellhole besieged by the city’s famous drug addicts. A promotional video from the organizers of the Winter Wanderland Holiday Village

In footage filmed by the concerned mother, viewers can see a person sleeping next to what appears to be a pile of clothes, with used syringes scattered among the belongings.

The video is then sped up to show their proximity to Hallidie Plaza and Powell’s Winter Wanderland Holiday Village BART station.

The 25-second video ends in an almost empty seat with two disguised people dancing on a stage – one wearing a snowman costume, the other a reindeer.

In a caption, the woman, who asked not to be named, wrote: “Misery, substance abuse, overdose, drug dealing and the mayor’s ‘Winter Wanderland’ at Hallidie Plaza and the Powell BART station in downtown San Francisco. Who is this charade for?’

However, promotional material uploaded to social media by the organizers of the Winter Wanderland Holiday Village shows a different, more elaborate version of events.

The video begins with a juggling performer accompanied by Christmas carols before panning to a group of children eagerly watching.

In the footage filmed by the concerned mother, viewers can see a person sleeping next to what appears to be a pile of clothes, with injections scattered among the belongings. The 25-second video ends in an almost empty space with two disguised people dancing on a stage – one wearing a snowman costume, the other a reindeer

The advert then cuts to a woman dressed as beloved child character ‘Minnie Mouse’ while wearing a COVID-safe face mask, with the caption ‘Balloon spin fun and face painting’ at the bottom of the screen.

The woman politely waves to viewers and says “Hello there” before the video ends at the festive Christmas tree display.

While preparing Christmas dinner for her family, the mother of seven-year-old twins told DailyMail.com about the “nightmare” her once-loved city has turned into.

“I’m a property owner just above this BART station in Powell,” she said.

‘[I’ve seen a] terrible drop since March 2020. It’s a nightmare, it’s all drugs.”

The San Francisco resident said she has a love-hate relationship with the city but was forced to relocate due to the deteriorating situation.

“We just made an offer for a house in Alameda that we can’t take anymore,” she said.

“I have a love-hate relationship with the city. I don’t want to move, but I have no choice.’

A man juggling to entertain families can be seen in the advertisement. A woman who appears to be dressed as a beloved Disney character, Minnie Mouse, also features in the promo, with a group of children eagerly watching

Union Square Alliance, with a $500,000 grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, installed Christmas trees, wreaths, snowflakes and other hanging ornaments, as well as a series of booths for on-site vendors.

The economic recovery in downtown San Francisco has been patchy, and 2021 has seen episodes of large-scale retail theft.

The city’s offices have the lowest occupancy rates of any major city as tech-savvy employees continue to work from home. This closed many businesses and left the streets eerily empty, allowing crime to spread.

The Union Square Christmas tree was hit by mischief and vandalism earlier in the month, but organizers weren’t worried about heading into the festive season.

San Francisco is run by a leadership that appears to have prioritized covering up the pervasive and deteriorating situation in its downtown area.

Their progressive, humanitarian self-image is at odds with legislation – even when it comes to solutions that save lives, such as controlling drug sales and use across the city.

The festive market is just a 15-minute walk from the now-closed Tenderloin centre, which was supposed to put addicts in touch with rehab facilities but was revealed by DailyMail.com to operate as a secret illicit drug use website and has since shut down.

The Tenderloin Center was opened by San Francisco Mayor London Breed earlier this year to help deal with the city’s ongoing drug crisis, and it cost about $22 million to operate.

The Tenderloin Center was opened by San Francisco Mayor London Breed (left) earlier this year to address the city’s ongoing drug crisis – some of the country’s most expensive to the taxpayer – are still riddled with human feces and drug needles littered

The site has often been called a “safe place” for addicts to “get high without getting robbed,” according to a person who used the center.

In the first four months of the center’s opening, only 18 of the more than 23,000 people it welcomed on the site are said to be referred.

Overall, less than one percent of visits ended with a “completed connection” to behavioral health programs.

City leaders, including Breed, now say the site was a “temporary solution” offered to avoid the more than 640 overdose deaths San Francisco experienced in 2021.

Despite their best efforts, 2022 has been almost as deadly as more than 500 people have died from drug overdoses in the California city. In 2021 there were 641.

Officials had also hoped the site would provide a place to deal with the homeless crisis the city has faced in recent months and years.

By some estimates, hundreds of people visited the Tenderloin Center while it was open, and more than 350 drug overdoses were reversed on the spot.

Mayor Breed originally committed just $10 million to the project, but it quickly rose to more than double that estimate.

In total, about 400 people were being assisted daily, according to the San Francisco Department of Health.

A large proportion of those who used the site used it specifically for shelter or food.

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Petroleum Affiliation unveils new HVAC coaching program

Thu, 26 Jan 2023 19:45:41 +0000

There are an estimated 40,000 job openings in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. An estimated 2,000 of those openings are in Pennsylvania.

To help address the ongoing need for HVAC technicians, the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association Technical Education Center (PPATEC) — the training arm of the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association — has created a 10-week HVAC & Energy Professional Program.

While open to anyone interested in pursuing the HVAC industry as a career, the PPATEC is reaching out specifically to military professionals that are making the transition to civilian careers or veterans looking to make a change — to let them know about the training option.

The newly-launched HVAC & Energy Professional Program offers a curriculum that is designed to give veterans the baseline skills they need to secure a job in the in-demand industry.

“On Veterans Day, we all take the opportunity to thank those who have served. Our organization is working to offer our veterans something in addition to gratitude: an opportunity for a secure future,” Ted Harris, the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association’s executive vice president, said in a statement.

The program offers veterans another key advantage, according to the association. The Pennsylvania Petroleum Association Technical Education Center is a Pennsylvania Department of Education-approved private licensed school. In an emailed response to questions, Harris added that because the organization is also a VA-approved training provider, it allows veterans to use their GI Bill benefits for qualified military service members.

“The GI Bill can cover their tuition cost and lodging expenses while they pursue their education — which is a benefit to both the student and the employer — if the student is already working for an HVAC company and wants to step up their technical capabilities,” he said in the emailed response.

Completion of the program provides graduates with an “immediate path” to a well-paying career, according to a press release. The average HVAC technician salary in Pennsylvania is $54,740. In addition, graduates of the program will have access to the Pennsylvania Petroleum Association’s 400 member companies — many of which are continually seeking qualified technicians.

The Pennsylvania Petroleum Association Technical Education Center also has a separate scholarship program to assist veterans and other students in completing the program with lower — or zero — out-of-pocket costs.

The program is new, having completed a successful “first run” in September. The initial session had four graduates who attended the inaugural session, according to Harris. Two of the participants were veterans. One of the veteran participants used his GI benefits to pay for his entire tuition. He graduated on a Friday and began his new career at Suburban Propane the following Monday, he added.

In addition, there were several technicians from some of the association’s member companies that attended “specific portions of our curriculum through the 10-week course.”

Each session can accommodate up to 14 students according to Harris, to allow for effective student-to-teacher interaction and allow for optimum contact with the equipment.

Currently, there are two, 10-week sessions scheduled in 2023 (starting Jan.15 and July 10), but Harris added that more sessions could be added based on demand from veterans and others interested in a heating and cooling career. He also added that the organization also plans to enlarge its hands-on learning areas in the coming months.

Individuals interested in the program are encouraged to visit https://ppatec.com/train/begin-your-career/ to learn more.

Training offered through the Middletown-based Pennsylvania Petroleum Association Technical Education Center is specifically tailored for energy marketers in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Member companies contribute to coursework to help design training programs that offer students a direct, hands-on learning experience that results in strengthening the professional skills of their employees and ensuring they maintain proper industry certification.

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Astellas Unveils Plans to Open New Biotech Campus in South San Francisco

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:48:35 +0000

New 154,000-square-foot facility will provide a West Coast center with a focus on research, innovation, and commercial collaboration across corporate and program areas

TOKYO other SAN FRANCISCO, July 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji YasukawaPh.D., “Astellas”) today announced plans to create an integrated biotechnology campus in South San Francisco as its West Coast innovation and research center. The new 154,000-square-foot building at 480 Forbes Boulevard will allow for the co-location of several Astellas business units and functions currently located independently throughout the san francisco area.

Astellas plans to create an integrated biotechnology campus in South San Francisco as its West Coast innovation and research center.

The new innovation and research center will include employees across research, technical operations, medical and development, commercial, and relevant administrative support functions. Astellas will invest approximately $70 million to create the new state-of-the-art facility, which will provide lab and co-working spaces to accommodate future growth as it advances a range of innovative cell and gene therapies for patients with limited or no treatment options, including rare diseases and cancer.

“By uniting our business units in the Bay Area, we are creating a dedicated West Coast center in the vibrant South San Francisco corridor alongside other leaders in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry,” said Yoshitsugu Shitaka, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Astellas. “Similar to the Astellas Biomedical Innovation Hub located in the greater Boston area, this new facility will foster even greater levels of collaboration among our world-class, multi-disciplinary teams working in cell and gene therapies, development of business opportunities and all those who support our endeavors to create value for patients.”

Astellas expects to complete the building and be operational in summer 2023. Astellas will be the sole occupant of the new building and will spend the next year equipping the interior with state-of-the-art research labs, office spaces, and other amenities specifically designed to accommodate the West Coast employees of Astellas Gene Therapies, Xyphos Biosciences, business development, Rx+® Business Accelerator, and the planned future growth within those units. In addition, the co-location of these businesses allows for more efficient use of space by combining the lab and office facilities into one new building, compared to current independent locations.

Astellas’ VISION is to be at the forefront of healthcare change and to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. Under this vision, Astellas is focused on bringing life-changing cell and gene therapy treatments to patients suffering from diseases that lack treatment options.

Astellas has already reflected the impact from this matter in its financial forecast of the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

About Astellas
Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+® healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/en.

About Astellas Gene Therapies
Astellas Gene Therapies is an Astellas Center of Excellence developing genetic medicines with the potential to deliver transformative value for patients. Our gene therapy drug discovery engine is built around innovative science, a validated AAV platform, and industry leading internal manufacturing capability with a particular focus on rare diseases of the eye, CNS and neuromuscular system. We will also be advancing additional Astellas gene therapy programs toward clinical investigation. We are based in san franciscowith manufacturing and laboratory facilities in South San Francisco, Calif.and Sanford, NC

About Xyphos Biosciences, Inc., to Astellas Company
Xyphos Biosciences Inc., located in South San Francisco, Calif., is at Astellas Center of Excellence for Cancer Cell Therapy developing medicines to cure solid tumors with a precision, off-the-shelf “Standard Pharmaceutical like Cell Therapy” platform, which can be easily tailored to the needs of individual patients and adapted to multiple disease targets. Utilizing a deep understanding of cancer biology and the tumor microenvironment, we are developing a flexible and versatile platform to direct the body’s immune cells to target single or multiple tumor antigens to fuel a stronger immune response, while avoiding immune rejection. By combining our ACCEL technology, a universal CAR (chimeric antigen receptor), and Universal Cells’ Universal Donor Cells (UDC) technology, we aim to create a unique platform that offers greater speed and flexibility compared to currently approved chimeric antigen receptor cell therapies and expands potential value for as many cancer patients as possible.

Cautionary Notes
In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management’s current assumptions and beliefs in the light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas’ intellectual property rights by third parties.

Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.

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