Business, Free News Articles

Financial Advisor Jennifer Oliverio co-hosts one of Edward Jones’ Centennial celebrations in Pueblo Colorado

PUEBLO, Colo. -- St. Louis-based financial services firm Edward Jones celebrates its Centennial, marking a century of transformative growth and the positive impact it has made for clients, colleagues, communities, and society. This year and beyond, Edward Jones' more than 50,000 colleagues across North America will join in activities that celebrate this monumental milestone and set the stage for the continued growth of the firm's impact in the next 100 years.

"Since Edward D Jones Sr. opened the doors of our firm 100 years ago, our focus has been helping people connect to their purpose and achieve things in their lives they might not have known were possible," said Edward Jones Managing Partner Penny Pennington, the sixth leader in the firm's history.

This year, as part of the milestone, Edward Jones associates have traveled throughout the country to select cities that have been significant to the firm's roots. Pueblo and Edward Jones have a long meaningful history together. The Firm opened its first office here in 1960 and today has six Edward Jones Financial Advisors helping clients reach their financial goals.

One of the early investments that Edward Jones made in the community was the telegraph wire. That wire connected Pueblo across 1500 miles of Midwestern states to their St. Louis, MO Headquarters. Not only was the wire instrumental for the advancement of serving clients, it was also an important tool for sharing timely information during critical events.

Pueblo's own Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center hosted the firm's Corporate Centennial Celebration tour. The Arts Center has served as the arts and culture heartbeat in Pueblo and its surrounding communities for 50 years!

For the event, Pueblo's own Veteran Financial Advisor Jennifer Oliverio facilitated a discussion for an internal broadcast, with Chief Transformation and Human Resources Officer, Kristin Johnson, and Senior Partner, Doug Hill. The special guests in attendance were Edward Jones Managing Partner, Penny Pennington and General Partner Kevin Alm.

Hosts and special guests celebrated the long and impactful history together that Edward Jones and Pueblo have shared.

For more information, visit: https://www.edwardjones.com/us-en/financial-advisor/jennifer-oliverio

Related link: https://www.edwardjones.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles, Regional Events, Restaurant, Hotel and Hospitality

Register for CREATE Restaurant Show 2022 in Denver

​DENVER, Colo. -- Big return of CREATE Restaurant Technology event in downtown Denver. The Kiosk Association is a returning sponsor (three years now) - Sponsors this year are Johnsonville, Coca-Cola, and Tyson. Participants include iHop, Nations Restaurant News (NRN), Noodles, Denny's, Wendy's and many more top tier speakers.

Registration info is here - https://create.nrn.com/create-experience/.

Supporting sponsors include Revel, Stratcache, the Kiosk Association (KMA), Keurig/Dr. Pepper and Presto to name some.

Date: September 19-21, 2022

Location: Sheraton Denver

Are you a restaurant executive wanting to attend? We can help with a free pass ($500 value). Send an email to info@kioskindustry.org with your information.

CREATE: The Future of Foodservice connects together the most exciting restaurant leaders - from the biggest brands and the most exciting emerging brands - through live virtual sessions, on-demand educational resources and a one-of-a-kind in-person event in Denver. Thousands of CREATE members have already leveled up their leadership, made authentic connections and reignited their businesses.

* Digital All-Access Pass

* Join Us in Denver

* Explore On-Demand Library

RESOURCES AT A GLANCE:

* AGENDA

* Hotel Reservations

* Event Pricing & Packages

* Become a Sponsor

* Health & Safety

SPONSORS:

* Johnsonville

* The Coca-Cola Company

* Text Pete

* Tyson

restaurant technology Create Sponsors

SESSIONS:

Tuesday 1:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.

ASK THE EXPERTS:

Technology innovation to drive digital sales and improve customer experience

Speakers: Scott Boatwright,

Chief Restaurant Officer,

Chipotle Mexican Grill

Sponsor: Kiosk Association

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

* What's the future holds for restaurant tech and digital innovation

* How technology can help create better, more meaningful restaurant jobs

* How the softening economy will impact the restaurant labor market

For more information contact info@kioskindustry.org or visit https://kioskindustry.org. Since 1996 for 26 years serving the self-service technology market.

For a complete list of verticals visit The Industry Group - https://industrygroup.org/.

Related link: https://kioskindustry.org/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles, Reports and Studies

Critical Defect Rate Declined in Q1 2022 Per ACES Quality Management Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report

DENVER, Colo. -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced the release of its quarterly ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report covering the first quarter (Q1) of 2022. The latest report analyzes post-closing quality control data derived from ACES Quality Management & Control® software.

Notable findings from the Q1 2022 report include:

* The overall critical defect ended Q1 2022 at 1.93%, representing a .02% decline from Q4 2022.

* Declining volumes have helped stabilize lender processes, keeping defects at bay, but signs are starting to emerge that the credit box is widening in the hunt for volume.

* Defects in the Income/Employment category continue to remain high.

* The share of appraisal-related defects fell in Q1 2022 after rising in the prior quarter, but signs indicate lenders should pay special attention to this area going forward.

* Purchase and refinance shares remained unchanged from the prior quarter. Conventional loan share continued its multi-quarter trend of decline, with FHA loans filling the void and VA loan share also on the rebound.

* Purchase defects increased specifically I the FHA category, which is expected given purchase loans' dominance in review share and the increase in FHA loans.

"Despite an overall decline in the critical defect rate for Q1 2022, the Income/Employment category remains a glaring problem. Lenders are finding this area a difficult one to rectify, and with staffing changes and new products coming online, it is more important than ever that QC managers get granular findings and feedback to their production group," said ACES Executive Vice President Nick Volpe. "Additionally, as lenders expand the credit box to win the fight for volume, they must be careful not to stretch too far and further exacerbate defects in this category."

Findings for the Q1 2022 ACES Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report are based on post-closing quality control data derived from the ACES Quality Management and Control® benchmarking system and incorporate data from prior quarters and/or calendar years, where applicable. All reviews and defect data evaluated for the report were based on loan audits selected by lenders for full file reviews.

"While the defect increases in three of the four 'core underwriting' categories are cause for concern, it was not all 'doom and gloom' for Q1 2022. Out of the 11 primary loan defect categories ACES tracks, five showed considerable improvement over last quarter, and none more so than the Documentation category, which dropped 37% from 14.57% to 9.09," added Volpe. "This is a tangible example of the importance of quality control reporting. With quality control and quality assurance testing, lenders can course correct and improve the overall quality of their mortgage originations."

Mortgage QC Industry Trends Reports are available for download, free of charge, at https://www.acesquality.com/resources/reports.

About ACES Quality Management

ACES Quality Management is the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry. The nation's most prominent lenders, servicers and financial institutions rely on ACES Quality Management & Control® Software to improve audit throughput and quality while controlling costs, including:

* 60% of the top 50 independent mortgage lenders;

* 8 of the top 10 loan servicers;

* 11 of the top 30 banks; and

* 1 of the top 3 credit unions in the United States.

Unlike other quality control platforms, only ACES delivers Flexible Audit Technology®, which gives independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions the ability to easily manage and customize ACES to meet their business needs without having to rely on IT or other outside resources. Using a customer-centric approach, ACES clients get responsive support and access to our experts to maximize their investment. For more information, visit www.acesquality.com or call 1-800-858-1598.

Related link: https://www.acesquality.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles, Software, VAR and IT Consulting

EnergyCAP Expands Executive Leadership Team in Denver, Colorado

DENVER, Colo. -- EnergyCAP, a pioneer in energy and sustainability enterprise resource planning ("ERP") software, today announced the appointment of two additional executive leaders based in Denver, Colorado. These new leaders have extensive backgrounds in leading high tech - growth organizations.

"Our mission is to empower energy and sustainability leaders with actionable data to manage consumption, reduce their carbon footprint, and drive savings," said EnergyCAP CEO Tom Patterson. "To accomplish this mission at the scale we desire, we needed seasoned leaders with experience leading high-performing teams in periods of accelerated growth."

EnergyCAP is pleased to announce two new leaders to its executive team:

* Bill Bakken - Chief Customer Officer

Bill Bakken joins EnergyCAP to advance the CAPture Services BPO and Customer Success and Support teams, to ensure we deliver value to our customers, create meaningful partnerships, and deliver an exceptional customer experience. Bakken brings over twenty-two years of leadership experience rapidly scaling multiple SaaS, managed services, and hosting services businesses.

Prior to joining EnergyCAP, Bakken served as COO at SambaSafety, developing multiple business functions, including establishing the Customer Success team. In previous leadership roles, Bakken was responsible for scaling BPO services business while improving customer retention.

* Jessica Hobbs - Vice President, People & Culture

Jessica Hobbs joins EnergyCAP to lead the human resource, people and culture strategy for the organization; promoting an inclusive and engaged culture and workforce, developing leaders and employees, and growing and retaining top talent to support accelerated growth.

Hobbs has over twenty years of experience in Human Resources in a variety of industries and growth companies. She is passionate about developing high performance cultures and cultivating employee growth and development.

"We're thrilled to welcome Bill Bakken and Jessica Hobbs to the executive leadership team," Patterson shared. "At EnergyCAP, our people are everything. As we continue to expand, we remain committed to developing, hiring and growing the most talented and value-driven people we can find."

About EnergyCAP, LLC

EnergyCAP is the leading energy and sustainability ERP, empowering customers with full control and understanding of their energy and sustainability data to reduce their carbon footprint and drive savings. For over forty years, thousands of public and private institutions have been using EnergyCAP to streamline accounting processes, reduce resource consumption, and identify opportunities for sustainable operations. EnergyCAP helps customers who are drowning in paper bills, manual processes, and cumbersome spreadsheets and enables them to execute, analyze, and report on the energy and decarbonization projects needed to create a more sustainable world.

Visit https://www.energycap.com/ to learn more.

Related link: https://www.energycap.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles, Software

Financial Center First Credit Union Selects ACES Quality Management & Control to Improve Consumer Loan Quality

DENVER, Colo. -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced that Financial Center First Credit Union (FCFCU) has selected ACES' flagship audit platform ACES Quality Management & Control® Software to support quality control (QC) audits for FCFCU's consumer lending channels.

"As a credit union, delivering value back to members is of the utmost importance, and part of that equation is ensuring loan quality is of the highest standards," said ACES CEO Trevor Gauthier. "ACES enables FCFCU to easily assess and improve the quality of its consumer lending production, thus upholding its commitment to excellence in member service."

ACES supports FCFCU's quality assurance, quality control and internal audit processes across all its consumer lending channels. ACES flexible technology allows FCFCU to track loan quality and effectively and quickly identify, communicate and remediate exceptions with ease.

"ACES has significantly improved the ability of our internal quality assurance program to identify, communicate and remediate exceptions quickly for both new member accounts and our consumer lending division," said Jennifer Rue, chief risk officer at FCFCU.

About FCFU

For 69 years, Financial Center First Credit Union has been serving its members and the community of Central Indiana. FCFCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit, co-operative whose members receive financial benefits in the form of lower loan rates, higher savings rates, and lower fees than banks. For more information, visit https://www.fcfcu.com/.

About ACES Quality Management

ACES Quality Management is the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry. The nation's most prominent lenders, servicers and financial institutions rely on ACES Quality Management & Control® Software to improve audit throughput and quality while controlling costs, including:

* 60% of the top 50 independent mortgage lenders;

* 8 of the top 10 loan servicers;

* 11 of the top 30 retail banks; and

* 1 of the top 3 credit unions in the United States.

Unlike other quality control platforms, only ACES delivers Flexible Audit Technology®, which gives independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions the ability to easily manage and customize ACES to meet their business needs without having to rely on IT or other outside resources. Using a customer-centric approach, ACES clients get responsive support and access to our experts to maximize their investment. For more information, visit https://www.acesquality.com or call 1-800-858-1598.

Related link: https://www.acesquality.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Awards and Honors, Business, Free News Articles

ACES Quality Management’s Sharon Reichhardt selected as a 2022 Insider by HousingWire Magazine

DENVER, Colo. -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced Executive Vice President of Operations Sharon Reichhardt has been honored by HousingWire magazine in its annual Insiders awards program.

"Each year, the HW Insiders award represents a versatile group of unsung heroes who are vital to the smooth functioning of their organizations," HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler said. "While they may operate behind the scenes, the tireless work of these honorees has a huge impact on the larger housing ecosystem. We are honored to recognize this impressive group of industry experts."

HousingWire selected Reichhardt for this year's Insiders award based on her leadership and contributions to the ACES Client Success team. As a former ACES client, Reichhardt has leveraged her unique perspective to develop client-centric, scalable solutions that drive long-term organizational success. Her former hands-on experience as an ACES administrator also contributed to the development of the Certified ACES Administrator Program (CAA), which was announced in late May at the inaugural ACES ENGAGE event.

"From her alignment with our customers' needs and subsequent delivery of functional improvements to the ACES platform to her willingness to mentor everyone around her, Sharon is a valued member of the ACES team," said ACES CEO Trevor Gauthier. "Having been in our clients' shoes, she brings a level of empathy and camaraderie to those interactions, which makes our clients feel that she's one of them and endears her that much more to them."

To view the complete list of winners, visit http://housingwire.com/.

About ACES Quality Management:

ACES Quality Management is the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry. The nation's most prominent lenders, servicers and financial institutions rely on ACES Quality Management & Control® software to improve audit throughput and quality while controlling costs, including:

* 60% of the top 50 independent mortgage lenders;

* 8 of the top 10 loan servicers;

* 11 of the top 30 retail banks; and

* 1 of the top 3 credit unions in the United States.

Unlike other quality control platforms, only ACES delivers Flexible Audit Technology, which gives independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions the ability to easily manage and customize ACES to meet their business needs without having to rely on IT or other outside resources. Using a customer-centric approach, ACES clients get responsive support and access to our experts to maximize their investment. For more information, visit www.acesquality.com or call 1-800-858-1598.

About HousingWire:

HousingWire is the most influential source of news and information for the U.S. mortgage and housing markets. Built on a foundation of independent and original journalism, HousingWire reaches more than 70,000 newsletter subscribers daily and 1 million unique visitors each month and has more than 5,000 members and event attendees. Visit www.housingwire.com or www.solutions.housingwire.com to learn more.

Related link: https://www.acesquality.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles, Restaurant, Hotel and Hospitality

The Kiosk Association August 2022: Restaurant Tech in Denver

​DENVER, Colo. -- See Kiosk Association in Denver, September 19-21 at the CREATE Show, the Future of Foodservice. We are sponsoring Ask the Expert with Chipotle and if you are a restaurant exec wanting to attend, we can save you $500 with a free pass. Just email info@kioskindustry.org with your details.

Coming up in November is Digital Signage Expo 2022 in Vegas. We'll be there in booth 617. Next month we are participating in a webinar on service and logistics with Pitney Bowes.

CONTENT:

* Feature article this month is Kiosk Privacy Is About To Get Far More Complicated. Evan Schuman looks at the healthcare segment and HIPAA considerations.

* On AVIXA is our article on Volta and it's over a billion views milestone for its EV charging stations

* Digital Menu Boards - a big deal announced on the selection of the global provider for digital menu board CMS provider for McDonald's (worldwide).

NEW GOLD SPONSORS:
* Samsung Displays
* Peerless-AV (see Volta EV Charging)
* AcquireDigital
* Star Micronics
* Pitney Bowes
* WelcomeWare
* IDmission

REGULATORY NEWS:

* The U.S. Access Board is releasing its scope of work (aka ANPRM) this month for all types of self-service including Point-Of-Sale. They will be accepting comments and all entities are encouraged to provide comments. Link (https://kioskindustry.org/regulatory-news-ada-kiosk-pos-kiosks-and-ev-charging-update/). Earlier they released guidelines for EV Charging to the ball rolling.

RECENT POSTS:
* Samsung Displays, Restaurant Technology is now a Gold Sponsor
* RFID Reader Technology with incentives for manufacturers
* Kiosk Privacy Is About To Get Far More Complicated - Feature
* Restaurant Technology - CREATE in Denver 9/19
* Kiosk Components - How To Select
* Senate Testimony on Accessible Federal Technology & Title III
* Telehealth Accessibility Guidelines HHS and DOJ
* OS Neutral Payment Devices for OS Agnostic Payment Kiosks
* Automated Cocktail Machine Tended Bar Coming to Denver
* Will EV Charging Infrastructure Be Ready for EV Charging?
* Kiosk Printers - Catalog of Thermal Printers
* Digital Signage CMS Platform - Version 7 by 22Miles
* Payment Kiosks - Multi-Processor Payment by Datacap & PAX
* EV Charging Design Recommendations by U.S. Access Board
* No Code Development Platform - For Any O/S - Intuiface

MORE INFORMATION:

For more information contact info@kioskindustry.org or visit https://kioskindustry.org/. Since 1996 for 26 years serving the self-service technology market. For a complete list of verticals visit The Industry Group (https://industrygroup.org/).

Related link: https://kioskindustry.org/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Education and Schools, Free News Articles, Software

Education reEnvisioned BOCES (Colorado) Selects Synergy Student Information System

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Edupoint® Educational Systems announced today that Education reEnvisioned BOCES has selected the company's industry-leading Synergy® Student Information System (SIS) for its own student data management needs as well as those of its member schools. The BOCES represents 12 schools serving 5,000 students.

Education reEnvisioned offers choice to Colorado families, authorizing and overseeing brick-and-mortar schools, online schools, and homeschool enrichment programs. The BOCES is driven by a belief in the importance of providing varied options to meet the diverse and unique needs of children and is the largest authorizer of online schools in the state. Member schools include multi-district online schools, brick-and-mortar schools, microschools, and homeschool enrichment programs that include areas such as music, art, and canyoneering.

Synergy SIS provides schools and districts with powerful tools for streamlining and automating processes, exceptional data access and reporting capabilities, extensive customization options, and best-in-class data security. The built-in TeacherVUE® Portal With Gradebook gives teachers a single place to access attendance and seating charts, a 360-degree profile of every student, assignments and grading, and built-in data analysis tools that facilitate tracking student progress, differentiating instruction, and responding quickly to students who require extra support.

The gradebook integrates with in-demand classroom tools such as Google for Education™ apps - including Google Classroom™ - and over 400 LTI learning apps. The ParentVUE® and StudentVUE® portals give parents and students unprecedented web and mobile access to grades, assignments, and communication with teachers.

Education reEnvisioned leadership began looking for a SIS after rapidly increasing enrollment challenged the cooperative's manual state reporting process.

"We needed a system that would enable us to seamlessly meet Colorado state reporting requirements," said Dan Snowberger, Director of Education Operations at Education reEnvisioned, "but we also have 12 schools with very different needs that will be using Synergy for student data management. We're not an organization that feels like everyone has to do exactly the same thing, so the platform's flexibility was key for us. We needed a solution that was fiscally responsible as well, and Synergy was affordable. Plus, Edupoint has an amazing team, which was a major factor in helping us decide."

As part of the seamless Synergy Education Platform ecosystem, Synergy SIS enables schools and districts to easily extend functionality to include online registration, MTSS, assessment, analytics, learning management, and special education management in a single platform that also features a unique suite of native, role-based mobile apps.

"With Synergy SIS, Education reEnvisioned BOCES is getting an extremely powerful and flexible student data management solution designed to support everyday needs and navigate both anticipated and unanticipated changes in the education landscape," said Bob Weathers, Founder and CEO at Edupoint. "We're pleased to welcome the BOCES to the Synergy family and look forward to working together to support the diverse needs of Colorado students."

About Edupoint Educational Systems:

For over 35 years, the leadership of Edupoint Educational Systems has provided well-designed, technologically advanced student data management systems that empower K-12 stakeholders to improve student achievement. Synergy Education Platform by Edupoint is an industry-leading student data management ecosystem built to fit the way educators already work. Synergy is unique among student data management solutions in providing an array of role-based mobile apps designed to give all stakeholders access to the tools they need when and where they need them. More than 5.5 million students use Synergy in 22 states.

Learn more: https://www.edupoint.com/

Related link: https://www.edupoint.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Business, Free News Articles

ACES Quality Management Executives selected to speak at Mortgage Bankers Association’s 2022 RMQA Conference

DENVER, Colo. -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced Executive Vice President of Compliance Amanda Phillips and Executive Vice President of Operations Sharon Reichhardt have been selected to speak at the upcoming Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Risk Management, Quality Assurance and Fraud Prevention Forum (RMQA) taking place September 11-13 in Nashville, Tenn.

Phillips will moderate "Examining Trends in Fair Housing, Fair Lending and Fair Servicing Compliance" on Tuesday, Sept. 13, from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. CT, which will focus on trends related to regulations across the industry to help lenders make the necessary adjustments and ensure compliance.

Reichhardt will also present on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon CT as part of the panel discussing "Using Data to Stop Today's Fraud Schemes." This session will focus on the data lenders should be examining, collection methods for obtaining that data and how to analyze the data to determine the best means of stopping today's fraud schemes.

"The ACES team is extremely proud to have two of our best and brightest internal experts speak at this year's RMQA," said ACES CEO Trevor Gauthier. "Amanda and Sharon are both highly regarded members of the ACES team and outstanding thought leaders, each possessing a wealth of knowledge in their respective fields. I look forward to hearing them share their insights and expertise with the mortgage industry's compliance and quality control professionals."

ACES is a Platinum sponsor for this year's RMQA conference. To learn more about ACES' suite of mortgage quality control and risk management tools, visit them at tabletop No. 5 during the conference or schedule time to meet with the team at sales@acesquality.com.

About ACES Quality Management:

ACES Quality Management is the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry. The nation's most prominent lenders, servicers and financial institutions rely on ACES Quality Management & Control® Software to improve audit throughput and quality while controlling costs, including:

* 4 of the top 5 and more than 50% of the top 50 independent mortgage lenders;

* 8 of the top 10 loan servicers;

* 11 of the top 30 banks; and

* 1 of the top 3 credit unions in the USA.

Unlike other quality control platforms, only ACES delivers Flexible Audit Technology®, which gives independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions the ability to easily manage and customize ACES to meet their business needs without having to rely on IT or other outside resources. Using a customer-centric approach, ACES clients get responsive support and access to our experts to maximize their investment. For more information, visit https://www.acesquality.com/ or call 1-800-858-1598.

Related link: https://www.acesquality.com/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022

Advertising and Marketing, Business, Environment and Ecology, Free News Articles

Social Media Campaign Promotes the Importance of Grasslands in the Americas

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- The Central Grasslands Roadmap community of organizations is embarking on an 8-week social media campaign called "Grasslands and You" that enlists the collective, coordinated voices of individuals and organizations to spread the word about the importance of grasslands and the benefits they provide. The announcement comes from Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, one of the Roadmap partners.

The Central Grasslands span hundreds of millions of acres across Sovereign Indigenous Nation Lands, Canada, the United States and Mexico, and are one of North America's largest and most vital ecosystems. Grasslands support critical environmental functions including water supply, soil health and biodiversity, and are also essential for agriculture, food security and supporting rural communities.

For example, healthy grasslands filter sediment, nutrients, and bacteria that end up in waterways, threatening fish and drinking water. Grasslands improve air quality and help mitigate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon and increasing resilience against drought, fire and wind erosion. Healthy grasslands also provide vital habitat for wildlife including grazing animals like bison and pronghorn as well as livestock.

"As grasslands disappear, so do many of the benefits they provide - and more than 50 million acres of grassland have been lost in the last 10 years," said William Bevil, Communications Director - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. "Many people are unaware of the benefits that grasslands provide or the implications of their declines and what it means to current and future generations.

A key engagement area for the Grasslands and You campaign is urban and suburban audiences, groups that are more likely to be geographically disconnected from grasslands and less aware of their personal relevance. The campaign features a collection of beautifully-designed graphics and accompanying messages, available in both Spanish and English, that were created to help inform and inspire connection and action. These materials are freely available for others to download and share on their personal and organizational social media feeds.

Organizations are invited to use Grasslands and You as an engagement tool to spread the word to their supporters, followers and fans to raise awareness about grasslands and learn more about what they are doing to support grassland conservation. Posts may include calls-to-action and provide ways for people to get involved-from volunteering, to making donations in support of conservation initiatives, and more.

Small, everyday actions can help, such as making grasslands-friendly consumer choices. Examples include buying bird-friendly meat from locally-owned, conservation-focused ranches and purchasing organically-grown produce to reduce the use of pesticides that can harm grassland pollinators.

Grasslands and You is the first of many outreach and engagement initiatives that the Central Grasslands Roadmap is pursuing in an effort to engage stakeholders far-and-wide. Roadmap partners are also leading important national policy and legislative initiatives, such as the North American Grasslands Conservation Act, which is anticipated to come before Congress for a vote in the near future.

Additional Information and Resources:

Grasslands and You campaign materials available at: https://www.grasslandsroadmap.org/grasslandsandyou

Grasslands and You Infographic (PDF):
https://www.birdconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CGRS-Grasslands-You-Poster-12x18-MAR2022.pdf

The Central Grasslands Roadmap:

The Central Grasslands Roadmap aims to guide and inform innovative and connected conservation for the benefit of grassland birds, pollinators and mammals, as well as to ensure viable human communities across the landscape of one of North America's most biogeographically unique areas. The Roadmap community includes a cross-section of leaders and experts that live and work in the Central Grasslands - including producers on working land, Sovereign First Nations and Indigenous Communities, federal, state and provincial agencies, foundations, industry, and nongovernmental organizations including; land trusts, conservation organizations, and academia. For more information: https://www.grasslandsroadmap.org/

About Bird Conservancy of the Rockies:

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies is one of 25 Roadmap planning committee member organizations. The Colorado-based nonprofit works to conserve birds and their habitats through an integrated approach of science, education and land stewardship. Their work extends from the Rockies to the Great Plains, Mexico and beyond. For more information: https://www.birdconservancy.org/

Related link: https://www.birdconservancy.org/

This news story was published by the Neotrope® News Network - all rights reserved. ID:NEO2022