Duke Energy is expanding its investment in local students and workforce development by funding 36 education and training programs – totaling nearly $600,000 – in southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. The grants, which are administered by the Duke Energy Foundation, will benefit and enhance educational programs focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), childhood reading proficiency and workforce development.

The Water Consortium, a global group of climate finance and sustainability organisations, has formally launched the new Water Infrastructure Criteria of the Climate Bonds Standard marking a major turning point in best practice for sustainable investment in water-based infrastructure and green/grey hybrid systems.

The final development phase extends the Criteria’s reach to cover nature-based and hybrid water infrastructure, such as wetlands and watersheds, that may be used for purposes of water collection, storage, treatment and distribution, flood protection and drought resilience.

Plastic pollution has become a trending topic over the past year. Companies have partnered with environmental organizations and nonprofits to upcycle plastic pollution, they have joined coalitions and launched a new initiative to address their supply chains – diverting plastic waste from our oceans. Plastic waste is such a critical issue, it was even the theme of this year’s Earth Day. With stakeholders from all industries working to decrease the impact of plastic pollutants, National Geographic kicked-off a multifaceted campaign leaning on its aptitude for storytelling in the hopes of reducing global reliance on single-use plastics.

After six years away from the workforce, Amanda Miranda returned to the engineering field through a Medtronic hiring initiative called Careers 2.0 – an initiative provides returnship opportunities for women in engineering after taking time away from the field. Amanda’s story is one of hundreds from around Medtronic that represent the company’s commitment to inclusion and diversity. Medtronic is being recognized for that commitment on DiversityInc’s Top 50 list.

The Taproot Foundation’s U.S. Pro Bono Summit is an annual gathering of leaders from across sectors and industries with a shared vision to make the talents and skills of the business community accessible to social change organizations. The 7th annual Summit was held in San Francisco on April 18 and 19.

JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU) today announced San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. as the next locations to receive free book vending machines as part of its annual Soar with Reading program. This award-winning literacy initiative tackles the issue of “book deserts” and provides access to age-appropriate books to children in underserved communities. To kick off the eighth year of Soar with Reading, JetBlue also announced a new partnership with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Every year on Comcast Cares Day, our employees get their hands dirty to give back to their communities – and this year was no exception. At so many of our 1,200 community service projects that were part of our 17th Comcast Cares Day, our employees and other volunteers – a record 115,000 turned out – worked to make a positive impact and inspire environmental responsibility in all we do.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools high school seniors Kirklin “Mack” Hopkins (17) and Kellen Stadler (18) send a clear message: A single second can have life-long consequences. Their poignant video, titled “It’s Not Fine,” is the winner of the Toyota TeenDrive365 Video Challenge, a national driver safety public service announcement competition, using the tools of storytelling to get through to young drivers.

Today, Walmart announced it has hired more than 200,000 veterans and promoted more than 28,000 to roles of greater responsibility since launching its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment five years ago. Recognizing the important skills and leadership abilities veterans possess, the commitment helps veterans find career opportunities at Walmart and aims to ease the sometimes difficult transition from active duty to civilian life. Walmart is now more than 80 percent of the way to reaching its goal of hiring 250,000 veterans by 2020.