Connect with us

Technology

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

Published

on

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

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/empower-leads-foster-care-services-for-all-children-and-families-in-the-metroplex-east-region-302077462.html

SOURCE EMPOWER

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Technology

EPG Publishes Inaugural ESG Report, Establishing Baseline for Sustainable Global Expansion

Published

on

By

SINGAPORE, April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — EPG today released its 2025 ESG Report, outlining its sustainability approach and performance across global operations as it scales internationally.

Environmental EPG achieved full compliance with applicable environmental regulations, with 100% of waste treated and disposed of. The company completed its inaugural greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, encompassing Scope 1, Scope 2, and key Scope 3 categories, establishing the foundation for its emissions management strategy and long-term decarbonization roadmap.

Social Female represented 31% of total employees, and 85% of employees recruited locally in Malaysia hold managerial positions. EPG maintained a diversified supply chain, with approximately 47% of suppliers based outside of mainland China.

Governance As of the date of this press release, the EPG Board of Directors includes two female directors, representing 22% of board members. The Board convened two meetings with 100% attendance.

As EPG matures its ESG framework, the company is forming a dedicated ESG Committee to oversee this progress. ESG management systems will be embedded into existing and planned facilities, starting with its Malaysia manufacturing plant currently under construction. EPG will also extend these standards through its supply chain at its upcoming Shanghai partner conference.

“Scaling globally only means something if we scale responsibly,” said Alick Wan, EPG Founder and Chairman. “We see an opportunity to redefine what sustainable infrastructure looks like for the AI era — proving that high performing infrastructure can also carry light footprint. We believe modular is how the industry gets there.”

EPG is proud to have contributed to the book Greener Data, Volume III, launching on Earth Day 2026. The chapter shared EPG’s philosophy on how modular construction reduces on-site waste, lowers embodied carbon, and enables full lifecycle sustainability, making the case that responsible scaling and commercial ambition are not in conflict.

Following approximately $200 million in Series B and B+ financing, EPG will keep strengthening company-wide ESG governance and scale its modular approach across an expanding international footprint.

Read the full report: https://www.epg-module.com/list-27-1.html

Contact: communications@epg-module.com

About EPG

EPG is a Singapore-headquartered provider of modular and prefabricated data center infrastructure, powered by dual R&D centers in Singapore and Shanghai and advanced manufacturing hubs in Malaysia and China. With over 20 years of engineering expertise, EPG delivers innovative and sustainable solutions for hyperscale, cloud, and enterprise deployments across APAC, EMEA, and other global markets.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/epg-publishes-inaugural-esg-report-establishing-baseline-for-sustainable-global-expansion-302746582.html

SOURCE EPG Singapore Pte Ltd

Continue Reading

Technology

Simpli5 Announces Platform Expansion Designed to Close the Gap Between Self-Awareness and Team Action

Published

on

By

Behavioral intelligence leader addresses the knowing-doing problem that leaves most assessment investments unrealized

AUSTIN, Texas, April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Simpli5, the behavioral intelligence platform that powers team effectiveness at organizations including LinkedIn, Kaiser Permanente, and Notion, today announced a significant expansion of its platform aimed at solving one of the most persistent challenges in enterprise learning and development: the knowing-doing gap.

While behavioral assessments have proliferated across the Fortune 500, the vast majority of users never return to their insights after initial onboarding — leaving significant organizational investment unrealized. The upcoming Simpli5 release is engineered specifically to close that gap, translating one-time self-awareness into an ongoing team practice embedded in the flow of daily work.

“Self-awareness that lives in a report is just data. Self-awareness that lives in your daily relationships is transformation,” said Karen Wright Gordon, Founder and CEO of Simpli5. “We built this because we knew the highest-value moments in our platform were sitting unused for too many users. These features are about closing that gap without adding friction.”

The expansion introduces a suite of interconnected capabilities designed to keep behavioral insights present in the flow of daily work — accessible at the moments that matter most, and creating reinforcing loops that grow in value as organizational adoption scales.

Unlike point-in-time assessments, Simpli5 is engineered to compound in value over time. Each connection made, each insight applied, and each colleague activated increases the network intelligence available to every user on the platform. The upcoming release is designed to accelerate that compounding effect.

Full feature details and availability will be announced in the coming weeks.

About Simpli5

Simpli5 powered by 5 Dynamics is a behavioral intelligence platform built on the science of five natural work energy phases: Explore, Excite, Examine, Execute, and Evaluate. Unlike static assessment tools, Simpli5 is a living team intelligence platform that deepens in value as adoption scales across an organization. Its AI coaching product, SenSai, delivers personalized behavioral insights at the moment of need.

For more information, visit simpli5.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/simpli5-announces-platform-expansion-designed-to-close-the-gap-between-self-awareness-and-team-action-302746293.html

SOURCE Simpli5

Continue Reading

Technology

SK hynix Begins Mass Production of 192GB SOCAMM2 ‘Setting a New Standard for AI Server Memory Performance’

Published

on

By

–     Mass production of 192GB high capacity products designed for the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform
–     Maximizes power efficiency by featuring high density DRAM based on the latest 1cnm process
–     Company to closely collaborate with NVIDIA to solve bottlenecks in AI infrastructure and provide optimal performance

SEOUL, South Korea, April 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SK hynix Inc. (or “the company”, www.skhynix.com) announced today that it has begun mass production of the 192GB SOCAMM2, a next-generation memory module standard based on the 1cnm process (sixth-generation of the 10-nanometer technology) LPDDR5X low-power DRAM.

SOCAMM2[1] is a module that adapts low-power memory – which was previously used mainly in mobile products like smartphones – for server environments. It is designed to be a primary memory solution for next-generation AI servers.

[1]SOCAMM2 (Small Outline Compression Attached Memory Module 2): An AI server–optimized memory module based on LPDDR. It offers a slim form factor and high scalability, while its compression connector enhances signal integrity and allows for easy module replacement

SK hynix emphasized that the 1cnm based SOCAMM2 product that is now in mass production delivers more than double the bandwidth with over 75% improved power efficiency compared to conventional RDIMM[2], providing an optimized solution for high performance AI operations.

[2]RDIMM (Registered Dual In-Line Memory Module): DRAM module for server/workstation that includes a register or buffer chip to relay address and command signals between the memory controller and DRAM chip in a memory module

In particular, the company noted that its SOCAMM2 products are designed for NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform.

SK hynix expects the new SOCAMM2 product will fundamentally resolve the memory bottlenecks encountered during the training and inference of large language model (LLM) with hundreds of billions of parameters, thereby playing a pivotal role in dramatically accelerating the processing speed of the overall system.

The company stated that with the AI market shifting focus from inference to training, SOCAMM2 is gaining significant attention as a next-generation memory solution capable of operating LLMs with low power consumption. To meet the demands of its global Cloud Service Provider (CSP) customers, SK hynix has not only been providing a supply portfolio, but also stabilized its mass production system early on.

“By supplying the 192GB SOCAMM2, SK hynix has established a new standard for AI memory performance,” Justin Kim, President & Head of AI Infra (CMO, Chief Marketing Officer) at SK hynix said. “We will solidify our position as the most trusted AI memory solution provider, through close collaboration with our global AI customers.”

About SK hynix Inc.

SK hynix Inc., headquartered in Korea, is the world’s top-tier semiconductor supplier offering Dynamic Random Access Memory chips (“DRAM”) and flash memory chips (“NAND flash”) for a wide range of distinguished customers globally. The Company’s shares are traded on the Korea Exchange, and the Global Depository shares are listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Further information about SK hynix is available at www.skhynix.com, news.skhynix.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sk-hynix-begins-mass-production-of-192gb-socamm2–setting-a-new-standard-for-ai-server-memory-performance-302746711.html

SOURCE SK hynix Inc.

Continue Reading

Trending