Pepco Holdings, Inc. To Sign Diversity Contracting Agreement

Friday, February 06, 2009 11:55 PM

(Source: BUSINESS WIRE)Voluntary Memorandum of Understanding Sets Goal of 25% Diversity in Procurement
Pepco Holdings, Inc.

Media Contact:

Clay Anderson, 202-872-2705

canderson@pepcoholdings.com

or

Investor Contact:

Donna Kinzel, 302-429-3004

donna.kinzel@pepcoholdings.com

Joseph M. Rigby, President and Chief Operating Officer of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POM), will join several corporate executives and representatives from a group of Maryland jurisdictional public utility companies during a Model Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony today in Annapolis, Maryland. The ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. at the Miller Senate Building in the President’s Conference Center (Rooms East I and II) on 11 Bladen Street.

The MOU requires signatories to aspire to contract 25% of their total procurement with minority, women and service-disabled veterans, along with handicapped/sheltered workshops.

Rigby, who has 30 years of experience in the public utilities industry and oversees the day-to-day operations of Pepco, Delmarva Power and the Atlantic City Electric Company, will sign the document on behalf of PHI and will be joined during the ceremony by PHI Vice President of Safety & Strategic Services Hallie Reese and other representatives from the corporation which is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“I am pleased that PHI has been a strategic partner in the development of this voluntary Memorandum of Understanding,” Rigby said. “I appreciate the opportunity to reaffirm both Pepco and Delmarva Power’s long term commitment to advancing contracting opportunities for diverse businesses by signing this important document.”

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) scheduled the ceremony during the public hearing to discuss the PSC final report. The hearing is the culmination of ongoing negotiations which began last July between the Utilities and the State of Maryland in matters of supplier diversity.

The initial voluntary MOU, which was signed in 1993, essentially required that utilities develop plans and implement activities designed to provide minority and women-owned businesses with a full opportunity to compete for the utilities procurement of good and services. This later evolved to include both veteran and service- disabled businesses. The new voluntary MOU restructures the voluntary agreement to develop plans to maximize opportunities for inclusion of diverse suppliers as prime contractors and as sub- contractors. A requirement for interim reporting in August 2009 has also been included in the new Model MOU.

The final report of the Working Group consisting of 32 utilities and Commission staff was initially sent to the Commission in November as a no-consensus document. Last month, Pepco, BGE, Washington Gas and Allegheny Power agreed to a revision of the MOU and a continuation of the formal Work Group. The work of the Commission and the Utilities will continue under a Commission sanctioned Working Group of utility supplier diversity representatives and Commission staff.

Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POM) is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving about 1.9 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey. PHI subsidiaries Pepco, Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric provide regulated electricity service; Delmarva Power also provides natural gas service. PHI provides competitive wholesale generation services through Conectiv Energy and retail energy products and services through Pepco Energy Services.

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3019550

Scholarship promotes women in video-game industry

By Blaine Kyllo

A new scholarship aims to encourage women to consider a career in the video-game industry. The $30,000 Women in Games scholarship will be awarded to a student entering the Vancouver Film School’s one-year game-design program.

Su Skerl, a producer at Vancouver’s Hothead Games, told the Straight that such initiatives are important because women are underrepresented among game developers. On Sunday (February 8) at the school, Skerl will take part in a panel discussion on women in the industry, as part of the annual Game Design Expo.

“Women are interested,” Skerl said by phone. “We are seeing more women game designers and programmers, and we’re seeing women managers.”

However, Skerl added, “there’s still some catching up to do.”

According to Krissie Franco, executive vice president of production at Santa Monica’s Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, only 14 percent of people working in the video-game industry are female. One reason for the disparity is that, until recently, girls haven’t grown up playing games in the same numbers as boys, Franco told the Straight.

“They [boys] understand there is a great industry to work in,” said Franco, who will be one of Skerl’s fellow panellists. “There are not as many girls who see that as an opportunity.”

But things are changing, Franco said, because today more girls play video games. Having female role models in the industry also helps, she said.

The Women in Games scholarship covers tuition and materials such as books and software.

http://www.straight.com/article-199627/scholarship-promotes-women-game-industry

EPA’s Brownfields Program Grant Recipients January 2009

Information on January 2009 EPA grant recipients:

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/09jtgrants/index.htm

Brownfields Job Training Grantees announced on January 15, 2009

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

$2.6 Million for Brownfields Environmental Job Training

Contact: Latisha Petteway, (202) 564-4355 / petteway.latisha@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. – Jan. 15, 2009) Thirteen communities in 12 states will share $2.6 million in job training grants geared toward cleaning up contaminated properties and turning them into productive community assets. EPA’s Brownfields Program is awarding grants of $200,000 each to non-profit organizations, workforce investment boards, and state and local governments. The grants will teach environmental assessment and cleanup job skills to individuals living in areas near brownfields sites in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

“EPA’s Brownfields Program is helping revitalize and restore neighborhoods nationwide,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “These grants will help community members convert contaminated land into sources of public pride.”

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $25 million in brownfields job training funds. More than 4,000 people have completed training programs, with more than 3,000 obtaining employment in the environmental fields, earning an average wage of $13.84 per hour. The program is designed to ensure that the economic benefits derived from brownfields redevelopment remain in the affected communities. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and communities around the country clean up and revitalize brownfields sites.

EPA’s brownfields program encourages redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. Since the beginning of the program, EPA has awarded more than 1,400 assessment grants totaling approximately $337 million, 240 revolving loan fund grants totaling more than $233 million, and 530 cleanup grants totaling approximately $99 million. EPA’s brownfields assistance has attracted more than $12.7 billion in private investment and helped create more than 53,000 jobs.

Information on January 2009 grant recipients:

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/09jtgrants/index.htm

Information on brownfields job training grants:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm

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The EPA Grant Awards Database contains a summary record for all non-construction EPA grants awarded in the last 10 years plus grants that were awarded before that time that are still open.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oarm/igms_egf.nsf/HomePage?ReadForm