Daily Business Report: Thursday, June 17, 2021
San Diego International Airport gets new
carrier — Swoop — and international route
Canadian-based ultra-low-cost carrier Swoop announced it will offer nonstop service from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada via Edmonton International Airport to San Diego International Airport from Oct. 31 to April 28, 2022. The flight will initially operate twice weekly on Thursdays and Sundays and increase to three times weekly, with Tuesdays added between Dec. 21 and April 26, 2022. This service will be the first-ever nonstop service between Edmonton and San Diego.
Established in 2018 as an independent subsidiary of the WestJet Group of Companies, Swoop is Canada’s ultra-not-expensive airline. Its mission is to make travel more affordable and accessible for all by providing unbundled fares that put travelers in control of purchasing only the products and services they desire. Swoop’s fleet consists of nine Boeing 737-800 NG that have carried more than three million travelers in their three years of operation.
“It’s great news that San Diego International Airport will be getting a new carrier and a new international route in October,” said Kimberly Becker, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority president and CEO. “We were in talks with Swoop pre-pandemic and are happy they are still committed to providing nonstop service between Edmonton and San Diego. We anticipate this route will be popular for Canadians as they look to escape the snow and take in the Southern California sunshine.”
San Diego chamber hosts statewide
conversation on advancing women’s leadership
The San Diego Regional Chamber on Friday will host a statewide, virtual conversation as part of its All Our Talent: Women on Boards & Commissions to bring business and city leaders together to address the dynamic challenge of increasing the number of women serving at the board level of private sector, nonprofits, and local government commissions. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria will deliver a special opening message.
The half-day program (8:30 a.m. to noon) will include two panel discussions with business leaders from around the state, advocates, and experts to share what is working, and where we can identify talented women from diverse backgrounds and experiences to serve. Participants will take part in facilitated breakout groups to develop next steps and strategies to increase gender diversity on boards and commissions.
The event is free and open to everyone. Details and registration available
at http://www.sdchamber.org/AOTStateSymposium
Scripps Oceanography climate scientist
awarded prestigious global prize
Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a renowned climate and atmospheric scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, will receive the Blue Planet Prize, the international environmental award sponsored by Japan’s Asahi Glass Foundation.
Ramanathan, the Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability at Scripps, has spent decades investigating the climate effects of global warming pollutants other than carbon dioxide.
He has pioneered the uncovering of the role of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, tropospheric ozone, halocarbons (HFCs), and black carbon. His contributions include the discovery of the super-greenhouse effect of chlorofluorocarbons, and clarification of the climate effects of black carbon through an international field project he led on Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs).
Ramanathan showed that reductions in SLCPs can rapidly reduce warming and significantly improve air pollution. He later took the initiative to spearhead global actions to reduce SLCPs.
Sanford Burnham Prebys scientist awarded
$1.9 million for atrial fibrillation research
Sanford Burnham Prebys Assistant Professor Alexandre Colas has been awarded $1.9 million by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to discover drugs that restore normal cardiac rhythm in atrial fibrillation. The four-year award will enable Colas to use stem cell technology with a novel high-resolution screening platform to identify small molecules that have the potential to revert arrhythmias.
Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. Available treatments are costly, and they have serious side effects and long-term toxicities. Today, at least 2.7 million Americans are living with atrial fibrillation. By 2030, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that 12.1 million people will have atrial fibrillation.
“There is a high unmet need for developing better drugs to treat atrial fibrillation,” said Colas. “I’m grateful to the NHLBI for recognizing this need and supporting our research goals.”
San Diego Regional Center partners with TOOTRiS
to offer child care services to employees
The San Diego Regional Center (SDRC), a nonprofit that provides services to persons with developmental disabilities, has partnered with TOOTRiS to provide real-time child care services to its employees.
With this partnership, SDRC’s staff of more than 600 will have access to thousands of local child care providers through the TOOTRiS platform, removing barriers that prevent working parents from remaining in the workforce and advancing their family-friendly work environment.
As a first-of-its-kind SaaS platform, TOOTRiS connects parents, child care providers, employers, and subsidy programs all in real time. One of TOOTRiS’ goals is to create sustainable, systematic change for greater equality. Child Care challenges cause one in four women to leave the workforce and costs employers millions of dollars each year in turnover, lost productivity, and absenteeism.
Over the last year, nearly 3 million women dropped out of the workforce across America, many due to the lack of child care. With a staff of more than 65 percent women, SDRC recognizes that child care support is key for long-term success.
David C. Copley Foundation grants $2.5 million
to support Father Joe’s Villages’ housing project
The David C. Copley Foundation gifted the nonprofit a $2.5-million grant to fund the planned conversion of an under-utilized San Diego motel into affordable apartments for people transitioning out of homelessness and into permanent housing. Father Joe’s Villages is currently identifying a location for its new community.
The proposed development is part of Father Joe’s Villages’ Turning the Key initiative, an initiative that will create 2,000 affordable apartments with supportive services for individuals and families overcoming homelessness.
Other Turning the Key projects include Benson Place, a converted motel with 82 affordable units, and Saint Teresa of Calcutta Villa, an upcoming East Village community which will provide a home to more than 500 individuals exiting homelessness in its 407 units.
TuSimple opens new autonomous
trucking facility to meet rising demand
TuSimple, a San Diego-based autonomous driving technology company, opened a new facility in Dallas-Fort Worth to support the continued expansion of the TuSimple Autonomous Freight Network.
The new facility will extend the company’s autonomous operations eastward, and allow for autonomous operations in the Texas Triangle, which includes Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The new purpose-built facility not only expands the company’s footprint, but will help meet the growing demand of shippers, carriers and fleets for access to safe, reliable and low-cost autonomous capacity, the company said.
Jim Mullen, chief administrative officer, said the new facility serves as another milestone for TuSimple, placing the company six months ahead of schedule in completing the first of a three-phase plan to build a nationwide autonomous freight network by 2024.
Today, TuSimple offers service between Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.
Nonprofits and private sector firms can now
apply for SBA funds for veterans training
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced that nonprofit organizations and private sector firms are now eligible to compete for funding of up to $500,000 to deliver federal procurement training to veteran and service-disabled veteran entrepreneurs. The application period opened on June 11 and lasts through July 12, 2021.
Up to two awardees will use the $500,000 in total funding to participate in the Veteran Federal Procurement Entrepreneurship Training Program with grants from SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development. These funds will be used to cover the costs of educating veterans and service-disabled veterans who intend to pursue, or are already engaged in, federal procurement.
Eligible organizations must submit applications for the Veteran Federal Procurement Entrepreneurship Training Program funding opportunity by 11:59 p.m. ET on July 12, 2021, through Grants.gov. Search for opportunity number SB-OVVT-21-001.
Emerged Inc. announces partnership,
investment in Round One Capital
Emerged Inc., the privately held, SaaS company focused on bringing qualified leads to healthcare organizations, announced its strategic partnership with Round One Capital. Round One Capital has invested an undisclosed amount in the seed round, and Jay Love, co-founder of Round One Capital — who previously held CEO titles at eTapestry and Bloomerang — will sit on Emerged’s board of directors. Emerged will use the funds to continue to scale its SaaS platform, and to further fuel its sales and marketing efforts.
Salk Institute receives Charity Navigator’s
highest rating for tenth consecutive time
For the tenth consecutive time, the Salk Institute has earned the highest ranking—4 out of 4 stars—from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity and nonprofit evaluator. Only three percent of the roughly 10,000 nonprofits evaluated have achieved this recognition ten consecutive times.
The coveted ranking indicates the Salk Institute has demonstrated strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency, outperforming most other charities in America in regard to executing best fiscal practices and carrying out its mission in a financially efficient way.
“Our donors showed their faithful support of Salk science through an uncertain year, as our scientists and the world worked through the many challenges presented by a global pandemic,” says Rebecca Newman, Salk’s vice president of External Relations. “We are deeply gratified that the Charity Navigator rankings reflect our donors’ confidence in the Institute’s stewardship and trustworthiness.”
