Santa Monica launched its Green Business Certification Program on Wednesday, October 25. This is a collaborative project of the City of Santa Monica, Chamber of Commerce, Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sustainable Works to certify and recognize green businesses in the community. “Many businesses in Santa Monica have taken steps to incorporate sustainable practices into their operations and have improved their performance, but until now, customers generally had no way of knowing which were going ‘green,’” said a city press release. Dean Kubani, Manager of Santa Monica’s Environmental Programs Division, notes, “The City of Santa Monica has been supporting green businesses for over a decade beginning with the introduction of the Sustainable Quality Awards in 1995. The Green Business Certification Program is the next logical step.” To obtain certification, businesses must conduct resource use assessments for energy, water and waste materials and pay a small fee for the required onsite verification visit. www.smgbc.org
Kaplan, the international education firm, announced today that it has acquired PMBR, a nationwide provider of test preparation for the multi-state bar examination (MBE). The price of the transaction was not disclosed. PMBR, founded in 1977 and headquartered in Santa Monica, provides test prep courses, tutorials and workshops for the MBE, a uniform national 200 question multiple-choice exam that is one of the primary parts of nearly all state bar examinations. PMBR CEO Robert Feinberg said, “Joining Kaplan, the premier brand in test prep, will benefit our students tremendously. PMBR will become part of a global network, with industry-leading resources and expertise in product technology, marketing and customer service support.” Kaplan has more than 160 centers and 4,000 classroom locations worldwide. www.kaplan.com
This year’s “Westside Challenge to Beat Breast Cancer” opens this month. Organizers project that the “Westside Challenge” will raise more than $100,000. Since its inception, the Westside Challenge has raised more than $800,000. Each year’s proceeds continue to benefit the low-cost mammography screening and educational programs at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Since its founding, the Center has provided mammograms and breast health education to tens of thousands of Southern California women. In conjunction with the program, low-cost mammograms are now available upon physician referral for women under the age of 40. “Without the Westside Challenge, many women would not be provided the assistance they need to fight the second leading killer of American women,” said Honorary Chair Dr. Leopold T. Avallone. “Not only does this event provide hope and support for current victims, but it gives their mothers, sisters and daughters the means to avoid traveling the same path.” The Medical Center is a 279-bed, full-service facility dedicated to serving the healthcare needs of the Westside Community. Since 1995, the hospital has been affiliated with UCLA Medical Center, and the Santa Monica-UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital Replacement Project is currently being built on site as a state-of-the-art medical center. www.healthcare.ucla.edu.
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