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Anthropic, Menlo Ventures, and other AI industry players are betting $50 million on a company called Goodfire, which aims to understand how AI models think and steer them toward better, safer answers. Even as AI becomes more embedded in business systems and personal lives, researchers still lack a clear understanding of how AI models generate their output. So far, the go-to method for improving AI behavior has focused on shaping training data and refining prompting methods, rather than addressing the models’ internal “thought” processes. Goodfire is tackling the latter—and showing real promise. The company boasts a kind of dream team of mechanistic interpretability pioneers. Cofounder Tom McGrath helped create the interpretability team at DeepMind. Cofounder Lee Sharkey pioneered the use of sparse autoencoders in language models. Nick Cammarata started the interpretability team at OpenAI alongside Chris Olah, who later cofounded Anthropic. Collectively, these researchers have delivered some of the field’s biggest breakthroughs. Goodfire founder and CEO Eric Ho, who left a successful AI app company in 2022 to focus on interpretability, tells Fast Company that the new funding will be used to expand the research team and enhance its “Ember” interpretability platform. In addition to its core research efforts, Goodfire also generates revenue by deploying field teams to help client organizations understand and control the outputs of their AI models. Goodfire is developing the knowledge and tools needed to perform “brain surgery” on AI models. Its researchers have found ways to isolate modules within neural networks to reveal the AI’s “thoughts.” Using a technique they call neural programming, they can intervene and redirect a model’s cognition toward higher-quality, more aligned outputs. “We envision a future where you can bring a little bit of the engineering back to neural networks,” Ho says. The company has also been collaborating with other AI labs to solve interpretability challenges. For example, Goodfire has helped the Arc Institute interpret the inner workings of its Evo 2 DNA foundation model, which analyzes nucleotide sequences and predicts what comes next. By understanding how the model makes its predictions, researchers have uncovered unique biological concepts—potentially valuable for new scientific discoveries. Anthropic, too, may benefit from Goodfire’s insights. “Our investment in Goodfire reflects our belief that mechanistic interpretability is among the best bets to help us transform black-box neural networks into understandable, steerable systems—a critical foundation for the responsible development of powerful AI,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement. According to Ho, Goodfire has also been fielding requests from Fortune 500 companies that want to better understand how the large language models they use for business are “thinking”—and how to change faulty reasoning into sound decision-making. He notes that many within businesses still see AI models as another kind of software, something that can be reprogrammed when it produces incorrect outputs. But AI works differently: It generates responses based on probabilities and a degree of randomness. Improving those outputs requires intervention within the models’ cognitive processes, steering them in more productive directions. This kind of intervention is still a new and imprecise science. “It remains crude and at a high level and not precise,” Ho says. Still, Goodfire offers an initial tool kit that gives enterprises a level of control more familiar from traditional deterministic software. As companies increasingly rely on AI for decisions that affect real lives, Ho believes the ability to understand and redirect AI models will become essential. For instance, if a developer equips a model with ethical or safety guardrails, an organization should be able to locate the layer or parameter in the neural network where the model chose to bypass the rules—or tried to appear compliant while it wasn’t. This would mean turning the AI black box into a glass box, with tools to reach inside and make necessary adjustments. Ho is optimistic that interpretability research can rise to the challenge. “This is a solvable, tractable, technical problem, but it’s going to take our smartest researchers and engineers to solve the really hard problem of understanding and aligning models to human goals and morals.” As AI systems begin to surpass human intelligence, concerns are growing about their alignment with human values and interests. A major part of the challenge lies in simply understanding what’s happening inside AI models, which often “think” in alien, opaque ways. Whether the big AI labs are investing enough in interpretability remains an open question—one with serious implications for our readiness for an AI-driven future. That’s why it’s encouraging to see major industry players putting real funding behind an interpretability research lab. Lightspeed Venture Partners, B Capital, Work-Bench, Wing, and South Park Commons also participated in the funding round. Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das will join Goodfire’s board of directors. While most of the tech world now rushes ahead with the development and application of generative AI models, concerns about the inscrutable nature of the models often get brushed aside as afterthoughts. But that wasn’t always the case. Google hesitated to put generative models into production because it feared being sued over unexpected and unexplainable model outputs. In some industries, however, such concerns remain very relevant, Das points out. “There are extremely sensitive use cases in law, finance, and so on, where trying to deploy AI models as we know them today is just not feasible because you’re relying on a black box to make decisions that you don’t understand why it’s making those decisions,” Das says. “A good part of [Goodfire’s] mission is just to be able to do that.” View the full article

Take a look at your to-do list. Does it seem never-ending? The thing about task lists is that they are filled with specific things you need to accomplish. Combine that with an ever-expanding inbox, and you have a recipe for busy work days. While you may get many things done, you may not feel like they are adding up to a more significant contribution to the mission of your workplace or your own big-picture goals. To ensure that the specific things you’re doing lead to important outcomes, you need some time in your schedule to reflect on the big-picture goals you have and their relationship to the actions you’re taking day-to-day. Here are a few things you can do to clear the mental space to make sure your days are not just busy, but productive. The value of unstructured time Ensuring that your daily activities lead up to something more substantial will not happen by magic. Instead, you need to regularly save some time that is not devoted to the particular tasks that are already on your task list. There are several purposes for this time. You want to reflect on whether the things that take up most of your time are related to the most important goals both for you and the organization. Chances are, there are many things you have to do each day that do not contribute significantly to that mission. Identify some of the activities that soak up your time that are not that productive. Are they necessary? Are there things you’re doing that you can put further down the list of priorities? Do you need to talk to your supervisor about some of the things that clutter your calendar? Are there things you should be doing to make your contribution that are not happening? You also want to have a list of activities you’re not doing that you need to be doing. You’ll need to figure out how to add more of those into your daily and weekly schedule. Finding a space to make space One problem with trying to take a big-picture view of things is that you are likely to be surrounded by reminders to take care of the next task. You probably have documents on your desk and your computer desktop that need to be completed. You have an email inbox with a constant drip of new messages crying out to be answered. You have DMs from team members asking for information. That can make it difficult to disconnect enough to create the mindset you need to think about strategic issues. It can be helpful to use physical distance from your most pressing tasks to think strategically. Consider taking a walk or going to a conference room at your workplace that has a whiteboard. The distance has two benefits: First, it separates you from the specific reminders of the tasks at hand; second, psychology research suggests that physical distance can actually help you think more abstractly about your work. When you think more abstractly, you’re better able to ignore the specific tasks and focus on the primary accomplishments you’d like to achieve as well as the general barriers that may stand in the way of success. Drawing your big-picture goals When talking about strategic goals, we often use phrases like achieving a vision or seeing the future. Yet we also tend to lay out our goals in written documents. Sometimes, it can be helpful to take the language of envisioning more literally. Sketches and diagrams may be helpful for changing the way you think about your desired contribution. So many of our workplace tools involve writing (like email, instant messages, and meeting agendas) that we get locked into needing the right words to describe what we want to bring about. Grab a big sheet of paper or use a whiteboard. Leave the words behind at first and just sketch out processes, concepts, or prototypes. Don’t worry if you don’t think you’re good at capturing likenesses. The power of sketches and diagrams comes from being able to use space as an element of your thinking to engage the massive amount of brain real estate devoted to vision more deeply. View the full article

It’s easy to get swept up in headlines predicting the end of the design industry as we know it. It’s true: AI tools can now generate in seconds what once took days for teams of designers. So it’s no longer a question of whether these tools will be used—but how, why, and by whom. If design as we know it is being automated, what remains? And what becomes more valuable? In the 1930s, cultural critic Walter Benjamin argued that mechanical reproduction—photography, film, the printing press—was transforming not just how art was made, but how it was perceived. His concern wasn’t just about losing originality or craft; it was about losing aura—the sense of presence that comes from a work’s connection to time, place, and purpose. When something can be reproduced endlessly, that connection starts to dissolve. And in the post-internet world, it’s all but collapsed—context has become slippery, distributed, and flattened. The role of creative direction, then, is to restore that lost dimensionality—to place things, to anchor them in context. The craft of execution is no longer a differentiator. For surface-level visuals, speed and quantity now rule. But this shift reveals something deeper: When production is automated, the designer’s role becomes less about making and more about meaning. I’ve felt this shift firsthand. At the outset of my career, I spent hours—days—in Photoshop extending backgrounds, removing objects, and meticulously cutting out product images for e-commerce sites. It was repetitive, yes—but also meditative. There was a quiet satisfaction in working with images by hand, pixel by pixel. That kind of technical work is now (thankfully) almost entirely automated. Although I miss blocking off an afternoon to push pixels, the ability to delegate those tasks means I no longer need to dedicate time to erasing shadows—I spend that time deciding what the image should say in the first place. Not all design disciplines are equally affected by AI. Those who work with material, scale, and space—book designers, muralists, sign painters, mosaicists—continue to operate through tacit knowledge and touch. Their work still resists automation because it’s rooted in place and presence—it has “aura.” But even in brand design, something similar holds true: The more a designer’s value is bound to personal taste, knowledge of context, and aesthetic judgment, the more durable it becomes. It’s tempting to hold onto the idea of the designer as auteur, untouched by context. But that belief overlooks how meaning is actually made: not by the author alone, but in conversation with culture, with tools, with audience. Mistaking authorship for authority leads to stagnation. If you’re a designer today, your ability to thrive depends on shifting your creative identity from executor to editor, and from technician to translator. The cost of not adapting isn’t just irrelevance. It’s being indistinguishable from the tools themselves. As Chris Braden, my former CCO at Public Address, has said: “In nature, things that don’t move are dead.” Which is why creative direction matters more now than ever. If designers are no longer the makers, they must become the orchestrators. This isn’t without precedent. Rick Rubin doesn’t read music or play instruments. Virgil Abloh was more interested in recontextualizing than inventing. Their value lies not in original execution but in framing, curation, and translation. The same is true now for brand designers. Creative direction is about synthesizing abstract ideas into aesthetic systems—shaping meaning through how things feel, not just how they look. This opens up a new kind of opportunity for ideas to come from more rigorous places—critical theory, art history, cultural analysis—without being stripped of their richness. AI can absolutely help translate complex ideas into accessible ones. But it’s the designer who chooses which ideas to bring forward, how to apply them, and why they matter in a given moment. That’s not just a function of intelligence—it’s a function of intuition, authorship, and taste. Taste isn’t just personal preference. It’s an evolving, often unstable framework—shaped by experience, exposure, and the cultural moment—that informs how we make aesthetic judgments. It’s not fixed, nor is it singular. What feels resonant in one context may fall flat in another. Taste is less about knowing what’s right and more about understanding what’s relevant—what aligns, what disrupts, what works now. In a world of infinite possibilities, taste becomes less of a crown and more of a compass. ThorloArtworld It’s no longer enough to know what’s trending from scrolling your various feeds. As Abloh understood, when originality becomes obsolete, novelty comes from recombination, from juxtaposition: from having a point of view. If your value lies in how you see—and how you help others see—that’s not just algorithm-resistant. It’s literally irreplaceable. AI is a tool—but like all technologies, it’s not neutral. It reflects the choices of its makers and transforms every system it touches. It influences markets, media, and belief. It expands what’s possible while quietly reshaping how meaning is made. And its impact on creative work is especially complex. It’s a medium, a system, a collaborator. It can generate, iterate, and surprise. But it can’t decide what matters. It can’t assign meaning. It can’t make a choice. AI responds to input. Creative direction is that input. This shift raises real questions for the future of design education and hiring. What does a portfolio look like when visuals are no longer enough? Increasingly, it might look less like a finished book and more like a screenplay: a series of prompts, iterations, references, and decisions that show how a designer directed a process, not just executed an outcome. The goal isn’t to hide the machine but to show how it’s been used with intention. We’re moving into an era where synthesis and judgment—not just execution—are the creative differentiators. AI will continue to evolve, and yes—it will replace certain tasks and even entire roles. But it won’t replace curiosity. It won’t replace intuition. And it won’t replace the ability to decide what matters. View the full article

I was strolling up the hill in Greater Boston to a French cooking class. The rich aroma of melting butter and fresh herbs greeted us as it wafted through the chilly fall air. My friend Sylvie and I were eager to learn the art of soufflé-making. The French instructors asked for everyone’s background. When Sylvie said she was from France, they pressed her to be specific: Which part of France? When they learned she hailed from Strasbourg, the Parisiennes exchanged disapproving glances. Sylvie eyed their silent, snooty disdain. It got worse. When Sylvie started asking about techniques, we received curt responses and pronounced sighs. We left feeling as deflated as a collapsed soufflé. The French instructors may have mastered the art of French cooking but failed miserably in practicing humility toward Sylvie. They could have done so by celebrating Sylvie’s hometown as a region with its own culinary specialties. In snubbing Sylvie, the instructors missed an opportunity to demonstrate the rich diversity of soufflés across geographies and to toast the diversity of participants in the cooking class. Humility is based on a common theme: Train your focus on others, not on yourself. The importance of managing your ego Early in my Silicon Valley career, I had the good fortune to work for Bart, a humble leader who left his ego at the door. Bart regularly sought out employees at all levels for their input on new products and improving the company. He collaborated with individuals and other stakeholders, so they could see what made sense for the business. He asked customers crucial questions and listened carefully to their answers. Bart never threw his weight around. Instead, he was a role model for how to be in a position of power while ensuring each employee felt heard, included, and invited to showcase their influence. Humility requires you to check your ego and ensure that you don’t let it dictate your actions. Seek and embrace feedback Later in my career while running my diagnostic equipment business, we hired a head of research and development. This professional came with an impressive pedigree—his PhD and postdoctoral research were from some of the top schools in the world. With his vast knowledge, accomplishments, and experience he easily could have asserted himself. You know, that arrogant person who knows best, never admits he’s wrong, and isn’t open to suggestions. We’ve all met that individual. But our new head of R&D was actively soliciting feedback on products from collaborators, customers, and salespeople across the globe with less education. In the end, he was able to integrate input from a broad mix of stakeholders into our products. He always showed his gratitude for ideas people gave him and considered many of them for possible future use. Listen more than you speak William is a strength and conditioning coach friend of mine who trains professional and amateur athletes. He says that one of the most common phrases he hears from his clients is “You really understand me.” He believes that this is because he allows his clients to do most of the talking. They feel heard and understood, he says, because he signals he’s listening intently. According to him, the following practices are key to being a good listener: Practice active listening without planning your response. If you predict what the other person is about to say, your response could miss the mark. Respond only after the person you’re speaking with is done talking. Show genuine interest in others’ perspectives. Our natural tendency is to blurt out what we think. Resist the urge. Instead, draw the other person out through thoughtful questions. Don’t interrupt or dominate conversations. This is arguably the hardest to do because we want to be heard. Keep your lips together when you feel compelled to interject. Learn to sense when to yield the conversation to another person. You don’t want the reputation of being that person who doesn’t know when to stop talking. Ask thoughtful follow-up questions. Think through your follow-up question before you ask it. If you’ve been listening carefully, a question will come to mind with little effort. Don’t underestimate the impact of curiosity There’s a concept called epistemic humility, which refers to a trait where you seek to learn on a deep level while actively acknowledging how much you don’t know. Approach each interaction with curiosity, an open mind, and an assumption you’ll learn something new. Ask thoughtful questions about other’s experiences, perspectives, and expertise. Then listen and show your genuine interest in their responses. Let them know what you just learned. By consistently being curious, you demonstrate you’re not above learning from others. Juan, a successful entrepreneur in the healthy beverage space, approaches life and grows his business with intellectual humility. He’s a deeply curious professional who seeks feedback and perspectives from customers, employees, advisers, and investors. Juan’s ongoing openness to learning led him to adapt faster to market changes in his beverage category: He quickly identifies shifting customer preferences as well as competitive threats, then rapidly tweaks his product offerings to keep competitors at bay. He has the humility to realize he doesn’t have all the answers and embraces listening to key voices that help make his business even more successful. A final reflection Being humble makes us more approachable and respected. With humility, we value others’ perspectives. The French soufflé instructors lost their class participants’ respect because far from practicing humility, they served up snobbery along with their lessons on creating the perfect soufflé. Humility isn’t about diminishing oneself. It’s about having a balanced perspective about yourself while showing genuine respect and appreciation for others. And if you’re open to the journey, the growth and self-awareness will enrich your life and the lives of those around you. View the full article

I’ve always been a doer. I move fast, I love learning new things, and I don’t sit still for long. Productivity has been a faithful companion throughout my career, and I attribute much of my success to one key trait: the courage to take action—even when things seem uncertain or complex. I trace this mentality back to a moment in my childhood. I was about 11 years old, growing up in the Netherlands, where a bicycle isn’t just a toy—it’s your main mode of transportation. One day, I had my first flat tire and it was raining (as it always is). I felt defeated and immobile. No bike meant no freedom, no way to get from A to B. I walked home, and my dad, calm as ever, looked at me and said, “No problem, let’s fix it.” Fix it? This was 1984. There was no YouTube tutorial. No step-by-step guide. Just a deflated tire, some tools, and a kid who had no idea what he was doing. We sat together with a bucket of water to find the hole, sandpaper, and glue to patch it, and metal tools to remove and reinsert the tire. Step by step, we repaired it. He didn’t do it for me—we did it together. That day changed my mindset. I realized that if I can fix this, I can fix anything. From that moment on, I’ve believed that most problems are solvable, most obstacles are temporary, and most fears are exaggerated. How I honed my growth mindset That mindset was tested often. I wasn’t the strongest student. I worked hard at a demanding public high school, but the grades didn’t come easy. Worse, many of my teachers seemed to doubt me—or at least, didn’t hide it well. Except for one: Mr. Bosman, my physical education teacher. He had an infectious energy and a simple motto. Every time he introduced a new exercise, he’d explain, demonstrate, wait for confirmation, and then shout a single word—his command, his mantra: “Do!” (but in Dutch of course) That word stuck with me. It was the only positive affirmation I got from a teacher in those years, and it became my philosophy. When in doubt? Do. When overwhelmed? Do. When uncertain? Still . . . do. Don’t sit still, action over inaction wins always. Fast-forward to my corporate career at The Baan Corporation (a software company that is now part of Infor Global Solutions), I remember meeting Jan Baan—the company’s visionary founder. I was just 25, eager, and still finding my professional rhythm. I asked him how he managed to get so much done—and so well. He told me, “Michel, I try to make 20 decisions in a day and still leave time to correct two of them. That’s better than making two perfect decisions and missing out on the other 18.” That’s when it clicked for me. Perfection is slow and paralyzing. If I want to move forward, I need to take action while being willing to learn and correct my mistakes in the process. Why action-oriented leaders win In my work as an executive coach, I meet many bright, capable, ambitious leaders who still hold onto the opposite mindset. They’re carrying around the weight of things people said to them years ago. Whether that’s “I’m not ready,” I’m not qualified enough, “ or “Someone else can do it better.” But most of the messages have little merit, and I encourage people to focus on taking action instead. A recent study published in Current Psychology found that leaders who rely on internal trait-based resources—like resilience, self-discipline, and adaptability—are better equipped to manage stress and perform well in complex, high-stakes environments. It’s important to note that those qualities aren’t built by sitting still. Leaders need to sharpen them through movement, iteration, and learning by doing. Another study in the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal showed that self-leadership and mindfulness training measurably improve a leader’s confidence and decision-making. It’s not perfection that builds capability—it’s repetition, awareness, and the courage to act even when clarity is incomplete. This mindset also aligns with modern neuroscience. The brain rewards progress—even small wins—with dopamine, which motivates us to keep going. Final thought: action drives culture When leaders adopt a bias for action, they don’t just transform themselves—they create a ripple effect. They inspire teams to take initiative. They build cultures where progress The Presidents perfection, where learning is constant, and where speed is a strategic advantage. Momentum, after all, is contagious. Decisive leadership removes bottlenecks, boosts morale, and accelerates performance. But hesitation at the top leads to confusion, disengagement, and organizational drag. And once you lose momentum, it’s hard to rebuild. Action creates clarity. Action builds confidence. Action fuels momentum. So don’t wait for perfection or permission. Just start doing. View the full article

Commercial intent keywords are search terms used to research a brand, product, or service before buying. View the full article

These days, when you head to a shop to buy clothes, most brands package your purchases in a recyclable paper bag, which looks more eco-friendly than plastic. But behind the scenes—in back rooms that most customers never see—every single clothing retailer has enormous piles of flimsy plastic bags (sometimes called poly bags). These bags keep clothes clean as they travel across the complex global supply chain before arriving at the store. “We need to keep clothes in good condition as they move from factories to shipping containers to trucks,” says Candan Erenguc, chief operations officer at Anthropologie. Most local recycling facilities don’t have the equipment to recycle poly bags, which are more complicated to break down than more solid plastics like water bottles. So most retailers simply send them in the regular waste stream where they will end up in a landfill. Since plastic does not biodegrade, these bags will break down into tiny fragments of microplastic that will end up in our waterways and food. Anthropologie has been on a mission to find a way to recycle the poly bags it collects across its 215 retail stores. Over the past 18 months, it has partnered with Waste Management (WM), the largest recycling company in the United States, to develop a solution. Now, store associates collect these bags and send them to special facilities that are equipped to recycle them into other plastic products, extending their life. Anthropologie has already recycled more than 60,000 tons of poly bags, which have been transformed into pellets that will be used to create other plastic items, including trash bags. “It has been a very seamless process, and we want to make sure other retailers know they can do it as well,” says Erenguc. That said, things like trash bags cannot be further recycled, so they will eventually end up in a landfill. So it is still incumbent on brands to find ways to reduce the amount of plastic they consume and discard. For decades, flimsy plastic bags have been a challenge for municipal recycling facilities that collect household waste. If you accidentally put them in your curbside recycling bin, they can clog up the recycling equipment, shutting the system down. As a result, people have been encouraged to simply dispose of these bags in the regular waste stream, where they will be landfilled or incinerated. However, recycling technology is quickly improving, according to Tara Hemmer, chief sustainability officer at WM. For one thing, WM is now investing in robotics and computer vision technology that can better catch plastic bags that end up in the waste stream and separate them from the rest of the trash, so they don’t cause a major disturbance. And perhaps more impressively, there are now several industrial recycling facilities across the U.S. that are specifically designed to recycle poly bags. Some of these plants are owned by WM. But there are also independent recyclers that partner with WM. “We work with our customers to make sure they can direct their waste to the right facility in our third-party network,” says Hemmer. Erenguc wanted to find a way to collect poly bags and ship them to these locations. However, as a major retailer, this presented a logistical challenge. It was also important for the process to be easy for employees to understand and follow. Each of Anthropologie’s 215 stores is staffed with dozens of employees who must be trained on best practices when it comes to waste disposal. Moreover, it was unclear where the nearest recycling facility would be for each store. “We didn’t want to be transporting poly bags back and forth across the country, because that isn’t good for the environment either,” Erenguc says. But this is where WM could help. Anthropologie brought in members of the WM team to study the situation and come up with a solution that would be easy for retail employees to adopt. WM identified the address of the closest recycling facility for each store. Retail associates now collect plastic bags and when they have achieved a certain volume, they ship them out to a designated facility. The recycling plants turn poly bags into pellets that can than be used to create other products. “It’s such a streamlined solution,” Erenguc says. “It was so easy to execute, but we’ve already managed to divert 60,000 pounds of plastic from landfills.” Hemmer says that many retailers are eager to divert waste from landfill. While there’s been a narrative that companies have abandoned their sustainability goals, that hasn’t been her experience. “We’ve found that companies still have goals and are marching towards them,” she says. “And consumer product companies are trying to increase the amount of recycled content that goes into their products.” Hemmer says that recycling technology is improving every year. WM is currently working to make it possible to recycle plastic bags in residential areas, beginning with a plant in Chicago that will reach about 3,500 households. But often the obstacle to bringing about change at scale isn’t technological—it’s logistical. People, as well as companies, are more likely to adopt new processes if they’re simple. “Part of our job is to help troubleshoot,” says Hemmer. “But diverting waste from landfill is actually a lot easier than you’d imagine.” View the full article

As a particularly cold winter sputters to an end, Pennsylvania’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps residents pay their heating bills, closed on Friday—several weeks earlier than expected. Funding for LIHEAP has dried up because federal workers who administer the program were recently laid off by the The President administration, said Elizabeth Marx, the executive director at the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project, a legal advocacy group that assists people struggling to pay their utility costs. About $19 million has yet to be sent to the state. The state Public Utility Commission sent a letter to Congess this week about the shortfall and called the fund a “lifeline for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable households.” Marx said the delay in federal funds couldn’t happen at a worse time. April is known as the start of “termination season,” she said, when her organization sees an uptick in the number of households whose electricity or gas is turned off. State regulations prohibit winter disconnections before April 1. “Every year we have a spike in calls to our emergency hotline because, all at the same time, people are receiving termination notices,” Marx said. “This is a time when the demand for LIHEAP increases dramatically.” LIHEAP is among dozens of aid programs caught short by mass firings in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Part of broad budget cuts by the The President administration, the entire staff that allocates funds for LIHEAP was eliminated two weeks ago. HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Administered largely by states, LIHEAP distributes more than $4 billion a year to 6.2 million low-income households nationwide to help with heating and cooling costs. Last year, LIHEAP provided assistance to 346,000 Pennsylvanians, including 55,000 people who were in danger of having their heating cut. About $400 million in LIHEAP funding has yet to be sent to the states. In 2025, Pennsylvania had so far received $71 million by early April. Marx said that no one has explained the delay. “The funding hasn’t yet been cut. We just haven’t gotten it,” Marx said. “We have no idea when the remaining amount of funds are going to come to Pennsylvania.” Sanya Carley, the faculty director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said the gutting of the staff is behind the funding interruption. “With the layoffs at HHS, that means that nobody is there to allocate the remainder during the more extreme, excessive heat months,” she said. LIHEAP is “one of our cornerstone social assistance programs,” said Juanita Constible, a senior advocate for environmental health at the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). It can mean the difference between a family being able to afford to stay in their home or not, or to feed themselves or not, she said. Even if funds were sent this week, the program wouldn’t be able to reopen immediately. “You can’t just turn a program like that on a dime,” Marx said. The delay could also mean bad news this summer and beyond. Without help from LIHEAP to pay debts to utility companies that accumulated over the winter, thousands of households could lose power, leaving them with limited access to electricity this summer. The pause in payments will likely drive up demand for aid in the fall, advocates said. LIHEAP also covers maintenance and repair to home furnaces. Utility disconnections can lead to other losses for families scrambling to make ends meet. (Think of a refrigerator full of spoiled groceries.) They can spur evictions and, in some cases, cause children to be removed from homes deemed unsafe. And as Pennsylvania and the rest of the country face increasingly hot summers because of climate change, air-conditioning is no longer a convenience but a life-saving necessity. Prolonged heat exposure exacerbates chronic conditions including asthma, diabetes, and hypertension and can endanger pregnant women, children, and the elderly. LIHEAP was among the programs seen as most critical for helping families in Philadelphia at a climate justice event hosted by Drexel University last week. “The federal government is disinvesting in data to understand health disparities, data to understand climate risk, funding for energy solutions. The LIHEAP program is now at risk,” said Mathy Stanislaus, the executive director of Drexel’s Environmental Collaboratory. “Now more than ever, we really need to figure out how we can link up community-based leadership and priorities for state and local solutions,” Stanislaus said. The event brought together four community groups, called the Philadelphia Climate Justice Collective, to present recommendations for a “just climate transition plan” for the city. Finding solutions for neighborhoods with an atypically high heat index were part of the collective’s report. “The government’s disinvestment and dismantling casts a long shadow,” Stanislaus said in an interview, referring to the fallout from federal cuts led by DOGE, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. For example, the North Philadelphia-based nonprofit Esperanza lost a $500,000 grant for Hunting Park that would have covered the cost of weatherizing homes and planting trees. Hunting Park is a neighborhood where summer temperatures routinely register 10 to 15 degrees higher than wealthier and greener areas of the city. Despite the funding cuts, the collective’s leadership said they will continue working to help Philadelphia’s most underserved residents. “The federal government is completely erasing the history of environmental justice. The EPA administrator issued a memo two weeks ago that says we’re not going to consider the burdens of communities of color and low-income neighborhoods,” Stanislaus said. “We need to push back.” One of the participating organizations, the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, lost a promised $700,000 federal grant. “We’re disappointed, but we’re not devastated,” said Jerome Shabazz, its executive director. “Are we going to rely on these folks to define for us what our dignity should look like, who we should protect and who we should love and who we should give consideration to? How are we going to have an attitude where the most vulnerable amongst us are not the people we want to serve?” he asked. “That’s not acceptable. If we’re talking about climate and environmental justice, then we must be just.” More than 70% of LIHEAP recipients come from households with at least one senior citizen, person with disabilities, or child under the age of 6. Constible, of the NRDC, said if LIHEAP disappeared there would be “a lot more evictions.” “We’d see a lot more potential deaths or serious physical harm. I think we’d see a lot more families trying to make a decision between heating and eating, or stalling medical care that they need,” she said. Marx said the disruption to LIHEAP funding is occurring as more people are losing access to consistent electricity, water, and gas service. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, last year one in four Pennsylvania households said they had trouble paying their energy bills. Even before this winter, LIHEAP funding had fallen since the 2021-2022 fiscal year, when Pennsylvania received more than $480 million. This year, the state was allocated around $200 million. Now, experts say the situation is dire. “People will die,” Carley said. “People will die this summer if they cannot cool their homes and they cannot pay their bills.” This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. View the full article

Elon Musk’s foray into government has proven disastrous for his business life. Since taking up work for President Donald The Presidents’ so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk’s electric car company Tesla has seen sales slide and has become a target for protests. Now some believe that damage could be terminal and that Musk poses a risk to companies outside of his own. The Reputation Risk Index looks at reputational threats facing companies and organizations. It recently found that being associated with Musk posed the second biggest threat to companies, between the harmful or deceptive use of artificial intelligence and backtracking on DEI. The index, which is based on a survey with 117 public affairs leaders and former heads of state, found it’s not just being associated with Musk that’s risky, but being singled out and publicly criticized by him. “With his controversial omnipresence in the media landscape, 28% of the council identified this association as a top reputational risk, highlighting Musk’s impact on businesses that extend well past his own,” Global Risk Advisory Council chair Isabel Casillas Guzman said in the report. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives predicted in a note Sunday that even if Musk were to quit DOGE and get back to his car company “there will be permanent brand damage.” And if Musk stays in government, brand damage could grow for Tesla, calling it a “code red situation” for the company. Musk “needs to leave the government, take a major step back on DOGE, and get back to being CEO of Tesla full-time,” Ives wrote. Musk’s hard turn to DOGE has shown that mixing business with politics can backfire, especially for a public CEO of a company that relies on customers who in large part don’t share his views. If Musk wasn’t planning on leaving his post as a “special government employee” after the 130-day limit comes up, he might find a more persuasive business reason that it’s time to get back to his day job. View the full article

Hallucinations in Google's AI Overviews offer insights into how the ranking algorithms understand search queries and choose answers The post AI Overviews Glitch May Hint at Google’s Algorithm appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

The steeple of Boston’s Old North Church has a historic claim to fame. In 1775, Paul Revere arranged for lanterns to be displayed as a signal to colonists that communicated British troop movements, and the route of an impending invasion: one lantern if by land, two if by sea. Now, 250 years later, the church is once again a messenger for a dire moment in American history. April 18 marked 250 years since Revere’s ride the night before the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside Boston that set off the Revolutionary War. To mark the occasion, a Boston art collective called Silence Dogood (its name a tip of the hat to one of Benjamin Franklin’s pseudonyms) used the occasion to project far less veiled messages in vintage-style typefaces onto the Old North Church’s steeple. “The Revolution Started Here and It Never Left,” “Let the Warning Ride Forth Once More: Tyranny Is at Our Door,” and “One if by Land, Two if by D.C.” were digs at President Donald The President and statements of identity about Boston as the birthplace of the American Revolution. “Two-hundred fifty years later, tyranny has returned,” the group said in a statement. “Let Boston once more be the beacon in the country’s hour of darkness and relight the rallying signal to protect our liberty.” Silence Dogood started last month with a projection at the Old State House responding to border czar Tom Homan’s comments about “bringing hell” to the city. The visual protests have grown “in a very organic way” since, an organizer tells Fast Company. The group is finding ways to both react to events as they unfold in real time and mark the anniversary of the Revolutionary War with messages about the The President administration’s abuses of power. Projections were a staple of protest against The President in his first term; activists and artists projected critical messages onto The President’s hotels in cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Silence Dogood has taken that concept and adopted it for Boston, and for the nation’s semiquincentennial, with thoughtful font and location choices. That the White House touted The President a king only bolsters the group’s message. The projections were written in a handful of fonts, including some the group has customized. One was chosen as an homage to colonial-era pamphlets like Thomas Paine’s 1776 “Common Sense,” which gives their projections a sense of historic context, paired with a more blocky font used in all-caps. As a medium, projection allows the collective to make large statements directly on the places where history happened, and messages can be quickly designed and executed. Since launching, they’ve projected onto the facades of other historic buildings, including Faneuil Hall and Old South Meeting House. The group uses a Reon solar-powered mobile electric generator, 1,600-lumen Epson projectors, and a computer using the projection mapping software MadMapper. By bringing their projections to historic sites and using fonts and anniversaries to tie history to the modern day, Silence Dogood has tapped into a potent medium that brings timely messages to timeless locations with only the power of type and light. View the full article

New market research from Intel shows that Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7, and 6 GHz adoption has become a massive popular success in only four years. The post Massive market adoption: 5000+ Wi-Fi devices now support 6 GHz, 1230+ support Wi-Fi 7, Intel says appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Popular language learning app Duolingo is giving its bite-size lesson treatment to one of the oldest games in the world: chess. Duolingo’s chess course will take users, who can range from complete novices to those with a solid understanding of how to play, through its gamified exercises to become better game players. The focus is mostly on attracting new players, including those who have felt chess is too difficult to learn or otherwise inaccessible. “For the most part, a lot of chess products out there are usually built by an advanced user for more advanced-use cases—someone who already is familiar with chess and is kind of trying to elevate their abilities even further,” Edwin Bodge, Duolingo senior product manager, tells Fast Company. “So we are more targeting beginners and think that we’re addressing a part of the market that hasn’t previously been addressed.” Users can learn how each piece moves, spot tactical patterns, and build a strategy. They can then apply those lessons in “mini matches,” which are just a few minutes long, to full games against its character Oscar. The bot will track how many matches the user has won and lost and can scale up or down the difficulty based on past performance. “This is a game that’s been played for so long, and essentially Duolingo is now carrying the torch of [getting] more people interested in this game that has been around for so long and put our unique spin on it,” Bodge said. Chess is the company’s first new subject since it branched beyond languages and introduced math and music classes in 2022 and 2023, respectively. The company launched in 2012 and has amassed more than 37 million daily active users as it brought language learning to the iPhone age and leaned heavily into attracting a young user base. The company said that chess is the fastest course its developed to date thanks to advancements in AI. The product team pitched CEO Luis von Ahn on the course in late August and its first engineer started on the job in November. Duolingo is testing chess with a limited number of learners starting Tuesday. It’ll roll out to all learners on iOS in English in the coming weeks, it said, with plans to eventually extend to additional operating systems and other languages in the coming months. View the full article

Haven assets in demand as criticism of US Fed unnerves investors View the full article

And he probably knows itView the full article

While Zoom is unquestionably the biggest name in videoconferencing, its free tier has some limitations—particularly the 40-minute time cap on group meetings. The good news is that several excellent platforms offer generous free plans capable of handling everything from brief check-ins to extended sessions. Ready to explore other options? Check out these free Zoom alternatives. Google Meet If you’re already embedded in the Google ecosystem, Google Meet is about as convenient as it gets. Joining meetings is straightforward, accessible via a web browser without needing software downloads, or through dedicated mobile apps. Its free tier supports up to 100 participants in a meeting and group sessions up to an hour in length. For one-on-one meetings, the time limit is 24 hours—though, if you’re holding 24-hour meetings . . . seek help. Microsoft Teams Microsoft Teams is more than just a meeting tool, and while its full suite of features might seem overwhelming if you only require video calls, the free tier offers a nice set of meeting capabilities. Access is provided through web, desktop, and mobile applications, and you can host meetings with up to 100 participants for an hour. Beyond meetings, the free plan includes unlimited chat and file sharing integrated within the Teams environment, making it a good option for groups looking for a legit collaborative platform. Features like screen sharing, customizable backgrounds, and the unique Together Mode, which places participants in a shared virtual setting, are available. And for some reason, Teams lets you hold 30-hour one-on-one meetings—outdoing Google by an extra six hours. Again: Don’t be crazy. Jitsi Meet As a truly free option, Jitsi Meet is a compelling alternative to providers with both free and paid tiers. This platform offers encrypted communication and notably does not require user accounts for hosting or joining meetings. While there’s no set user limit, Jitsi matches the 100 participants that the other freebies offer. There are no arbitrary time limits on meeting duration. Standard features like screen sharing, chat, virtual backgrounds, and polling are included, while an option for end-to-end encryption adds another layer of security. And if you’re looking for even more control, Jitsi Meet can also be self-hosted. Zoho Meeting Finally, consider Zoho Meeting, which allows meetings with up to 100 participants for up to an hour, putting it on par with Google Meet and Microsoft Teams in terms of basic capacity. The service includes essential meeting features like screen sharing, chat functionalities, virtual backgrounds, and whiteboarding. While Zoho Meeting is particularly attractive if you’re already using other Zoho products, it also stands alone as a capable option for anyone seeking a reliable free meeting platform outside of the Google or Microsoft spheres. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My boss leads the worst staff meetings ever Every month my boss leads an all-staff meeting, and it is awful. Normally he is a pretty good boss, and I enjoy working with him. But this meeting is regularly 1.5-2 hours long and largely irrelevant to half the staff because it is mostly geared towards one team (out of 4). My boss also tries to make these meetings “fun” by asking people for personal pictures — at one meeting he showed pictures for 45 minutes before even getting to the business/informational part, during the height of our busy season. I manage a team of 10 people and regularly receive feedback from them that they find the meetings tedious and uninformative and my boss only gives out praise to one team (not my team). I have tried speaking with him about this, mostly related to the personal photos part, which I feel can get off the rails towards inappropriate. That went nowhere so I dropped it since I understand that it’s impossible to make a meeting relevant to every employee. But recently other managers came to me with similar issues, and we decided to push back together. Another manager and I asked him for a meeting and presented some of the feedback we had received from our teams. We asked him to keep the meeting to an hour, present important information first, spread praise evenly between teams, and allow employees to opt out of the “fun” parts by having picture/story-sharing at the end. These changes would make a huge difference to most of the staff. Unfortunately, this feedback was not well received, and the fallout has been rough. My boss told me that he spoke to other employees and they “love” the meetings and get a lot out of them (I assume this is from the team who regularly gets praise). He also said he wants the meetings to be about “culture” and not information because we are fully remote and don’t see each other often. He essentially blamed me and my team for not finding the meetings relevant. He suggested that I train them to share more in the meetings. I told him I am not willing to force people to share personal pictures/stories and that while culture is important, the most we can require from an employee is to be respectful and helpful. I was dismissed until we could go over this again. At this point I don’t hold any hope he will change the meetings, but I would like him to understand I’m not going to force my team to participate beyond attending. I’m at a loss on what to do. The changes you asked for were very reasonable! But he doesn’t agree with you, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to. This might just be what you’re stuck with (as it sounds like you’ve concluded, too). However — you said “other managers,” plural, came to you with similar concerns, but it was just you and one other who met with your boss about this. If there are managers who haven’t yet addressed it with him directly, you should push them to. It’s possible that if he keeps hearing it from others, it’ll eventually get through. But as for getting him to understand that you won’t force your team to participate beyond attending: is there any reason to assume he’s going to keep making an issue out of that? It sounds like he suggested they participate more, you said you won’t require that, and it ended there. I wouldn’t assume that part is going to keep coming up (especially since he didn’t raise it himself until you broached it). 2. Our old manager is constantly undermining our new manager About a year ago, our manager (Veronica) moved to an adjacent department, and someone on our team was promoted to manager (Jane). Jane has a lot of very relevant experience and took the job mostly because nobody else wanted it, although she is qualified. Veronica was an excellent manager and really helped improve our department. During the transition period, she still attended and ran all of our meetings. Well, a year later she is still doing that. If Jane says anything, Veronica immediately discredits what she says and/or speaks over her. I would say 30-50% of our meetings is Jane trying to get a word in and Veronica shutting her down or trying to make her look incompetent. At this point, the meetings are infuriating to attend and are completely unproductive. If Jane goes on vacation, Veronica takes over even though we have a very competent assistant manager. She posts unnecessary announcements, meddles in our work, and speaks poorly about Jane during meetings. We also get emails from Veronica contradicting what Jane has told us to do. My coworker was once specifically told in writing to do something X way even if Jane tells her otherwise. The majority of the team has commiserated about how crazy this all is. Jane is aware and is fed up. She thinks it’s ridiculous and embarrassing, but she is close to retirement so I think she’s just not up for fighting. She did recently mention that she had thought of bringing it up to their boss but isn’t sure how to approach the conversation. (They report to the same boss, who seems approachable although I have not had much one-to-one interaction with him.) Is there anything I can do? If Veronica gives me direction contradicting what Jane says, I go to Jane, but other than that I am not sure what else can improve our crappy working environment. Encourage Jane to bring it up with her boss! What you’re describing is ridiculous, and if her boss is at all decent, he’d want to know it’s going on so he can either intervene himself or coach Jane is how to shut it down. In fact, if he eventually does hear about it through sources other than Jane, he might be alarmed that she never told him it was happening. You could also encourage Jane to tell Veronica that while she appreciated her help during the transition, she’s going to be running her team’s meetings herself now, thinks it’s causing confusion to have them both there, and will let her know if she ever needs to pull her in as a resource, but otherwise prefers to handle it independently from here. Ideally she’d also tell Veronica to stop trying to fill in for her when she’s out — that she has an assistant manager who will be running things, and she doesn’t want Veronica stepping on the assistant manager’s toes or undermining that person with the team. But Jane really needs to tackle this herself; having someone else (you) alert her boss to the situation would risk reinforcing that the approach she’s taken thus far has been too passive. 3. Giving feedback as a project lead, not a manager I am a project lead on a large team. I work on one specific project myself, and if anyone else on the team is also working on it, I’m involved and review their work. I have no managerial authority over them, and level-wise am either equal or slightly more senior. I have no problems giving feedback relating to the work itself, but I’m struggling to figure out how I should handle feedback that I think would normally come from a manager. For example, people frequently come to me with problems without putting in any effort to fix it themselves first. If I was their direct manager, I’d have no problem pushing back on what they’ve tried first or directly setting the expectation that they should try to fix the problem before coming to me, but that seems maybe heavy-handed to do as just a project lead? Another example is having to remind people multiple times to do tasks that I’ve already reminded them to do. Again, if I were their direct manager I’d have no issue addressing the pattern, but that feels like overstepping when I’m not their manager. Am I off-base in thinking these are things I shouldn’t handle myself? And if not, would these types of things fall into the “not my business” bucket or the “escalate to manager” bucket? You can definitely push back when people come to you with problems they haven’t tried to solve themselves first, even though you’re not their manager! One low-key way is to ask, every time, “What have you tried so far?” If you ask that every time, most people will figure out pretty quickly that they’re supposed to be doing that … and if they don’t, it’s okay to say, “I’m always happy to help when you get stuck but I want you to learn this stuff, so try to ____ (check the training materials/check the documentation/look at how we did it in the past/whatever makes sense here) first, and then if you’re still not sure, come to me at that point.” But having to remind people to do things is “escalate to manager” territory; that’s a performance issue that their manager should be aware of. However, before you do that, try saying, “I’ve noticed I’ve been having to remind you of tasks, which I should’t be the one tracking. Can you come up with a system to make sure you catch all that stuff on your end first?” Then if it keeps happening, talk to your boss about it (at which point you can say that you’ve specifically flagged it, but to no avail). 4. Do I have to sign a non-disparagement agreement? I work at a nonprofit that has been taken over by an appointee of the new administration, but I am not a federal employee. Our staff is being slashed, with employees who are excellent at their jobs and vital to basic operations being let go. The new administration is completely non-transparent — I and more likely to hear about staffing changes in the news than through initial channels, and they have otherwise been dishonest in both internal and external communications, particularly in regard to finances. I think it is only a matter of time before I am also axed. Most employees being let go been required to sign non-disparagement agreements. I plan to fully disparage the new administration if let go, even if it means not getting severance. If I am called into HR to be fired or otherwise given notice, what options do I have? What consequences should I expect if I refuse to sign? Any advice to keep my wits about me in the moment? It’s very typical to be asked to sign a non-disparagement agreement in return for severance (along with a general release of any legal claims). The thinking is they don’t want to give you money they don’t need to give you if won’t agree not to badmouth them in the future. It’s a way for them to extract some advantage from the severance agreement for themselves. You can decline to sign, but it will almost certainly mean you don’t get severance. There aren’t really other consequences, though! You can simply say, “I’m not comfortable agreeing not to speak publicly about what’s happening, so I won’t be signing.” (Or you can be even vaguer and say you’re not comfortable signing without specifying why, or say nothing at all and see if they even ask.) It’s unlikely to be a big deal; they’ll just make sure you understand that you won’t be receive severance if you don’t sign, you’ll confirm that you understand that, and that should be that. It’s possible they’ll think you’re not signing because you plan to sue for something, and if they have any reason to think you have fodder for that (such as a plausible discrimination claim), they might offer you more severance to try to incentivize you to sign. Or they might not; just know that’s possible and don’t be thrown off if they do. You can also ask for time to look over the agreement and think about it; that’s normal, and they won’t pressure you to sign on the spot. Disparage away! 5. Is it OK to say my coworker is on maternity leave? Many of my coworkers are currently out on maternity or paternity leave. When I follow up on outstanding/ongoing work on their behalf, I state in the email that the other person is out for a few months and I will be helping them out. This inevitably elicits the response, “I hope they are okay.” Is it okay for me to specify that they are out on maternity or paternity leave? Or is that an invasion of privacy? Obviously, the people they work with most often and the people in our department know why they are out, but due to the nature of the job, we are in touch with many people on a semi-regular or an infrequent basis. Generally most people are comfortable with it being known they’re on parental leave, but it’s not impossible that someone might prefer it not be shared. One way to know for sure is to check their out-of-office message. If it’s stated in there, it’s definitely okay for you to share that information too. Otherwise, if you’re unsure you can always check with their manager — “is it okay for me to share with clients and others that Jane is on maternity leave, when explaining why I’m stepping in to handle something?” View the full article

The 44-year-old UK software company has regained confidence as it emerges from a turbulent decadeView the full article

Pension funds likely to have offloaded US bonds because of tumble in Wall Street stocks, investors sayView the full article

Willis Building owner says tower at 50 Fenchurch Street will obstruct lightView the full article

As Big Tech tightens its grip on governments and markets, the EU must ensure competition can flourishView the full article

Once famed for daring deals and exploration success, the oil group now trails its main rivalsView the full article

Finding reliable funding can be one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Whether you’re launching a startup, expanding your team, or investing in new technology, securing a grant can offer the boost you need—without taking on debt. That’s why we’re here every week with the latest verified small business grant opportunities from across the country. From local government initiatives to national programs and private sector funding, our goal is to connect you with real, actionable funding that fits your needs. Here’s this week’s roundup of small business grants you can apply for right now: Gran Coramino Expands Small Business Grant Program to $1.5 Million, Adds AI Training Through New Partnership Gran Coramino Tequila, co-founded by comedian Kevin Hart and tequila maker Juan Domingo Beckmann, has announced a new round of $10,000 grants for small businesses in under-resourced communities. The expansion brings the total amount awarded through The Coramino Fund to over $1.5 million, benefiting more than 150 entrepreneurs across the United States. Applications for this latest round of grants are now open. Optimum Business Launches $125K Grant Program for Kanawha County Small Businesses Optimum Business and the Charleston Area Alliance have announced the opening of applications for the Lifting Up Small Businesses Grants, a new initiative aimed at bolstering small business growth in Kanawha County. As part of the program, 25 small businesses will each receive a $5,000 grant, totaling $125,000 in funding to support long-term economic prosperity in the region. Comcast RISE to Award $3 Million in Support to Small Businesses in Grand Rapids and Muskegon Comcast announced Thursday that 100 small businesses in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and surrounding communities will receive comprehensive grant packages through the Comcast RISE program. The initiative is part of a broader $3 million national effort aimed at supporting 500 small businesses across five U.S. regions. Raleigh Opens Final Round of Facade Rehabilitation Grants for 2025 The City of Raleigh has opened the fourth and final application cycle for its 2025 Facade Rehabilitation Grant Program, a long-standing initiative designed to support exterior improvements to commercial properties across the city. Applications for this round opened on Thursday, April 3, and will be accepted through Sunday, April 27. Award notifications are expected by Friday, May 16. Kansas Launches SIGNS Grant to Revitalize Downtown Business Districts The Kansas Department of Commerce has introduced a new grant program aimed at enhancing the appearance and economic appeal of downtown districts across the state. The Supporting Innovative Growth through New Signage (SIGNS) grant, launched today, will provide $250,000 in total funding to support high-quality, creative signage projects for retail and commercial businesses. Raleigh Opens Application Window for Building Up-fit Grant Program The City of Raleigh has opened the fourth and final application window for its 2024–2025 Building Up-fit Grant program. The current cycle began on Thursday, April 3, and runs through Sunday, April 27. Award notifications are expected by Friday, May 16. The Building Up-fit Grant is a matching reimbursement initiative that assists small business owners with interior improvements to commercial properties within Raleigh city limits. This article, "Fund Your Growth with the Latest Small Business Grant Opportunities" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Finding reliable funding can be one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Whether you’re launching a startup, expanding your team, or investing in new technology, securing a grant can offer the boost you need—without taking on debt. That’s why we’re here every week with the latest verified small business grant opportunities from across the country. From local government initiatives to national programs and private sector funding, our goal is to connect you with real, actionable funding that fits your needs. Here’s this week’s roundup of small business grants you can apply for right now: Gran Coramino Expands Small Business Grant Program to $1.5 Million, Adds AI Training Through New Partnership Gran Coramino Tequila, co-founded by comedian Kevin Hart and tequila maker Juan Domingo Beckmann, has announced a new round of $10,000 grants for small businesses in under-resourced communities. The expansion brings the total amount awarded through The Coramino Fund to over $1.5 million, benefiting more than 150 entrepreneurs across the United States. Applications for this latest round of grants are now open. Optimum Business Launches $125K Grant Program for Kanawha County Small Businesses Optimum Business and the Charleston Area Alliance have announced the opening of applications for the Lifting Up Small Businesses Grants, a new initiative aimed at bolstering small business growth in Kanawha County. As part of the program, 25 small businesses will each receive a $5,000 grant, totaling $125,000 in funding to support long-term economic prosperity in the region. Comcast RISE to Award $3 Million in Support to Small Businesses in Grand Rapids and Muskegon Comcast announced Thursday that 100 small businesses in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and surrounding communities will receive comprehensive grant packages through the Comcast RISE program. The initiative is part of a broader $3 million national effort aimed at supporting 500 small businesses across five U.S. regions. Raleigh Opens Final Round of Facade Rehabilitation Grants for 2025 The City of Raleigh has opened the fourth and final application cycle for its 2025 Facade Rehabilitation Grant Program, a long-standing initiative designed to support exterior improvements to commercial properties across the city. Applications for this round opened on Thursday, April 3, and will be accepted through Sunday, April 27. Award notifications are expected by Friday, May 16. Kansas Launches SIGNS Grant to Revitalize Downtown Business Districts The Kansas Department of Commerce has introduced a new grant program aimed at enhancing the appearance and economic appeal of downtown districts across the state. The Supporting Innovative Growth through New Signage (SIGNS) grant, launched today, will provide $250,000 in total funding to support high-quality, creative signage projects for retail and commercial businesses. Raleigh Opens Application Window for Building Up-fit Grant Program The City of Raleigh has opened the fourth and final application window for its 2024–2025 Building Up-fit Grant program. The current cycle began on Thursday, April 3, and runs through Sunday, April 27. Award notifications are expected by Friday, May 16. The Building Up-fit Grant is a matching reimbursement initiative that assists small business owners with interior improvements to commercial properties within Raleigh city limits. This article, "Fund Your Growth with the Latest Small Business Grant Opportunities" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Key Takeaways Understanding the Job Market: Recognize that current hiring challenges stem from a competitive landscape, evolving candidate preferences, and a significant skills gap.Remote Work Preference: Job seekers prioritize flexibility and remote opportunities, which impacts how businesses attract talent and structure job postings.Economic Impacts: The labor shortage, highlighted by millions of job openings vs. job seekers, increases competition for talent and raises labor costs for small businesses.Employee Retention Focus: Implementing retention strategies such as employee development and enhanced benefits can mitigate turnover and improve team stability.Innovative Recruitment Strategies: Utilize employee referrals, recruitment software, and staffing agencies to streamline the hiring process and broaden the talent pool.Diversity Hiring: Fostering a diverse workforce not only builds a more inclusive organization but also expands the range of skills and perspectives within your team. In today’s competitive job market, many businesses are struggling to find new employees. With a growing skills gap and shifting workforce expectations, attracting top talent has become more challenging than ever. If you’re feeling the pressure to fill positions, you’re not alone. Understanding the reasons behind this hiring crisis is crucial for developing effective strategies. From evolving candidate preferences to the impact of remote work, various factors play a role in this recruitment dilemma. Let’s explore the key challenges and discover actionable solutions to help you navigate these turbulent waters and build a strong team. Understanding the Challenge of Hard Time Finding New Employees Navigating the current job market poses significant challenges for small businesses seeking to attract qualified employees. Awareness of the underlying issues can aid in developing effective recruitment strategies. Current Job Market Trends Current job market trends highlight a competitive landscape where job candidates prioritize flexibility, career growth, and workplace culture. A preference for remote opportunities has surged, influencing job postings and the way businesses approach talent acquisition. Understanding these trends is essential for tailoring job descriptions that resonate with potential hires. Adopting innovative recruiting methods ensures you remain visible to top talent in your industry while aligning with evolving candidate expectations. Impact of the Labor Shortage The labor shortage directly affects small businesses, increasing staffing requirements and raising labor costs. With fewer available candidates in the talent pool, recruitment processes experience delays, leading to prolonged job openings and reduced team productivity. Employee turnover amplifies these challenges, necessitating a focus on employee retention strategies. You might explore options such as employee development programs, enhanced employee benefits, and a positive hiring process that fosters long-term employee satisfaction and engagement. Prioritizing these aspects strengthens your organization’s ability to navigate a challenging hiring environment. Factors Contributing to Hard Time Finding New Employees Numerous factors contribute to the challenges you face in finding new employees. Understanding these elements aids in navigating the complexities of today’s job market. Economic Influences Economic shifts strongly impact small business staffing. The current labor market reveals approximately 8 million job openings in the U.S. against only 6.8 million unemployed workers, highlighting a significant shortfall of available candidates. The disparity between job vacancies and job seekers complicates recruitment efforts, making it harder to fill positions. Increased labor costs also strain your budget, as competition for talent drives salaries higher. Adapting your recruitment strategy may involve leveraging recruitment software or staffing agencies to widen your talent pool. Skills Gap in the Workforce A considerable skills gap exists in the workforce, hindering effective talent acquisition. Many job candidates lack the necessary skills or qualifications outlined in your job descriptions. As small businesses seek to fill roles with specific skill sets, the limited availability of qualified candidates leads to delays in the hiring process. To address this gap, consider investing in employee development programs. Training existing staff can enhance their skills while improving employee engagement and satisfaction. Prioritizing diversity hiring can also expand your talent pool and foster a more inclusive workplace culture. Strategies to Overcome Hard Time Finding New Employees Finding new employees remains a significant challenge for small businesses. Implementing effective strategies can enhance your recruitment process and build a strong workforce. Enhancing Recruitment Processes Enhancing recruitment processes attracts quality candidates and retains them. Here are key strategies to consider: Utilize Employee Referrals Tapping into your existing employees’ networks can streamline hiring. Referral programs often lead to faster placements and higher retention rates, as referred candidates tend to align well with your workplace culture. Optimize Job Postings Craft clear and engaging job descriptions that outline job responsibilities and highlight your employee benefits. Use industry keywords to attract the right talent and ensure your job listings appear in search results. Implement Recruitment Software Streamlining your recruitment process through HR tools can simplify candidate screening, manage applications efficiently, and help track hiring trends in your industry. Leverage Staffing Agencies Collaborating with staffing agencies can expand your talent pool. These agencies maintain databases of pre-screened candidates, saving time and resources during the recruiting phase. Adopt a Flexible Approach Offer flexible work arrangements, including remote opportunities or part-time positions. This appeals to a broader range of job candidates, particularly those seeking work-life balance. Focus on Workforce Diversity Prioritizing diversity hiring can enhance your team dynamics and broaden your talent pool. Consider diverse backgrounds when recruiting to encourage a variety of perspectives within your organization. Engage in Training and Development Investing in employee development programs fosters loyalty and motivation. Ongoing training opportunities not only refine skill sets but also support career growth, reducing staff turnover. By applying these strategies, you can improve your hiring process, attract skilled job candidates, and build a more engaged and productive workplace. Conclusion Navigating the current hiring landscape can feel overwhelming but understanding the challenges is the first step toward overcoming them. By adapting your recruitment strategies and focusing on what today’s candidates value you can position your business as an attractive option. Emphasizing flexibility career growth and a positive workplace culture will resonate with potential hires. Investing in employee development and prioritizing diversity can also broaden your talent pool. Remember that the right approach can transform your recruitment process and help you build a strong engaged workforce. With the right strategies in place you can turn these challenges into opportunities for growth and success. Frequently Asked Questions What are the main challenges businesses face in hiring new employees? Businesses are contending with a competitive job market, a significant skills gap, and evolving workforce expectations. Candidates are increasingly prioritizing flexibility, career growth, and workplace culture, making it challenging for companies to attract top talent. How is the remote work trend affecting recruitment strategies? The rise in remote work preferences has shifted candidate expectations, prompting businesses to adapt their job postings and recruitment tactics. Companies need to offer flexible work arrangements to remain competitive in attracting skilled candidates. What impact does the labor shortage have on small businesses? The labor shortage is increasing staffing requirements and labor costs for small businesses, leading to delays in recruitment and reduced productivity. Many small businesses are struggling to find qualified employees due to this shortage. Why is there a skills gap in the workforce? The skills gap exists because many candidates lack the necessary qualifications that businesses require. This discrepancy complicates recruitment efforts and often leads to longer hiring times for employers. What strategies can small businesses use to improve their recruitment processes? Small businesses can enhance their recruitment processes by investing in employee development, utilizing employee referrals, optimizing job postings, implementing recruitment software, and adopting flexible work arrangements. Prioritizing diversity can also expand their talent pool. How can businesses attract more skilled candidates? Businesses can attract more skilled candidates by offering competitive salaries, fostering a positive workplace culture, promoting professional development opportunities, and implementing flexible work options that meet candidates’ evolving needs. Image Via Envato This article, "Navigating the Challenges of Hard Time Finding New Employees in Today’s Job Market" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article