Business

Would you meditate, go on a bike ride or drink eight glasses of water if it meant your boss would send a donation to a charity you care about? Givhero, a Gaithersburg-based startup, is based on the idea that giving to a cause is strong motivation for employees to complete wellness goals. Through a mobile application, GivHero allows employees to record wellness tasks that they complete, with their employers giving donations to charity when they do so.

Starbucks baristas in the Baltimore area have joined a fast-growing national movement to unionize the giant coffee chain shop by shop amid working conditions that they say have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The retailer, meanwhile, has objected to petitions filed by individual stores around the United States and taken steps to convince workers they’ll be worse off with “a union between us.”

Under Armour Inc. has joined a growing list of retailers halting sales in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The Baltimore-based sportswear maker released a statement Thursday in which the company said it found itself “shocked and saddened by Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.” The company said it is partnering with humanitarian groups to provide “what is needed” for people who have been displaced by the Russian invasion and has stopped all shipments to its sales channels in Russia.

Across the country, stories of missing Black and brown people have largely remained unheard and their cases unsolved. One organization hopes to bring light to this national problem. “We didn’t see many or any missing Black and brown people covered in the news,” said Natalie Wilson, the co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation. Wilson and her sister-in-law Derrica started the organization in 2008. “Doing our research, we found that 30% of all persons missing at that time were of color,” Wilson added.

Growing up in Baltimore, Ahmad Onyango, then 12, remembered there were several theaters in the city, but none of them were as large and popular as the Royal Theater. It was thrilling, he said, because it was the only place to see legendary Black performers like James Brown, Louis Armstrong, Redd Foxx and Billie Holiday. February marked the 100th anniversary of the Royal Theater, a star of a bygone era of Black entertainment in Baltimore.

The complimentary waffle station opened early on Tuesday at the Bozzuto Group’s headquarters in Greenbelt. It was the first day back at the office for the nearly 350 workers after the pandemic sent many to home-based workstations in March 2020. A treat was in order, said Toby Bozzuto, CEO. “It’s going to take some getting used to,” Bozzuto said, of the 34-year-old company’s new flexible work plan.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County announced Thursday it received the largest gift in university history, a $21 million donation from the Sherman Family Foundation to expand the reach of UMBC’s K-12 and early childhood education work. The gift will provide funding to launch the Betsy & George Sherman Center as a national model to advance excellence in urban schools. This new center will expand and integrate UMBC’s work in teacher preparation, school partnerships and applied research focused on early childhood education and improving learning outcomes for Baltimore’s students.