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You may be familiar with Via, some of you might even use Via’s services or know someone who does.

Over the years, Via has grown into more than a simple paratransit service. Like many nonprofits, the quest for sustainability and new sources of revenue has led Via to consider social enterprise, generally defined as mission-related businesses that have promise for producing income directly benefiting the nonprofit’s clients or enhancing its ability to fulfill its mission.  

Via has operated as a social enterprise business model for over two decades.  Via’s three large earned-income contracts—the Hop, Access-a-Ride and Call-n-Ride—are transportation programs Via provides under contract to RTD, CU-Boulder and the city of Boulder and generate revenue to support our mission services. 

Expanding on the social enterprise model, Via is now offering the National Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course to the general public. Through this certified course you can improve basic skills and refresh your driving knowledge.

This eight-hour course is designed to give you the practical knowledge and techniques to avoid collisions and traffic violations. It is a highly interactive course that helps drivers to choose safe, responsible and lawful driving behaviors through a self-assessment risk survey, a series of learning activities and discussions, and videos with real-life driver simulations and hazards recognition scenarios. Most insurance companies recognize this course and your participation could lead to discounts on insurance premiums.

The class is offered on Tuesdays at Via’s facility at 2855 N 63rd Street in Boulder.  For more information, or to register for an upcoming class, please contact Dale Binkley at 303-447-2848.

Via is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting independence and self-sufficiency for people with limited mobility by providing caring, customer-focused transportation options.  For more information on the many services Via provides, visit us online at viacolorado.org, call 303.447.2848 ext. 1014, or email us at mobilityspecialist@viacolorado.org.

Montreux Energy (www.montreuxenergy.com), a premier organizer of strategy roundtables on the future of global energy investment, announced that it will host a gathering of national and international experts to discuss new ways to improve
the efficiency and sustainability of urban energy, systems, and infrastructure.

CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 will be held September 14-16 at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center in Denver. The conference theme, “Clean Energy, Technology, and Design for the Networked City” will engage thought leaders from a variety of industries, including utilities, clean energy, and real estate development in a series of
roundtables at the three-day event.

“More than half of the global population now lives in cities, so it is critical that our leaders effectively communicate the enormous opportunities and challenges for cities in creating a sustainable future,” said Andrew
Bermingham, CEO OF Montreux Energy LLC. “CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 is one way
to initiate that dialogue with thought leaders from around the world.”

Featured conference speakers will include:

▪ Autodesk Geoff Zeiss, SmartGrid and Utilities Leader, San Rafael

▪ BASF Jack Armstrong, Building & Construction Markets Leader, Florham Park

▪ CH2M HILL, Avinash Patwardhan, VP, Water & Mgr, Int’l Sustainable Solutions, W Palm Beach

▪ City of Aurora The Hon. Ed Tauer, Mayor, Aurora

▪ Colorado Public Utilities Commission Ron Binz, Chairman, Denver

▪ Encana Eric Marsh, President, Encana Natural Gas Inc., Denver

▪ GE Water Jeffrey Fulgham, Chief Marketing Officer, Schenectady

▪ Harvard University Graduate School of Design Pierre Bélanger, Assoc Professor, Cambridge

▪ HOK Monte Wilson, Director of Planning, Atlanta

▪ Honeywell Diane Beauchamp, Director, Clinton Climate Initiative, Minneapolis

▪ Hogan Lovells Andrew Spielman, Partner, Denver

▪ IBM Nancy Pearson, Vice President BPM, SOA, and Websphere Marketing, Armonk

▪ Joint Inst for Strategic Energy Analysis at NREL Douglas Arent, PhD, Exec Dir, Golden

▪ Jones Lang LaSalle Dan Probst, Global Chairman, Energy & Sustainability Services, Chicago

▪ MWH Global Robyn McGuken, Director Resource Efficiency Managment, Broomfield

▪ Shell International Alexon Khor, General Manager Low CO2 Solutions, London

▪ Suez Environment Henry Saint Bris, Senior Vice President Strategy, Paris

▪ Swiss RE Bernd Wilke, Vice President, Zürich

▪ U.S. Department of Energy Carol Battershell, Acting Director, Golden Field Office,
Golden

▪ Xcel Energy Randy Huston, Project Delivery Executive, Smart Grid, Denver

CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD 2010 sessions will make the crucial connections between such vital issues as water and energy, smart grid and smart buildings, carbon, optimization
and energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and transportation systems, and
waste and waste‐to‐energy. It will also showcase exciting
new major global urban development projects from the world's leading
engineering, architecture, real estate development firms.

Conference sessions will focus on:

· Rethinking Urban Design in the New Sustainability Paradigm

· Transport: Smart Urban Mobility

· Powering our Cities with Clean Energy and the Smart Grid

· Technology and the Networked City

A special 3-hour workshop will be held Tuesday, September 14 from 12:30 to 3:30 pm, titled “Videogames as Tools to Design Cities of the Future.” The cost of the Workshop is $25. Seating is limited.

The event formally opens with registration and reception starting at 4pm Tuesday, Sept 14, and an Opening Keynote panel beginning at 5:30 pm.
Registration for the entire three-day event is $350.

The full CITYDESIGN + CITYBUILD agenda is available online at http://www.citydesign.com. To spread the conference information to future generation and emphasize the
magnitude of challenges of the built environment, special pricing available to
teachers and educators.

About Montreux Energy