Library’s DeLong Award Presented to Beth Meadows
At last week’s Falls Church City Council meeting, a formal presentation was made to announce that the winner of the 2022 Chet DeLong Award for Outstanding Service to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library was Beth Meadows. The award, as announced by the Library Foundation chair Jessica Sabo, is given “to a library employee or volunteer who exemplifies the civic life of Chet DeLong, who served on the library Board of Trustees for more than 25 years, volunteered up to 300 hours at the library each year, helped establish the Library Foundation, and more.” The award includes a cash prize of $1,000.
The award was first presented in 2020 to Eric Albrecht who started the library Circulation Services Department in 2004. Last year, the award was presented to Claudia Gutierrez, who began as a volunteer in 2010 and rose through the ranks to become Senior Administrative Assistant to the director.
Ms. Meadows started at the library in 2006 as a substitute, moved to the Circulation Department, transitioned to a librarian position with the Adult Services department in 2015, becoming the point person for the Adult Summer Reading program, helped provide library materials to homebound patrons and coordinated outreach with Falls Church Senior Center.
David Meredith Named ‘Best CEO for Diversity’ Again
Falls Church native and Boomi chief executive David Meredith has won Comparably website’s ‘Best CEO for Diversity” in its Largest Company category for the second year in a row. The rankings are based on 15 million anonymous ratings from employees across 70,000 companies. Comparably is described as “a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform.
Boomi is described as an “intelligent connectivity and automation leader,” Meredith, currently Boston area based, grew up and went to high school in Falls Church. He ranked in the Top 50 for “Best CEO 2020” during his tenure as a public company CEO on the NASDAQ, being recognized across two category-leading tech organizations and alongside some of the biggest corporations like Google, Microsoft, and IBM.
SmartAssets Ranks F.C. 8th Among Charitable Givers
Generous residents of the City of Falls Church are ranked among the most charitable in the entire U.S., according to a recent report from the Smart Assets website, which studied IRS data for its new report. The study measured how much money people donate as a percentage of their net income and the proportion of people in each county who make charitable donations.
The top ranked jurisdictions are: 1. Morgan County, Utah, 2. Teton County, Wyoming, 3. Charles County, Maryland, 4. Prince George’s County, Maryland, 5. Benton County, Arkansas, 6. Utah County, Utah, 7. Marin County, California, 8. Falls Church, Virginia, 9. Wasatch County, Utah, 10. Summit County, Utah.
Sen. Warner Weighs In On Web ‘Dark Patterns’
Virginia’s U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner released the following statement after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that Epic Games, Inc. – the creator of the popular video game Fortnite – would pay $520 million over allegations the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases:
“I’m glad to see the FTC cracking down on the use of manipulative dark patterns against children. Companies and platforms that cater to young people have a responsibility to protect their users — not to target them with deceptive interfaces that manipulate them into ceding their personal information or making unwanted purchases. I will continue working to pass my DETOUR Act in order to establish greater safeguards for users of all ages. ”Sen. Warner has been a leader in Congress pushing for increased transparency and protections surrounding user data and privacy. His legislation, the DETOUR Act, would prohibit companies from using deceptive dark patterns to manipulate users into handing over their data.
