Recognition comes as her firm marks 30 years of serving immigrant families and employers.
New York, United States, 13th Nov 2026 — The Consulate General of India in New York has awarded a Commendation to Prashanthi Reddy, founder of the Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy, which she opened in Manhattan 30 years ago. The Consulate cited her work in immigration law, her pro bono service and her involvement with Indian American community organisations. The Consulate General of India, Ambassador Binaya Pradhan, presented the commendation during the Independence Day celebrations in New York.
Ms Reddy began practising law in 1997, a year after earning an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her work covers both employment-based and family-based immigration, from work visas and employer-sponsored green cards to petitions that reunite spouses, parents and children. She has served as Immigration Chair of the National South Asian Bar Association and Immigration Co-Chair of the Federation of Indian Associations.
Her pro bono work includes Trial Lawyers Care, which provided free legal help to families of September 11 victims; Manavi, which supports South Asian women affected by violence; Safe Passage Project, which represents immigrant children in deportation proceedings; and the New York Immigration Coalition. She also hosts Immigration Fridays & Ask Prashanthi, popular video series that explains the latest developments in immigration law.
Looking back on this milestone recognition, Prashanthi Reddy shared:
“Receiving this commendation from the Consulate General of India in New York is an extraordinary honour. For the past 30 years, my mission has been to render personalised, diligent legal representation while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our community. This award reflects our entire team’s hard work along with the resilience of the clients we have the privilege of serving every day. We stay deeply committed to defending the Indian-American community and guiding them through complex legal futures together.”
About the Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy
The Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy is an immigration law firm in Midtown Manhattan, founded in 2006. The firm handles employment-based and family-based immigration matters for individuals, families and employers. More information is available at www.reddyesq.com.
At the NASDDDS Directors Forum and Annual Conference in Chicago, Nierman gave state I/DD agency leaders the tools to earn public trust, field media inquiries and make the case for essential services to policymakers.
Chicago, IL, United States, 13th Nov 2026 – Evan Nierman, founder and CEO of reputation management firm Red Banyan led an interactive workshop for state disability services leaders at the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) Directors Forum and Annual Conference. Held Nov. 4 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago, “Navigating High-Stakes Communications” gave state agency directors practical tools to make a compelling case for the services they provide, earn public trust, engage with policymakers and prevent or respond to reputational risks.
The conference drew hundreds of attendees, from leaders of state intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) agencies nationwide, to advocates and the health plans, technology companies, consulting firms and service providers that support state systems. It opened Nov. 3 with a keynote from Connor Tomlinson, the neurodiversity advocate known for Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum, and his mother, Lise Menard Smith. Earlier this year, Tomlinson’s testimony at the Georgia Capitol helped pass Rio’s Law, which requires training for first responders on interacting with people with autism.
Nierman’s session came the day after Election Day, as many agencies prepare to introduce their work to newly elected officials who may bring different budget priorities into office. Tailored to the challenges facing public agency leaders, the workshop drew on Red Banyan’s Powering Reputation model and Press The Truth® philosophy.
In hands-on exercises, Nierman took the room through the communications life cycle behind that model: building brand trust, planning ahead to prevent crises, and responding quickly to misinformation. Attendees crafted core messages and a communications loop to carry them, worked out who speaks and who needs to know first when a crisis hits, and practiced explaining essential services to policymakers, reporters and the public with messaging that resonates. The workshop also featured live media training, giving volunteers practice handling tough questions in mock interviews.
Attendees were provided with a specialized communications toolkit, developed for NASDDDS by Red Banyan earlier this year, which assists member agencies with making the case for community-based care, fielding press inquiries, establishing internal communications protocols and engaging with political officials.
“The leaders in that room run systems that allow people with disabilities to live full lives in their own communities, and that work deserves to be understood and defended,” said Nierman. “In order to protect essential services, you have to press the truth, which means getting accurate information out fast and making the value of your work impossible to ignore.”
As public agencies face a 24/7 news cycle and political change, strong communications skills are becoming as essential to protecting disability services as the policy work behind them. State agencies and disability service organizations looking to strengthen media readiness, prepare leaders for public scrutiny or develop a crisis prevention plan can reach Red Banyan at redbanyan.com.
About Red Banyan
Red Banyan® is an award-winning strategic communications firm specializing in high-stakes reputation management. The firm advises business leaders, organizations, institutions and high-profile individuals operating in scrutinized or regulated environments where perception, trust and brand equity directly influence outcomes. Drawing on deep expertise across strategic communications and brand building, crisis communications, legal and litigation PR, government relations, media training, and online reputation management, Red Banyan® delivers disciplined, strategy-led communications designed to support business growth and navigate moments that test it. Learn more at https://redbanyan.com.
Police officer Christopher Backus explains why summer shifts the kind of calls small Washington departments see, and why that shift deserves more attention than it gets.
A Season That Changes the Call Log
Olympia, Washington, November 13, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Christopher Backus has worked for departments across Washington, including Shelton, Tukwila, Tenino, and Grand Coulee. He has also worked as a guard for the Washington Department of Corrections and a jailer for Mason County. Across those roles, he has noticed a pattern that repeats every year: the call volume does not just rise in summer, it changes shape.
Winter calls in a small town tend to follow a familiar rhythm. Summer brings more people outdoors, more vehicles on back roads, more boats on the water, and more visitors who do not know the terrain. For an officer, that means more calls that do not look like the ones from January.
“The type of call changes as much as the number,” Backus says. “A welfare check near a lake in July is a different situation than the same call in a neighborhood in December. You’re often working farther from help, with less information about who you’re dealing with.”
Small Departments Feel It First
Grand Coulee and Tenino are not large cities. Departments that size often run lean, with officers covering wide areas alone. Backus says that reality becomes more visible in summer, when outdoor recreation brings in people who do not live in the area and are not easy to reach quickly if something goes wrong.
“You might get a call about someone overdue from a hike, or a disturbance at a campground, somewhere outside the area you patrol every day,” he says. “You don’t have the same local knowledge you’d have on a normal residential call. That’s where training on how to assess a scene matters more than people realize.”
He is careful not to frame this as something departments are failing to handle. It is simply a feature of the season that smaller agencies plan around.
Where Personal Experience Helps
Backus spends his own time off camping, hiking, and fly fishing in Montana. He says that time outdoors has shaped how he thinks about the calls that come in during the warmer months.
“When you’ve spent a night in a tent or hiked a trail yourself, you understand what can go wrong out there,” he says. “You know how fast weather changes, how easy it is to lose track of time, how different a trail looks after dark. That helps you read a call differently than if you’d only ever seen the area from a patrol car.”
He says this kind of familiarity does not replace training, but it adds context that makes training easier to apply. An officer who already understands the terrain, the gear, and the habits of people who camp or fish is better positioned to figure out what a call actually needs.
What He Tells Newer Officers
Backus is direct with newer officers about the seasonal shift. He tells them not to assume a summer call will look like the version they trained for in a classroom.
“A lot of training scenarios are built around a town, a building, a street,” he says. “Summer calls are more likely to happen somewhere without an address. You have to be comfortable working without the usual landmarks.”
He also points out that summer often means fewer officers available at once, since vacation schedules overlap with the busiest months. That combination, more unpredictable calls and a thinner shift, is part of why he treats seasonal planning as something worth taking seriously rather than something to react to after it starts.
“It’s not a complicated idea,” Backus says. “The job doesn’t stay the same all year. If you plan like it does, you’ll be caught off guard every June.”
About Christopher Backus
Christopher Backus is a police officer based in Olympia, Washington. His law enforcement career includes work with the Washington Department of Corrections, Shelton Police Department, Mason County Jail, Tukwila Police Department, Tenino Police Department, and Grand Coulee Police Department. He holds an AA from South Puget Sound Community College and a BA in Criminal Justice with a minor in psychology from Saint Martin’s University. Outside of work, he spends his time camping, hiking, playing softball, and fly fishing in Montana.
United States, 13th Nov 2026 – Wire Harness Manufacturer, a trusted OEM-focused maker of custom wire harnesses and cable assemblies, has announced the custom wire harness production it offers to OEM equipment buyers. According to the company, each harness is built around the customer’s connectors, routing and production requirements. Customers can start a project by sharing a drawing, a bill of materials or a sample.
The company offers three types of work: custom wire harnesses, overmolded assemblies, and application-specific assemblies that provide power and signal connections matched to the equipment and its installation space. Every assembly is built to the agreed specification, the company notes.
Assemblies Built Around the Customer’s Connectors
A wire harness groups the wires, connectors and protective coverings that join parts of a machine into a single assembly, so that it can be fitted as one unit. Wire Harness Manufacturer says that customers can specify the connector part numbers they want, or approve alternatives. Substitutions of connectors or materials are reviewed against the needs of the application, the company said.
“Equipment makers usually arrive with a connector list and a routing picture, and the harness is built around both,” said Hommer Zhao, Founder and General Manager of Wire Harness Manufacturer. “Agreeing the details first keeps the build tied to what the equipment needs, and it gives the buyer a clear view of the assembly before any parts are made.”
Protection and routing are matched to the installation. The company lists sleeving and overmolding among its options, and describes overmolded assemblies as giving protection and strain relief at connection points. Inspection checks and acceptance criteria are agreed before production starts, rather than after parts are built, the company states.
How a Project Moves From Brief to Production
The company describes a four step process. The customer first shares a brief that describes the equipment and the connection needed. The components, materials and routing are then aligned, and a sample is reviewed for fit and function. Production starts once the specification and the inspection plan are approved.
Samples take 3 to 4 weeks and mass production takes 4 to 5 weeks, according to the company, and both are confirmed against the agreed specification when a quote is issued. Quantity and lead time depend on design complexity, component availability, tooling and order volume.
Testing, Reports and Sectors Served
Wire Harness Manufacturer states that continuity testing and tensile testing can be discussed for each assembly, with the electrical checks and mechanical test requirements set for the connections involved. Production inspection reports are available on request, and reporting requirements can be included in the brief. A non-disclosure agreement can be arranged before confidential drawings or files are shared.
The company serves five sectors. Industrial equipment work covers control, sensor and equipment wiring, and robotics and automation work covers connections around moving equipment. Automotive and mobility and energy systems are also served, and medical equipment is covered with requirements described as subject to technical review.
The company says that the environment shapes every specification and asks customers to define four areas in a project brief: movement, exposure, installation space and electrical requirements. Movement covers bending, rotation and travel, while exposure covers temperature, moisture and chemicals. Defining these areas at the brief stage lets the specification reflect the conditions the harness will meet.
Looking Ahead
Wire Harness Manufacturer plans to keep the same sequence of brief, alignment, sample and production for the projects it takes on.
“The aim is for each buyer to know the connector list, the routing and the inspection plan before production starts,” said Zhao. “How each project develops from there depends on the application the buyer describes. Keeping the sequence consistent means a buyer can see what to expect from the first brief through to the finished assembly.”
About Wire Harness Manufacturer
Wire Harness Manufacturer makes custom wire harnesses and cable assemblies for OEM equipment and serves industrial, robotics, automotive, energy and medical applications. The company is powered by Cloom Tech.
For additional information about custom wire harness supplier and related industry developments, contact Wire Harness Manufacturer by email at sales@wireharness-manufacturer.com or by calling the US sales line at +1 313 855 3339. Inquiries regarding products, services and project briefs can be directed to the company.
Australia, 13th Nov 2026 – Digital Growth Notes, a plain-language information guide, has launched a reference library of more than 20 articles on digital marketing, technology and business growth. The guide is written for readers who want clear explanations of how digital tools and growth strategies work. It does not take bookings or quotes, and it presents its articles as general information rather than professional advice.
The library covers a wide range of subjects, from leadership and innovation to online conversions, open banking and the Internet of Things. A reader who wants a starting point can begin with 5 Factors Driving Growth Towards Hyper-Growth, which sets out five areas that the author connects with faster business growth.
“Digital marketing and technology are often explained in jargon, so the aim here is to explain each subject in ordinary words,” said a spokesperson for Digital Growth Notes. “A reader should be able to open an article, follow the reasoning and decide for themselves what is useful. That is why the guide remains an information resource.”
What Readers Will Find in the Library
The articles span marketing, leadership, retail, banking and emerging technology. Subjects range from what voice technology means for Australian businesses to why brands should consider virtual reality, and from how artificial intelligence can strengthen a customer relationship management system to how retailers can read the Christmas trading season.
Other articles focus on how people and organisations work. They look at testing ideas before committing to them, building and evolving partnerships, recognising when time is being wasted, and the way agile delivery is applied in practice. A client question and answer feature with an energy sector leader sits alongside them.
A Closer Look at Growth Planning
The article on five factors driving growth is bylined to a team member who holds the role of Portfolio Director. It works through demographic change, leadership development, digital acceleration, customer engagement and cloud adoption, and it treats each one as a separate lever that a growing business can examine.
Leadership development is described as part of growth planning, alongside hiring, retention and training. On digital acceleration, the article describes mid-sized firms moving from talk to action on analytics and artificial intelligence. It closes its cloud section with a three step approach summed up as ringfence, refactor and rewrite.
Technical Reading for Technology Teams
The library also serves technical readers. The Google AppEngine Benchmark, bylined to a team member who holds the role of Technical Director, compares five setups on the standard Google App Engine environment. They cover Java with Spring, Java with Thundr, Node.js with Nest, Node.js with Express and Go.
Each setup was tested at 4, 40 and 400 requests per second, with every test running for roughly ten to twelve minutes and every request running a database query that returned up to ten small records. According to the article, the runtimes behaved in a similar way up to 40 requests per second, and at 400 requests per second Go created the fewest instances while the Node.js and Nest setup created the most.
The article is careful about the limits of its own findings. PHP and Python were left out of the comparison. It notes that choosing a technology stack involves more than speed and instance counts, and that the results apply to one instance type and one kind of small query.
Looking Ahead
Digital Growth Notes said it will continue to present the library as general information, with articles written to help readers understand their options in digital marketing and technology. A newsletter is available for readers who want to follow new articles as they appear.
“An information guide is most useful when it is clear about what it is,” said a spokesperson for Digital Growth Notes. “Readers can use the articles to build their understanding, then take that understanding into their own decisions about marketing and technology.”
About Digital Growth Notes
Digital Growth Notes is an information guide to digital marketing, technology and growth. It publishes plain-language articles as general information and does not offer bookings, quotes or professional advice.
For additional information about Digital Growth Notes and related industry developments, contact the Digital Growth Notes by email at contact@growthops.com.au.
MIAMI BEACH, FL, 13th Nov 2026 — Garrett O’Rourke, President of Commercial Development Group, applies lessons from years of sales leadership and call-center ownership to business development. His approach emphasizes the work behind generating sales and the financial decisions involved in building lasting commercial relationships.
O’Rourke developed this perspective while managing sales operations, where he learned to examine how teams handle opportunities and where performance can improve. He believes that increasing lead volume is not always the answer when a sales team struggles. Managers can first look at how representatives follow up, respond to objections and communicate with prospective customers. Measures such as conversion rates and follow-up activity can help managers identify where the sales process needs attention.
Garrett O’Rourke’s approach to sales leadership includes regular call reviews and ongoing coaching. He favors hiring for character and dependability, treating technical sales skills as abilities that can be developed over time. His experience operating call centers has also shown him the value of understanding both the people and the processes behind sales results.
Those lessons carry into his approach to business development, where O’Rourke considers timing, reputation and follow-through when assessing opportunities and believes a strong business relationship should create value for both parties. He also recognizes that not every opportunity deserves to be pursued, even when it offers the prospect of immediate revenue. For Garrett O’Rourke, winning business is one part of building a sustainable operation. The cost of acquiring customers and the resources required to fulfill commitments influence whether growth makes financial sense, helping him assess an opportunity beyond the initial sale.
That attention to underlying economics also informs his long-term investment philosophy. As a private investor in stocks and real estate, O’Rourke considers financial fundamentals and potential losses alongside prospective returns. He views stocks as ownership interests in businesses and considers financing obligations and ongoing expenses when evaluating real estate. His experience operating businesses has reinforced the importance of understanding costs and downside scenarios before committing capital.
About Garrett O’Rourke
Garrett O’Rourke is a Miami Beach-based business executive, sales professional and private investor who serves as President of Commercial Development Group. He attended the University of Cincinnati before beginning his professional career in sales, later moving into sales leadership and call-center ownership. His professional background also includes business development and commercial strategy, and he invests in stocks and real estate. His personal interests include travel and animal welfare. More information is available on Garrett O’Rourke’s official website.
Wellows has launched a free AI Competitor Analysis tool that compares what an AI engine says about a brand with what it says about up to three competitors. The emailed report covers one engine per run, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Mode, or Google AI Overviews, and needs no account or card.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 13th Nov 2026 – Wellows has launched a free AI Competitor Analysis tool that shows the claims an AI engine makes about a brand’s rivals but not about the brand itself. The tool compares a brand’s domain with up to three competitor domains across many AI answers and emails a report when it is ready.
AI engines describe brands in their own words, and the claims they repeat about one company are often missing from what they say about another. The tool is built to make those differences visible. Users enter their domain, an email address, and up to three competitor domains, then choose one engine and one of eight countries to ask from: the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Germany, India, Australia, or Canada. Comparing engines means running the tool again and reading the reports side by side.
For each run, Wellows asks the same fixed branded question about every brand, many times within one time window. Each answer comes from a fresh session with no memory or custom instructions, and answers from outside the window are rejected. Claims from all brands’ answers are pooled into one deduplicated list, and every answer is scored against it, with the source sentence kept for each score. Answers about the wrong company score zero on every claim and are counted separately. The report names the engine and the date.
The report has four parts: how the engine files each brand, scored against the same claims; which of the brand’s pages the engine reads and which it cites; which claims repeat across answers and which appear only once; and a ranked list of gaps, each with a suggested change, ordered by size.
“Asking an engine once tells you very little, because answers vary,” said Masab Gadit, Founder and CEO of Wellows. “Asking many times in the same window shows which claims it keeps repeating about a rival and never says about you.”
Agencies can run the tool on a prospect and its rivals and use the gaps as a draft scope of work. Brands can find a rival’s claim they should own, make the change, and run the tool again to see whether the answer shifted. A run with three competitors took about 20 minutes in Wellows’ own test. Users can close the tab and follow the emailed link when the report is ready.
The tool measures what an engine knows and repeats about a brand, not whether it recommends the brand for a category. Each report is a snapshot, answers vary between runs, and two runs are comparable only when the engine and country match. Each run sits at a private link, competitors are not notified, and report pages are set not to be indexed.
Wellows is also running a free live webinar series, “Are you in the AI answer?”, for brands and agencies. The weekly sessions are held live on Zoom and focus on AI visibility.
Drug-prevention initiative reaches runners and spectators at the 2026 Athens Marathon, with 49 athletes joining the campaign and Greek ultramarathon runner George Kyriakoulakos supporting its message.
Brussels, Belgium, 13th Nov 2026 — Volunteers associated with the Foundation for a Drug-Free World distributed more than 23,000 drug-prevention booklets during five days of activities surrounding the 43rd Athens Marathon, the Authentic, bringing educational materials to an international gathering of athletes, families and spectators.
The initiative took place from 4 to 8 November, beginning at the official Marathon Expo and concluding at the historic Panathenaic Stadium, commonly known as Kallimarmaro, where runners crossed the finish line. 49 athletes participated in the races wearing Drug-Free World T-shirts, extending the initiative’s visibility beyond its information stands.
The activities coincided with a record-breaking edition of Greece’s largest running event. More than 85,000 participants registered across the weekend’s races, representing approximately 124 countries, with around 25,000 registered for the traditional 42.195-kilometre marathon.
Four Days of Public Education at the Marathon Expo
From 4 to 7 November, Drug-Free World volunteers operated stand number 144 at the Allwyn Marathon Expo, held at the Indoor Stadium of Palaio Faliro, a former Olympic venue.
The exhibition, organised in connection with the marathon by the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS), brought together more than 180 sporting brands and services, alongside organisations involved in health, fitness and athletic activities.
During the four-day exhibition, volunteers distributed approximately 18,000 copies of The Truth About Drugs educational booklets, together with 35 information packs and 66 DVDs.
The materials explain the effects and risks associated with commonly misused substances, including alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, synthetic drugs and the misuse of prescription medication. They are intended to support informed decisions, particularly among young people, by presenting drug-related information in accessible language.
The exhibition provided an opportunity to reach people already engaged in sport and physical activity, as well as parents, coaches and other visitors attending the event.
A further element of the initiative involved inviting registered athletes to carry the campaign’s message during their races. 49 runners agreed to wear Drug-Free World shirts, connecting the prevention message with the wider sporting community.
An Ultramarathon Runner Linking Sport and Prevention
Among those representing the initiative was Greek ultramarathon runner George Kyriakoulakos, whose involvement in drug-prevention education predates this year’s Athens Marathon.
Kyriakoulakos, founder of the UltraMarathon Greece and Ligo Akoma platforms, has participated in demanding endurance events, including the Spartathlon and other ultradistance competitions.
His commitment to drug education has also been documented independently of the current event.
In a September 2025 interview with UltraMarathon Greece, Kyriakoulakos described his participation in the Citizens’ Initiative for a Drug-Free Greece, a volunteer effort providing information to students, athletes and the wider public.
He explained that the initiative conducts presentations in schools and sporting environments to improve awareness of drug-related risks. Reflecting on the connection between athletics and prevention, he stated that sport should inspire, strengthen people and remain free from drugs.
His involvement illustrates how volunteer initiatives can develop relationships with individuals who are already active in community organisations and sporting networks.
Rather than treating prevention as a subject limited to schools or formal awareness campaigns, the Athens activities placed educational information in a setting where health, physical endurance and personal choices were already subjects of public interest.
Drug-Prevention Outreach at the Historic Finish Line
On Sunday, 8 November, the volunteers continued their activities at the Panathenaic Stadium, the marble stadium associated with the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
The stadium hosted the finish of the Authentic Marathon, whose traditional route begins in the town of Marathon and passes through eastern Attica before entering central Athens.
The volunteers operated an information stand at the stadium, distributing approximately 5,500 additional booklets to people attending the event.
This second phase brought the campaign into contact with the marathon’s finishing area, where runners, accompanying families and spectators gathered throughout the day.
The 2026 marathon weekend also included 5-kilometre and 10-kilometre events, university races, children’s competitions and activities involving athletes with disabilities, reflecting the breadth of participation in the annual sporting programme.
Together, the exhibition and stadium activities accounted for more than 23,000 educational booklets distributed, alongside the additional audiovisual and information materials provided during the week.
A Wider International Drug-Education Programme
The Athens activities formed part of the international Truth About Drugs campaign developed by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
The Foundation produces educational booklets, documentaries, public-service announcements and online learning materials intended to inform young people and adults about substance misuse.
Its materials are available in multiple languages, including Greek, allowing volunteers and participating organisations to adapt their outreach to local communities.
The programme is supported internationally by the Church of Scientology and its members. The Church identifies drug-prevention education as one of the humanitarian initiatives inspired by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, who placed emphasis on personal responsibility, education and addressing social problems through practical action.
In Greece, Church of Scientology volunteers have previously participated in drug-awareness activities connected with the Athens Marathon, including outreach documented during the 2022 edition.
The latest initiative continues that involvement through public information stands and participation by members of the sporting community.
Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and United Nations, connected the Athens activities with wider European principles of prevention and civic responsibility.
“Sport brings people together across generations, nationalities and backgrounds. When volunteers use occasions such as the Athens Marathon to share information about drug-related risks, they contribute to a culture of prevention and informed personal choice. Across Europe, access to education and responsible civic participation are important elements of protecting individual well-being and strengthening our communities.”
The Athens campaign reflects an approach to prevention that relies on accessible educational materials and volunteer participation in public events.
While distribution figures measure the reach of the materials rather than subsequent changes in behaviour, they illustrate the scale of the volunteers’ activities during a major international sporting occasion.
The combination of educational stands, participating athletes and the involvement of established endurance runners brought the subject of drug awareness into a public setting extending beyond conventional classroom-based prevention activities.
About the Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology, founded by L. Ron Hubbard, supports social betterment initiatives addressing drug prevention, human rights education, moral values and volunteer assistance. Churches of Scientology, missions, affiliated groups and individual members are present throughout the European continent, contributing to locally organised educational and community activities. Recognition of Scientology as a bona fide religion and the charitable status of its institutions has developed across different national jurisdictions, although legal frameworks vary between European countries. The Church’s humanitarian programmes reflect its stated commitment to education, prevention, individual responsibility and community betterment.
Media Contact
Organization: European Office Church of Scientology for Public Affairs and Human Rights
Anniversary activities bring free practical training to Milan’s streets, discussions with local institutions and a blood donation session organised with AVIS Milano.
Brussels, Belgium, 13th Nov 2026 — Scientology Volunteer Ministers began a week of public activities in Milan on 31 October, offering residents free practical training resources and marking eleven years since the opening of the Church of Scientology’s headquarters in the city’s Bicocca district. The programme includes meetings with representatives of local institutions, information on volunteer assistance and a blood donation session scheduled for Friday, 6 November, in cooperation with AVIS Milano.
The anniversary, held under the theme “Celebrating the Value of Volunteering — Together for the Heart of Our Community,” focuses on the contribution of people who dedicate their time to helping others, whether through emergency assistance, education, environmental protection or support for those experiencing difficulties.
The opening day combined street-level outreach with a gathering attended by representatives of civil protection services, diplomatic circles and local institutions. Together, the events highlighted the working relationships developed between the Milan Church and organisations active in the city.
Practical skills shared in Milan’s streets
On Saturday, 31 October, the anniversary of the headquarters’ inauguration in 2015, Scientology Volunteer Ministers visited streets and public squares to introduce residents to Strumenti per la Vita (Tools for Life), a collection of free online courses intended to help people address common personal and interpersonal difficulties.
The materials cover subjects including communication, conflict resolution, organisation, personal responsibility and assisting others in challenging circumstances.
These courses form part of the international Scientology Volunteer Ministers programme, based on the work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Developed in the 1970s, the programme provides training for individuals interested in acquiring practical skills for use in everyday situations and volunteer work.
In Milan, the volunteers concentrated on making these educational resources available to residents, explaining their content and how they can be accessed online without charge.
The outreach was followed by an institutional gathering featuring presentations and personal accounts from people involved in community assistance. Representatives of civil protection organisations, the diplomatic community and local institutions participated in the meeting, which addressed the contribution of voluntary service and the importance of cooperation between organisations operating in the same territory.
The opening message emphasised that volunteering extends beyond individual generosity:
“Volunteering is not merely an individual act of generosity. It is also a form of active citizenship, capable of strengthening social cohesion, countering isolation and fostering a culture of care and shared responsibility.”
The yellow tent and the message that something can be done
Another part of the anniversary programme was a public presentation planned for Tuesday, 3 November, in Piazza Antonio Gramsci, under the title Qualcosa si può fare — Something Can Be Done About It.
The event was designed to introduce visitors to the work of Scientology Volunteer Ministers through their yellow tent, a familiar feature of the programme’s public activities in Italy and other countries.
The tent provides a setting for explaining the volunteers’ methods, demonstrating educational materials and discussing the kinds of problems for which their training is intended.
The programme’s motto, Something Can Be Done About It, was chosen by Hubbard to express the principle that people can take constructive action when confronted with difficulties rather than assuming that nothing can be changed.
Beyond public information activities, Volunteer Ministers have participated in emergency responses and community assistance initiatives in various countries. Their work is organised through local Scientology communities and volunteer networks, with training available to people beyond the Church’s membership.
The Milan presentation formed part of the wider anniversary programme, which sought to make that work better understood among residents and local organisations.
Blood donation day with AVIS Milano on 6 November
The week’s concluding initiative will take place on Friday, 6 November, when the Church of Scientology at Viale Fulvio Testi 327 will host a mobile blood collection unit from AVIS Milano.
The event continues an established relationship between the local Church and the Italian blood donor association, which has previously organised collection activities at the premises.
AVIS is one of Italy’s principal organisations dedicated to voluntary blood donation. Its local branches work with healthcare services to support blood supplies for patients who require transfusions, surgical procedures and other medical treatments.
Hosting a mobile collection unit allows an organisation to contribute premises and logistical support while qualified medical personnel oversee the donation procedures.
For the Scientology volunteers involved, the collaboration represents a different form of public service from the educational activities that opened the anniversary week. Instead of distributing information or offering training, the Church provides a venue for an established healthcare-related service that depends on voluntary participation.
The initiative also draws attention to the cooperation between religious communities and specialised charitable or public-interest organisations, an established feature of Italy’s voluntary sector.
Eleven years at Viale Fulvio Testi
The Church of Scientology of Milan inaugurated its current headquarters on 31 October 2015. Located on Viale Fulvio Testi, the building accommodates the Church’s religious activities, educational facilities and spaces used for public information and community events.
Its information centre presents the beliefs and history of Scientology alongside programmes supported by the Church in areas including drug prevention, human rights education and volunteer assistance.
Over the past eleven years, the Milan premises have also served as a meeting place for activities involving outside organisations and representatives of civil society.
The anniversary week follows this pattern, combining programmes organised by Scientology volunteers with activities involving institutions and associations whose work serves the wider population.
Ivan Arjona, representative of the Church of Scientology to the European Union, OSCE, Council of Europe and United Nations, sees particular value in such local partnerships.
“Europe’s principles of solidarity and respect for human dignity become more meaningful when they are part of everyday life,” said Arjona. “In Milan, that means people sharing their knowledge, making time for others and working with organisations such as AVIS. Religious communities have a place in that effort, alongside everyone else who wants to make a useful contribution to society.”
The blood donation session on 6 November will conclude a programme that began with volunteers speaking directly to residents in Milan’s public spaces and continued with exchanges involving people engaged in local service.
About the Church of Scientology
Founded by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is present throughout Europe through its churches, missions, affiliated groups and members. Its humanitarian and community programmes include drug prevention education, human rights awareness, volunteer assistance and initiatives promoting ethical conduct and social responsibility. The Church’s recognition as a bona fide religion and, in several jurisdictions, its charitable status have developed within Europe’s different national legal systems. Its European churches and associated organisations continue to support educational, preventive and community activities in cooperation with local partners.
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Developed by Ledger cofounder Nicolas Bacca, the app runs on KeyOS, Foundation’s open source operating system that lets independent developers build apps for Passport.
Foundation today announced the beta launch of the Universal Ethereum Signer on Passport, Foundation’s Human Authority Hardware device. Developed by Ledger cofounder Nicolas Bacca, now CEO of ZKnox, with the work funded by an Ethereum Foundation grant to ZKnox, the app lets users review and sign Ethereum transactions and messages on dedicated open source hardware, keeping their private keys off their phone or computer.
Passport was chosen as the app’s first hardware platform because developers can build on KeyOS without asking Foundation’s permission. Developers can write the software that runs on the device, design the screens users see, and release their own updates. Passport owners can then install the app themselves, without waiting for Foundation to add those capabilities to a system update.
“Having enough memory lets us reuse well-tested open source code instead of writing everything from scratch,” said Nicolas Bacca, developer of the Universal Ethereum Signer. “On Passport, we can do that in an open development environment, with KeyOS keeping the signer separate from other apps on the device.”
Foundation began building KeyOS in late 2022 so independent developers could create security apps without being given access to everything stored on the device. The operating system gives each app its own protected environment, storage, and permissions; the Ethereum signer, for example, receives its own signing keys by default, separate from those used by other apps. This allows users to add Ethereum signing to the same device they use for Bitcoin, login credentials, and private files.
“When you buy security hardware, you should be able to keep using it as your needs change,” said Zach Herbert, cofounder and CEO of Foundation. “You shouldn’t have to buy another device every time you want a new capability or wait for the manufacturer to build it. We built KeyOS so developers can bring those ideas to users themselves.”
For Ethereum users, the app works alongside a compatible wallet on their phone or computer. After preparing a transaction in that wallet, they scan its QR code with Passport’s camera and review the request on Passport’s screen. If they approve it, Passport produces a digital signature and displays it as a QR code for the wallet to scan. The signature returns to the wallet while the private keys stay on Passport, with no USB or Bluetooth connection needed for signing.
To help users check what they are signing, the app implements Verifiable Signing. Alongside the destination, amount, fees, and network, it displays a cryptographic fingerprint of additional transaction data that users can compare with an independently verified value before approving the transaction.
The launch follows Legacy Mode, which brings existing open source apps developed for Ledger to Passport. With the Universal Ethereum Signer, users can now install an Ethereum app built directly for KeyOS.
“We’re pleased to support ZKnox’s work on the Universal Ethereum Signer, an open source app designed to run across multiple hardware platforms,” said Nicolas Consigny, member of the Ethereum Foundation’s Strategy Team. “The app launches first on KeyOS, with additional hardware integrations already in development.”
The Universal Ethereum Signer is available in beta today as an optional, manual installation on Passport Prime, with distribution through Foundation’s app catalog planned for this winter. Source code and installation documentation are available in the Ethereum GitHub organization.
Passport Prime is available starting at $349 at foundation.xyz. Developers can find the tools and documentation to build their own apps at foundation.xyz/developers.
About Foundation
Foundation builds Human Authority Hardware: open source security devices that give individuals control over their money, identity, and digital lives. Its flagship device, Passport Prime, is assembled in the United States. Learn more at foundation.xyz.
Ledger is a trademark of Ledger SAS. This announcement does not imply Ledger’s sponsorship or endorsement of Foundation or the Universal Ethereum Signer.
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