Michigan Jobless Rate Dips Below U.S. Rate, First Time Since 2000; Milwaukee and Madison should be economic partners, panelists say; Todd Maisch: Why Illinois Needs the Ex-Im Bank; Gov. Beshear awards Work Ready Community designations to Kentucky counties; Richlands Area Multi-Chamber Event: 29th Annual Southwest Virginia Legislative Breakfast and Forum; SCORE Opening New Chapter in Jackson; LaPorte Chamber Event: Embracing Trends and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Panel; Famous Chamber Of Commerce Quotations: Teamwork; Town Square Publications Chamber Directories, Community Profiles, Re-Lo Guides and Custom Maps

Good morning Chamber world! Today is going to be a GREAT day!

Chamber good news: Michigan Jobless Rate Dips Below U.S. Rate, First Time Since 2000

The state's unemployment rate for September ticked down a tenth of a percentage point to 5 percent, putting it below the national rate for the first time since 2000.

The U.S. jobless rate for September held steady at 5.1 percent, making last month the first since August 2000 that the state's rate was below the U.S. one.

The news set off celebrations for Gov. Rick Snyder SNYDER and the Michigan Republican Party (MRP).

"We need to stay focused on our goal, but it also is important to look back to see how far we've come," Snyder said in a statement. "Michigan's unemployment rate was once the worst in the United States. Today we are below the national average for the first time since August 2000. This means more people in Michigan are able to use their skills and are finding fulfilling jobs to support themselves and their families, making our cities and our communities stronger in a variety of ways."

MRP Chair Ronna Romney McDANIEL credited Snyder and "Republican leadership in the Legislature" for the state's "amazing economic recovery."

"It appears the Lost Decade is lost for good in Michigan because of strong Republican leadership," she said in a statement.

The state reported that total employment increased in September by 10,000, as the number of unemployed decreased by 7,000 and the state's workforce rose by 3,000 over the month. Read more: Michigan Chamber

Milwaukee and Madison should be economic partners, panelists say

Madison, now in an upswing of entrepreneurship and developing startups, can learn a lot from Milwaukee about getting companies to scale up and stay, Zach Brandon, president of the Madison Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday. 

“Milwaukee has a 100 years-plus of proving how to grow and maintain and succeed,” he said, noting he wants to be a partner with the state’s largest city. “So there are a lot of lessons we can learn.” 

Brandon was joined by Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce at WMC's "State of Wisconsin Business" event, which was held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison. Gov. Scott Walker and WMC president Kurt Bauer also addressed the gathering, which attracted several hundred attendees. 

Sheehy lauded Milwaukee’s manufacturing prowess, but also said it is a major financial and education center that has gained an international reputation for its expertise in freshwater engineering. 

Brandon said the roughly 80 miles between Madison and Milwaukee have become a healthcare technology and software corridor that rival any other region in the nation. 

“Starting at the Milwaukee’s Medical College of Wisconsin, go the Wauwatosa Research Park and then hit GE Health in Waukesha,” he said. “Come through Jefferson County and then come into Dane County to GE Health in Madison and come downtown to Capitol Square with all the startups there, out to University Research Park and Fitchburg Technology Campus to Promega and EPIC. That’s 78 miles of health care, health science and health tech companies. That would be a big deal in California, but we need to do a better job of telling that story. Read more: WisBusiness.com


Todd Maisch: Why Illinois Needs the Ex-Im Bank

Message from the President -  The Illinois Chamber of Commerce

In 1926, a Chicago entrepreneur named William Stuart Darley met with Henry Ford to discuss methods of producing fire trucks. Ford agreed to sell Model T chassis to Darley, transforming the 1908 family-owned firefighting and police equipment company into America’s first manufacturer of commercial fire trucks.
Today, nearly a 100 years later, W.S. Darley & Co. is still a family-owned company now run by the founders’ grandsons. It is manufacturing and selling firefighting, military, homeland security, law enforcement and water purification equipment, including its own fire trucks’ pumps and compressed air foam systems (CAFS) to municipalities and defense departments all over the world.
Darley, a member company of the Illinois Chamber’s International Business Council (IBC), has remained strong and productive through innovation, quality excellence, and the financial backing of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), which unleashed the company’s opportunities to expand internationally. That was something no local bank could do.
For a small family-owned business to go global is not easy: market uncertainty, uneven competition, and limited to non-existent financing to support sales is the reality most SMEs face. When Darley received a request for 32 firetrucks vehicles and training from the City of Lagos, Nigeria, private financing to cover the transaction was impossible to obtain. The company turned then to Ex-Im. This single transaction supported 100 U.S. manufacturing jobs that otherwise would have been lost to Darley’s direct competitors in China and Austria. To date, 85% of Darley’s exports are financed by Ex-Im.
Unfortunately, the Ex-Im Bank’s charter expired on June 30. While the U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved Ex-Im on numerous accounts, the House has refused to consider, leaving Darley and hundreds of other Illinois companies high and dry. Read more: Illinois Chamber

Richlands Area Multi-Chamber Event: 29th Annual Southwest Virginia Legislative Breakfast and Forum

The Richlands Area Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the other Chamber of Commerce in Southwest Virginia will host the 29th Annual Southwest Virginia Legislative Breakfast and Forum on Nov. 16, at Holiday Inn, 3005 Linden Drive, Bristol, Va.

The Breakfast will run from 8:30 to 9 a.m. followed by the Forum at 9:15 a.m. The cost is $20 per person and deadline to register is November 5.

To make a reservations for the breakfast and the forum call: The Richlands Area Chamber of Commerce at 276-963-3385 or email your reservation to richlandschamber@roadrunner.com. Read more: Herald Courier

SCORE Opening New Chapter in Jackson

SCORE, the U.S.'s largest network of small-business mentors, is starting a new chapter in the Jackson metro area on Tuesday, Oct. 27. SCORE Metro Jackson will provide confidential and free mentoring to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the community.

#Andrew Beamon, national SCORE director of field operations, and Earl Heath, the Alabama-Mississippi SCORE district director, will instate the new chapter during a ceremony at the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership (201 South President St.) from 11 to 11:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.

#SCORE is volunteer-operated and is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the local Small Business Resource Center. SCORE also partners with local businesses and organizations to increase community presence and resources. SCORE helped clients start 56,079 new businesses and created 47,187 new jobs nationwide in 2014.

#For more information about SCORE Metro Jackson, call Mary Harris at 769-208-3593, visit SCORE Metro Jackson's website at https://jackson.score.org/chapters/metro-jackson-score or email scoremississippi@gmail.com. Read more: Jackson Free Press

La Porte Chamber Event: Embracing Trends and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Panel 

The Greater La Porte Chamber of Commerce will team up with the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center to host a panel on Embracing Trends and Challenges of Entrepreneurship. The event will take place on Friday, November 13 at the Ivy Tech Community College- La Porte Site, 1900 Whirlpool Drive in La Porte.

The event will begin at 8:00 a.m. The event is expected to last until approximately 11:30 a.m. Registration is encouraged and may be done at business.lpchamber.com/events or by calling the Chamber (219) 362-3178. The cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-Chamber members.

This event will focus on: Financial Discipline by Tom Rowland of Tree House Financial; Business Succession by Doug Mogck of Northwestern Mutual; Securing Your Information by Ron Bush of Ron Bush Consulting; Tomorrow's Trends, Today's Reality by Leanne Hoagland-Smith of Advanced Systems; Business Planning & Recessions-Surviving in the Real Estate/Construction Industry by Nick Georgiou of G & K Development Inc.; and hear about the Top 5 Trends of Branding & Marketing for small businesses from Rick Gosser of Gosser Corporate Sales, Inc.

To learn more about the Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center, visit www.isbdc.org/locations/northwest-isbdc.




Famous Chamber Of Commerce Quotations: Teamwork

Much can be accomplished by teamwork when no one is concerned about who gets credit. 

— John Wooden


Town Square Publications Chamber Directories, Community Profiles, Re-Lo Guides and Custom Maps 

Town Square Publications, a division of the Daily Herald Media Group, is a national chamber custom publishing group that specializes in developing partnerships by producing high-quality print and digitally integrated publications along with other added value programs dedicated to creating relevancy for local chambers of commerce and other membership focused organizations interested in raising non-dues revenues.

Town Square Publications parent company, Paddock Publications, with over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest, allows Town Square Publications to offer you attractive royalty and non-dues revenue share streams, provide direct distribution of your custom designed printed publications, including digital and mobile integration, and all with the quickest turn-around times available in the industry. Town Square also offers multi-media maps in both print and online formats, both with our No-Cost guarantee. More information: Town Square Publications

Chambers of Commerce and member focused organizations serve as a valuable resource in the local marketplace. The networking opportunities and representation with a wide variety of diverse businesses in your community is the catalyst of a successful organization. For further information about Town Square's publishing partnership with chambers of commerce and our No-Cost guarantee and Earned Revenue Share Program, To request your publication proposal, Click here