#BestChamber Practices: Skokie Chamber of Commerce: Information Session on College Planning from HIFE College Planning - Saturday, April 16; Kurt Bauer, WMC President: Foreign markets, workers critical for Wisconsin's economy; #BestChamber Practices - Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce: Make your out-of-office note a blockbuster!; Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Group; Danville- Boyle County EDP asks community: What should our top priorities be?; Muncie-Delaware County Chamber Names Legacy Award Winner; Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber to host legislative breakfast ; Town Square Publications Chamber of Commerce Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Re-Location Guides and Custom Maps;

Good Morning Chamber world! It's going to be a GREAT day!

#BestChamber Practices: Skokie Chamber of Commerce: Information Session on College Planning from HIFE College Planning - Saturday, April 16

The Heartland Institute of Financial Education (HIFE) was officially granted a 501(c)(3) public charity designation on 11/7/2006. This process really began in 1997 when Alan Gappinger began considering a more effective method for bringing financial education to adults. It quickly became evident that most adults never received effective guidance about managing their finances and preparing for the future.
Supported by a Consortium of Colleges and Universities across the United States, HIFE began specializing in the offering of financial wellness education course for companies and their employees. This quickly expanded to include organizations and entities of all types, shapes and sizes, including general classes for the public, as people everywhere realized the need for hands-on instruction and guidance.
As this process expanded, it became obvious that the Institute needed to include high school students in the financial wellness process. Along with helping these students through understanding financial basics, HIFE now offers college planning and preparation services to students throughout the world.

The Heartland Institute of Financial Education is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to promote financial literacy across America. Our mission begins with our HIFE College Planning Program. Feel free to visit our website at: www.hife-usa.org. or Skokie Chamber of Commerce <events@skokiechamber.org>

Kurt Bauer, WMC President: Foreign markets, workers critical for Wisconsin's economy

There are a lot of ways Washington can screw up Wisconsin's economy.

The Obama administration's horribly ill-conceived Clean Power Plan (CPP) immediately comes to mind. If implemented, CPP will punish our coal dependent manufacturing-based economy by mandating billions of dollars of new investment that will have to be paid for by dramatically raising residential and commercial electricity rates, which will make Wisconsin a more expensive place to live and a less competitive place for business.

Another bad idea that could be coming Wisconsin's way, depending on the results of the presidential election, is trade protectionism. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and Democrat/Socialist contender Bernie Sanders have both said they want to wall off the U.S. economy from the rest of the world.

Trump and Sanders claim that protectionism will save American jobs, but the data shows the exact opposite is true. For example, 95% of the world's consumers live outside the U.S. By 2050, only 4.1% of the world's population will live in North America. Most of the planet's population and middle class wealth will expand in Asia, which is why exports are so critical for a manufacturing and agricultural state such as Wisconsin that makes, grows and processes things.

If the U.S. rejects international free trade agreements then Wisconsin products will be cut off from the world's most lucrative markets and good-paying jobs will be lost.

If Trump and Sanders are worried about losing American jobs to foreign competition then the far better policy response would be to support common sense reforms that make our nation's business climate more globally competitive. A good place to start is to cut the U.S. corporate income tax rate, which at 35% is the highest in the industrialized world. Read more: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel


#BestChamber Practices - Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce: Make your out-of-office note a blockbuster!

Hello,

We are wrapping up the Fantastic Month honoring Women in our Community with our third annual Leading Women: Leadership Conference on Tuesday, April 5 from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm.

I will return to the office on Wednesday, April 6 at 10:00 am. 

If you are in our community visiting - I hope you enjoy your visit! We have great shopping, lodging and restaurants. These can also be found in our directory; enter the keyword restaurant, hotel or whatever your needs might be and a listing of our members should appear.... 

If you are contacting us to find REALLY COOL STUFF TO DO IN OUR COMMUNITY, please check out this site, Next Three Days at www.nextthreedays.com

If you are seeking a product or service in our local community, please visit our website at www.montgomerycc.org .

You will find our member directory at the above link. Simply enter the word that best describes the item/service you are seeking, hit enter, and the information should appear.

If it is urgent that you reach me, please call me on my cell at 540.449.5656. I will return your call at an appropriate time.

Best-

Sharon

Sharon G. Scott, Ph.D.

Executive Director
Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce
Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Leadership New River Valley Coordinator



Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce 2016 Business Directory and Resource Guide

The Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce 2016 Business Directory and Resource Guide  is available at the Virginia Peninsula Chamber today! Thanks to Mike Kuhns, Suzy Johnson and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!

Town SquarePublications  (www.townsquarepublications.com) can help you accomplish your chamber's gloss map, directory, community profile or publication needs at no expense to the chamber. Please email John Dussman at jdussman@tspubs.com or call (847)-427-4633.

Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Group Young Professionals Group Monday, April 11, 2016 ---4:00 PM - 5:00 PM Fieldstone Winery The Rochester Regional Chamber of Commerce announced the first meeting of the Young Professionals of Rochester group for 2016. The Young Professionals of Rochester (YPR) will consist of chamber members who are under 40 years of age or businesses that have been operating for less than five years. There will be five divisions of YPR including - Social Networking Mentoring Programs Special Events Civic/Philanthropy Professional Development Register today! There is NO charge to attend! Danville- Boyle County EDP asks community: What should our top priorities be? The Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership held its second community discussion on Tuesday night, hoping to attract a different segment of the county’s population from its first discussion in November. “The more we can engage with the public, the better,” said Ben Nelson, EDP vice chair. “The EDP has got to be open to hearing the voice of the community.” Turnout for the meeting was about 40 people. As noted by some during the meeting, the segment of the population who attended was similar to the first meeting: upper- and middle-class, white individuals. “We are concerned about the lacking of diversity of age, race and cultural background,” said Alane Mills, the appointed recorder and reader for one of the smaller work groups of residents formed during the meeting. Nelson said the EDP is working on how to increase minority involvement, perhaps by reaching out to churches or community groups. He said the next meeting will likely occur in Perryville, Junction City, or one of the other communities in Boyle County, which could help. “We have to be intentional to offer the meetings at different times and places,” Nelson said, which is why Tuesday’s meeting was at 5 p.m., while the first meeting was held in the morning. Following the same format as the first meeting, attendees were grouped at tables and given a paper with three questions: 1. In your group’s view, what are our community’s top priorities to ensure successful economic and community development? 2. What should we be doing to achieve these priorities for successful community and economic development in Boyle County? 3. How should we measure or gauge our accomplishments as related to the priorities you identified in question one? Read more: Central Kentucky News Muncie-Delaware County Chamber Names Legacy Award Winner The Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that J. Allan (Al) Rent will be recognized as the 2016 recipient of the Chamber's Legacy Award. The Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce Legacy Award is presented annually to an individual who has made extraordinary, sustained, and positive contributions to the Muncie-Delaware County community, and who has provided leadership in the development of programs, events, and/or new traditions that promote good will and community pride. "Al Rent has been an important part of this community and it's only fitting that the community honors him with the Chamber's Legacy Award. Al's contributions haven't only touched Muncie-Delaware County, but numerous others across the country." said Chamber President Jay Julian. Rent is a native of Muncie, Indiana. He is a graduate of Burris High School and Ball State University. Currently Rent is the Executive Director and General Manager of Indiana Public Broadcasting and WIPB-TV broadcasting from Ball State University. Rent has held several positions at Ball State University prior to his work at WBST and WIPB. For more information contact Erin Ailstock at 765751-9102 or email eailstock@muncie.com Brookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber to host legislative breakfast   The Brookhaven ­Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce will provide its members with a unique opportunity to interact will local legislators Monday. The Chamber will host a legislative breakfast at Mitchell’s at 7:30 a.m. Monday. Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garrick Combs said the breakfast is one of the benefits of becoming a member of the Chamber. Sen. Sally Doty and Reps. Becky Currie and Vince Mangold will attend the breakfast to address any questions Chamber members might have about legislation. “The breakfast gives Chamber members the opportunity to spend time addressing whatever legislative issues they are concerned about,” Combs said. “We are just providing a nice, orderly venue to ask lawmakers those questions.” Combs said Chamber members will have the opportunity to write down questions and pass them to a moderator, who will then address the legislators. Read more: The Daily Leader Town Square Publications Chamber of Commerce Membership Directories, Community Profiles, Re-Location 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, has over 100 years’ experience of print product development and dedicated customer service in communities throughout the Midwest. Our experience 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