Good morning Chamber World! It's going to be a GREAT day!

Meridian Main Street to be moved to EMBDC

Meridian Main Street and its programs will be absorbed into the East Mississippi Business Development Corp. at the end of the month, according to Ron Harper, President of the Board of Directors for Meridian Main Street.   

    The news means Meridian Main Street Executive Director Karen Rooney will be out of a job.

    "We think this is a positive thing for Main Street and the city of Meridian," Harper said Wednesday.

    "It will give Main Street some resources that it might not have had before. And the move will make it stronger financially,” he said. “With all the financial cuts taking place, we think Main Street being a stand alone was not a good scenario. We put our heads together and think this will be a great move for us. It is an award-winning organization, funded partly by the city, which promotes downtown Meridian and its businesses.”

    According to a press release, the city of Meridian will provide additional support for Meridian Main Street events, such as the Earth’s Bounty Farmer’s Market, which starts its 2016 season on April 2.

    Earth’s Bounty will take place on the city hall lawn during April and Singing Brakeman Park on the first Saturday of May through November.

    Other events have included Meridian Mardi Gras, the Downtown After 5 Alive series of free outdoor concerts and the Christmas Parade. Read more: Meridian Star

Paducah Chamber Breakfast Speaker to Update I-69 Progress


An update on the progress of Interstate 69 will be the program for the April Power in Partnership monthly breakfast of the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce.

The breakfast is Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 am at the Julian Carroll Convention Center, and Assistant State Highway Engineer and State I-69 Coordinator Paul Looney, P.E. will be the featured speaker.

Looney currently serves as the Assistant State Highway Engineer for Project Development and is the Project Manager for the I-69 corridor. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.

The breakfast will also include the recognition of the 26 local high school students who recently completed the Youth L.E.A.D. program. Read more: West Kentucky Star

Chamber Good News: West Michigan Works returns to Ionia

A familiar service has returned to downtown Ionia, after being gone for two years. West Michigan Works has officially opened its doors to job seekers.

"We're extremely thrilled to have West Michigan Works back because it's integral to a vibrant and healthy community to have people gain access to resources for employment as well as businesses to have access to a skilled staff," Executive Director of the Ionia Area Chamber of Commerce, Tina Conner Wellman said.

The new office is located at 301 W. Main St. in downtown Ionia, where Keeper of the Crows was previously.

“We are happy to provide services again for everyone in Ionia without a long drive,” Jane Kreha, marketing and communications director for West Michigan Works, said.

West Michigan Works offers several resources to everyone including job search referrals, job seeking resources, access to job postings and workshops. There is also access to computer, Internet, fax and copy machines. These resources are available for those who are currently employed or looking to go in a totally different direction with their career. They also offer specialized services for military veterans, disabled people, migrant workers and dislocated workers.

"It offers Ionia the opportunity to promote our workforce as one of Michigan's best, one that is prepared to take Michigan to the next giant step and a step forward and we owe it to programs like West Michigan Works," Director of the Ionia Downtown Development Authority Linda Curtis said. Read more: Ionia Sentinel-Standard

Carol Stream Chamber Annual Meeting Networking + Recognition April 13

Each year we are required to hold an Annual Meeting. We are not required, however, for it to last more than 15 minutes, so we will accomplish that and more at our April 13th meeting at the Holiday Inn & Suites.  You will have a chance to network and also help celebrate with businesses that have been members of the chamber for 10 years or 20 years. They are: 20 YEARS: Glenbard North High School Hilton Indian Lakes Resort Investor$ Real Estate Klein Creek Golf Club Rotary Club of Carol Stream Sunrise Chevrolet Village Tavern & Grill 10 YEARS:  Borter Heating & A/C Co. Inc Fortuna Baking Company Humanitarian Service Project Jubilee Furniture Co. Mapleberry Pancake House Massage Clinique Wellness Center Our Savior Lutheran Church People's Resource Center RoccoVino's Italian Restaurant Rosie O'Reilly's Superstar Karate The Home Depot Wheaton Christian Center Church Wing Stop The A Capella singers from Glenbard North -- the Goldtones -- will sing for us, too. We hope you'll join us - Sign up here ...

Janesville business leaders hope video attracts young professionals

A video designed to showcase Janesville to potential newcomers, particularly young professionals and families, has gained a great deal of attention online.

The video, called "Janesville: Community of Choice," was commissioned by Forward Janesville, a group that promotes business in the city.

Forward Janesville posted the video on its Facebook page earlier this week. By Friday, it received nearly 2,000 shares and more than 60,000 views.

It was produced by Stephen and Cameron Pickering, a Janesville couple who run Drywater Productions, a video production company.

Cameron Pickering said the goal of the video is to show that Janesville's reputation for being a boring, run-down town isn't true.

"Janesville gets a negative view, even among people within Janesville, that there's nothing to offer for families, and that there isn't anything to offer for young professionals," she said. "We wanted to show that there is a lot to offer."

Stephen Pickering said the video took over a year to shoot and shows many events and places even locals might not know about.

"We really wanted to show something that shows some of what people don't see," he said.

"We've actually had a lot of comments. People said, 'I didn't know we had that here,' or 'I didn't know that we had the oldest 4-H fair in the nation,'" Cameron Pickering said.

John Beckord, president of Forward Janesville, said he hopes employers can use the video as a recruiting tool for prospective employees.

"There are a lot of open positions," Beckord said. "If we want our companies to grow, we need to do whatever we can to help them hire the talent they need." Read more: Channel 3000

Prince William Chamber to Honor Local Students at Annual Education & Innovation Luncheon

Manassas, VA- The Prince William Chamber of Commerce will host their annual Education & Innovation Luncheon on Tuesday, April 12 at the Best Western Battlefield Inn at 10820 Balls Ford Road in Manassas. From 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. members of the local business and education communities will gather to recognize the efforts of three outstanding local high school students and present them with $2,500 scholarships; supporting their pursuit of higher education. The event is also a showcase for local organizations focused on education and/or innovation.

Sponsored by Apple Federal Credit Union, the luncheon will also feature Keynote Speaker Aneesh Chopra, Vice President and Co-Founder of Hunch Analytics. Chopra was the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Under the leadership of President Barack Obama, he designed the National Wireless Initiative, helped launch Startup America, and executed an “open innovation” strategy across the government built on private sector collaboration. Chopra is also the author of the book “Innovative State: How Technologies Can Transform Government.”

The Education & Innovation Luncheon is planned by the Chamber’s Education & Innovation Committee which also manages the Chamber’s scholarship program. Through the scholarship program, the Chamber seeks to support higher education and development of the Prince William region’s future workers by awarding scholarships to graduating high school seniors who have shown a demonstrated commitment to both academic success and community involvement.

Suzanne Lewis, Director of Community Outreach for the Prince William Chamber of Commerce spoke of the Education & Innovation Luncheon saying, “Year after year we continue to be impressed by the caliber of students coming out of our local school systems. The young men and women receiving the Chamber scholarships are beyond inspiring. When our members sit and listen to the accomplishments of these students, the consensus is always the same: The future is safe in their hands.”

Tickets for the luncheon are available online at pwchamber.org or by calling the Prince William Chamber of Commerce at 703-368-6600. Members may attend for $40; non-members may attend for $50. 

Indiana Chamber Welcomes New Membership Development Manager


Monica Chamberlain has joined the Indiana Chamber of Commerce as its new membership manager for the north central and northeastern regions of the state.

Chamberlain had spent the last seven years increasing revenue and enrollment at Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, serving as the associate vice president of enrollment management. She was the institution’s director of admissions for three years prior.

Chamberlain resides in Fort Wayne and will continue to work out of that location.

She will be charged with business development in 29 Hoosier counties: Adams, Allen, Blackford, Cass, DeKalb, Delaware, Elkhart, Fulton, Grant, Howard, Huntington, Jasper, Jay, Kosciusko, LaGrange, LaPorte, Madison, Marshall, Miami, Noble, Pulaski, Randolph, St. Joseph, Starke, Steuben, Tipton, Wabash, Wells and Whitley.

Chamberlain holds a master’s degree in English and a bachelor’s in French, both from Indiana University.

“Monica has a strong connection to the Fort Wayne area community and beyond. She will be reaching out and visiting businesses to let them know how Indiana Chamber membership can help grow their organizations,” says Jennifer Elkin, Indiana Chamber senior vice president of marketing.

“We are excited that Monica is on our team and look forward to her being a strong voice for the Indiana Chamber.” Read more: Indiana Chamber

Pat McGaughey of ChamberMentor.com: How to prevent members from stealing our best employees Historically it seems like chambers and industry associations have been the employee training grounds for many of our members. (Talk about benefit of membership!) I found the best way to stop members from stealing our employees and keep great employees from leaving... was to embrace it. Instead of fighting it, I took advantage of this common scenario and won the fight without throwing a punch. I did it with a push. I told my employees that as long as they would give me two things in exchange, I would write their letter of reference and fully support their professional growth wherever they wanted to go. First, while they worked with me, they would have to agree to give our organization the same level of effort every day as I did every day. (That meant that if I had a down day, so could they; they just had to guess which day that would be.) Secondly, we would have a handshake agreement that they would give me a thirty day notice when they found a new job. That gave me two weeks to find a replacement and two more weeks for them to train, not me. Not one of my key employees ever left for a better job. Not many people leave an organization that puts them first. I have found in most relationships both personal and professional, if I pull and hold tight to a person, they push away. When I push them away, they don't seem to want to leave. Instead of fearing employees leaving, I just planned for it and to make it work, I planned it with them. Source: ChamberMentor.com

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