Happy Friday, Chamber World! Have a GREAT weekend!
Bowling Green Area chamber news: Warren County No. 1 in KY for incoming investment
SmartAsset, a financial advisory company, said Warren County ranked No. 1 in Kentucky in its annual national study on counties receiving the greatest amount of investment in their local economies. The county ranked in the top 3 percent nationally for counties receiving the greatest amount of investment in their local economies.
SmartAsset ranks performance across four categories: business establishment growth, GDP growth, new building permits and municipal bond investment.
Warren County ranked No. 4 in Kentucky in 2015.
“This recent ranking solidifies the fact that Warren County is an incredible place to live and work,” said Ron Bunch, president and chief executive officer of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.
Local investments included a $439 million custom paint shop expansion at the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant; Bowling Green Metalforming’s $261 million, 260,000-square-foot expansion creating 450 new jobs; and Kobe Aluminum’s $57 million, 116,000-square-foot expansion creating 112 jobs. Read more: Bowling Green Daily News
Chamber partners: Comstock-Bennett debate set for Oct. 6
A Loudoun County debate between incumbent U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.-10th) and her Democratic challenger, LuAnn Bennett, is set for Oct. 6 at 8 a.m.
The Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Greater Reston, Dulles Regional and Prince William chambers of commerce, will host the 10th congressional debate at the National Conference Center.
“As Loudoun County goes, so goes the race to represent the 10th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce President Tony Howard. “The candidates in this race, Barbara Comstock and LuAnn Bennett, know this is true, and they understand that this community wants to hear about their vision for growing Virginia’s and our nation’s economy, while preserving our security and our children’s future.” Read more: Loudoun Times Mirror
Greensburg-Decatur County Chamber Sponsor: United Fund celebrating "Bison-tennial" with public art project
Decatur County has officially joined the Indiana Association of United Ways (IaUW) and the Indiana Bicentennial Commission to bring the state’s first public art project to the Tree City. An intricately painted fiberglass bison now adorns the Decatur County Courthouse lawn, allowing all local residents to view the public art piece.
This unique legacy project’s goal is to celebrate the rich and diverse history and unique features of Indiana. Not only is the “Bison-tennial” the first statewide public art project, it is the first-of-its-kind in the country.
The Indiana bicentennial is being celebrated many ways, one of which is a herd of artfully decorated bison, with at least one residing in each of the state’s 92 counties. Artists were given a five-foot-tall fiberglass bison to decorate and display. Bison will be highlighted in communities as the Bicentennial Torch Relay makes it rounds between Sept. 9 and Oct. 15, finishing with Indiana’s Bicentennial Statehood Day Dec. 11.
“We’re very excited about it. It’s a unique opportunity for the community to kind of rally around a public art project,” said Decatur County United Fund Executive Director Joanne Cunningham.
Decatur County’s “Bison-tennial” entry was designed in the style of an old postcard, said North Decatur High School (NDHS) Art Teacher Marci Ping. Ping and 2016 NDHS graduate and AP art student Lauren Reed painted the sculpture, an arduous process the two said took over 40 hours.
Ping said the postcard look was Reed’s idea and the two decided to represent the county and its various features on one side of the bison, while the city and its landmarks were showcased on the other and the sculpture’s base is Decatur County as a whole.
“I like the whole history of it, I guess,” Ping said when asked about her favorite part. “Also, adding the silhouettes so people could kind of place themselves in those situations, like going to the fair. I like the random parts and pieces of the county all brought together.”
“Every part of the county is represented,” Reed said.
From the detailed corn horns to the county map complete with all cities and towns, Ping and Reed incorporated as much city and county history as possible into the artwork. On the county side, viewers might spot the Indiana seal, an Amish horse and buggy, the round barn, Westport Covered Bridge, Lake Santee Totem Pole and much more. The city’s side features Storie’s famous pie, the Courthouse Tower Tree, historic downtown square, City Park bridge, veteran memorials and much more.
Ping is also painting the bison sculpture for Rush County.
“We at Indiana Association of United Ways are excited for this new and unique way to engage with our communities across the state. We believe this project will be a chance for counties to display their county pride and individuality while simultaneously boosting awareness about Indiana United Ways and Funds’ community efforts and initiatives,” says Sarah Nahmias, Board Chair of IaUW.
According to Cunningham, the United Fund partnered with Main Street Greensburg, the City of Greensburg, Decatur County, the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce and Greensburg Tourism as sponsors to make this project possible. Read more: Greensburg Daily News
#Best Chamber practice: Women in Business Multi-Chamber Networking
Annual Multi-Chamber Women in Business Luncheon - Join us for a luncheon and networking with the women of the Skokie, Wilmette/Kenilworth, and Winnetka-Northfield Chambers of Commerce. The luncheon will feature table rotation-style networking, giving participants the opportunity to meet and network with many businesswomen. Be sure to bring plenty of your business cards to pass among fellow attendees.
Maggiano's Little Italy
4999 Old Orchard Center #A28
Skokie, Illinois 60077
Maggiano's Little Italy
4999 Old Orchard Center #A28
Skokie, Illinois 60077
Date/Time Information:
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Skokie Chamber of Commerce (847) 673-0240
$25 for members and $30 for prospective members; includes lunch.
Seating is limited - Registrations must be received by Friday, August 19, 2016.
Seating is limited - Registrations must be received by Friday, August 19, 2016.
Women In Business is presented by AT&T and Slavin Farmers Insurance.
Registration: Register Now
New Arrival: Shorewood Area 2016 Community Map
The Shorewood Area Chamber 2016 Community Map is available at the Village of Mount Pleasant today! Thanks to Karen Wagner and the chamber team for their help and direction putting this together!
Town Square Publications (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.
Natchez-Adams County Chamber: More than 3,000 served at IRT clinic
— More than 3,000 residents received free health care in Natchez in a little less than two weeks. Military personnel provided medical, dental and other health care services to residents at the Tricentennial Wellness Innovative Readiness Training medical clinic that set up in Natchez from Aug. 2 through Saturday. Delta Regional Authority’s IRT Program Manager and Military Liaison Brittney Lindberg said the Natchez mission was extremely successful. Numbers collected for the IRT clinic show that 3,016 patients checked into the clinic by the end of the day Friday.
The clinic is part of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training Program, a military volunteer training opportunity that allows military personnel to train and gain “real-world training” while offering services to underserved and underinsured people. “We have 137 military personnel on this mission, and I’d like to stress they come from all over the U.S. and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,” Lindberg said.
“For them, it is much needed and valuable training. And they get to see Örst hand what their contributions are doing for the American people. “This program, at it’s heart, is about building civil-military relations.” Ultimately, the mission had to conclude a day earlier than expected on Saturday because the supplies brought in were exhausted.
“We knew that it was going to be big just because of how hard the community has worked to get the word out,” Lindberg said. “But I don’t think anyone expected it to be quite this big. “It has been an overwhelming and tremendous turnout from the community.” The hardest hit aspects of the mission have been dental and optometry care, Lindberg said. She said that demand is typical at other such missions.
“I would attribute it to most people having health coverage, but they may or may not have dental or optical coverage,” she said. “Or if they do, it is very, very expensive to get these procedures done. “For someone to get a pair of glasses at no cost, that’s a huge thing for a lot of people.” Lindberg said she is especially thankful to the community for its contributions. In particular, Lindberg wanted to credit Alcorn State University’s Ruth Nichols, Mississippi State Department of Health’s Madeline England, and local Vietnam War veteran Robert Pernell.
“Anything we have needed, they have made happen,” she said. “Natchez owes the success of the program just as much to the community support as the military.” As a former member of the armed services, Pernell said he wanted to do what he could to help the military as well as the community in getting access to health care. “We have a very high concentration of underinsured and uninsured citizens in our community,” Pernell said. “It was important for us as a community to show up and be as supportive as possible and help get the word out. “And we had a tremendous amount of people waiting in line to be seen.” Pernell said he felt like the whole community came together to make this a success, including both the county and city governments.
“Everyone was all hands on deck,” he said. “About Natchez and Adams County, it is one city, one county and one people. We demonstrated that by working together. “Our goal was to get some of our citizens heath care, and it worked, it worked out tremendously.”
England, the community health director for Southwest Mississippi, said the IRT was a great event for the community. England said she has signed up many people for preventative programs, Motivated to Live a Better Life, Tobacco Quitline and tobacco cessation and diabetes self management education. “Overall it has been an amazing opportunity to link people up with longer-term services we might be able to provide at the health department, and the same for the programs our many partners in the community offer,” she said.
“A lot of relationships among community partners have developed as a result of the IRT.” England said participating in the IRT clinic has been an eye-opening experience. “It really made it very stark how large the need is for health services in our community and Southwest Mississippi,” she said. “But all the U.S. military people were just incredible partners and willing to work with all of us in the community. “I can’t say enough good things about them.” ASU’s special assistant to the president for Community and Economic Development, Nichols said she had been involved with Delta Regional Authority before as part of a leadership institute in 2014. Nichols said was excited when she got the phone call in December about one of the IRT missions coming to Natchez.
“We were fortunate that Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College had the great facilities for the military to operate from,” Nichols said. “It has been hugely successful. “All you have to do is look at the faces, the smiles, of the people and listen to what they have to say. They are so grateful that this has been offered. These are people who have been waiting on healthcare for years.”
“We were fortunate that Alcorn State University and Copiah-Lincoln Community College had the great facilities for the military to operate from,” Nichols said. “It has been hugely successful. “All you have to do is look at the faces, the smiles, of the people and listen to what they have to say. They are so grateful that this has been offered. These are people who have been waiting on healthcare for years.”
Nichols said a large part of the community has been involved in making this successful. The two colleges, Merit Health Natchez, both county and city government ofÖcials as well as neighboring ofÖcials from Concordia Parish and Wilkinson and Claiborne Counties, law enforcement with both the city and county, the WIN Job Center, the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Mississippi Rural Comprehensive Health Department and many other volunteers have all contributed.
“If you don’t think Natchez and Adams County can work together on a project, this is an example that it can,” Nichols said. “The heartfelt willingness to contribute what each group of volunteers could contribute has just been amazing.” Read more: Natchez Democrat
Mt. Pleasant Area chamber: New hotel on campus staffed by students, alumni, hosts ribbon cutting
A six-story hotel staffed by Central Michigan University alumni and students was officially inducted into the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce today — a month after it housed its first guests.
“Several of us, including our entire sales staff, are CMU alumni,” said the hotel's director of sales, Tamera Reder. “We’re all very proud of our hotel, as you can see from the 'flying C' near the main entrance.”
The Courtyard Mt. Pleasant at Central Michigan University located on CMU’s campus officially opened July 13. About half of the Marriott’s staff positions have been filled by hospitality students, said General Manager Rick Rautanen. The hotel contains a meeting room that will also serve as classroom space for the hospitality program.
“This is a great opportunity (for students) to work in a living, breathing hotel while going to class,” Rautanen said.
The day the hotel opened its doors, 12 rooms were booked. The $15 million project was funded by Lodgco Hospitality, a Mount Pleasant-based company. CMU is leasing the land to Lodgco on a 30-year contract, which will earn the university $5.25 million.
A ribbon cutting ceremony event was hosted at the hotel today by the Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce in the hotel's conference room. Refreshments and Hors d'Oeuvres were provided to guests and the room included three dropdown projection screens displaying photos of past events on campus and around the Mount Pleasant area. Read more: Central Michigan Life
Celebrate the community next week with two days of food, beverages and live music.
The city of Wisconsin Rapids and the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce present Market Block Party, a two-part celebration event Tuesday and Wednesday across from the clock tower on First Street North, near Market Street in Wisconsin Rapids.
The event kicks off 5 p.m. and continues through 8 p.m. Tuesday with food and beverage vendors and live music by Goats in Trees. Event organizers ask visitors to bring chairs or blankets.
Celebrations continue 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday with lunch and live music by Dade Grode.
The city and the Heart of Wisconsin are hosting the event to celebrate the past, present and future of the Triangle, also called Market Block, located between First Street North, East Jackson Street and Market Street. Residents are asked to share what they would like to see there in the future and send photos and memories of the Triangle to jclark@wirapids.org. Read more: Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
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. To request your chamber publication or map proposal, Contact Town Square Here
Friday: 157 Rules for Executive Success in Organization Management (and your Chamber of Commerce) by Patrick McGaughey
RULE
#24 Avoid spending money that’s not
in the bank.
