The Chamber will be hosting a Power Breakfast Meeting on Friday, October 16 with Mayor William Peduto, City of Pittsburgh, as our featured speaker.

The Chamber will host a Business Institute webinar on Tuesday, October 20 with the topic of Financing Your Business with SPC - How to Get Started and What to Expect.  Steve Meredith, Business Finance Manager for Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, will be the keynote speaker.

The Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Columbia-Montour Area Vocational-Technical School to help people strengthen skills needed to pursue and start employment. A free foundational employment skills program is being developed for adults and out of school youth. The program is being made possible with funding provided by the Columbia County Commissioners through the CARES Act.  Over five sessions, participants will cover topics including: writing an effective cover letter and resume, interviewing and communication skills, and working as part of a team. Upon successful completion, participants will be awarded a certificate of completion. Local employers are being invited to participate by interviewing the graduates. A goal is for every graduate to be offered at least one job opportunity.  This program will be the first offered in the new Adult Education Center being developed at the School. The Center will also be able to provide specialized training programs for businesses.  The first foundational employment skills program will be offered this Fall.

The Chamber is hosting a Virtual Chamber Dinner on Friday, October 16.  Hosting a Chamber Dinner in the fall is tradition for the chamber; however, the 8th Annual Chamber Dinner is planned as a fully virtual event with two safe face-to-face components designed to support local businesses and benefit local students.

The Chamber is hosting a new weekly series, topical short workshops - "Tips from the Experts" - free to members and limited to 30-40 minutes.  We have them scheduled throughout October and will continue to offer them throughout the year.

The Chamber will host their Legislative Breakfast on October 5 using LiveStream technology. This replaces a huge annual event that brings in over 300 people and a great deal of sponsor revenue. 

The Chamber is holding our first ever Action Mentoring Sporting Clays event at Seven Springs Mountain Resort on Tuesday, October 20. This event was created to help our young business professionals network and interact with local successful business leaders in an outdoor venue. The reality is that we have lost the ability to network in this COVID environment, which really hurts our young professionals and others who are just getting into the workforce. The concept is that each young professional is assigned to a foursome of business leaders to spend quality time shooting, while engaging them in discussions that can potentially help them be successful. The emphasis is placed on staying local for their careers, while opening up other opportunities.  We intend to look at other outdoor sports and utilize them for our Action Mentoring in the future (kayaking, skiing, biking, etc.).

The Chamber is hosting a Community Hoagie Day Sale as an in-person, drive-through dinner event on Saturday, October 3.  Each hoagie order will get a community day bag full of chamber member inserts and information.  Proceeds will go to the Chamber's scholarship fund.