Welcome to the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce
newsletter for the week of Feb. 3, 2020!

Our mission: The Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce promotes economic and community development by providing services and addressing issues important to business.
This week's quick hits
  1. Watch your inbox Tuesday for vibrancy survey
  2. Community Forecast Breakfast pulls a big crowd
  3. Ross County Humane Society featured in our Nonprofit Corner
  4. Scioto Society to offer Cead Mile Failte March 14
COMING THIS WEEK: Watch your inbox tomorrow for a Chamber community survey. We're offering you the chance to complete a quick survey on "How Vibrant is Chillicothe, Ohio?" The answers will be compiled by Quint Studer and his team in advance of his appearance at our Annual Meeting March 10. If you don't receive it Tuesday, let us know.
Courtesy of Northwest Title
Community Forecast Breakfast
pulls big crowd

Before Friday's snowy weather descended upon us, a crowd of nearly 100 people gathered to get a glimpse of what 2020 might be like in Chillicothe and Ross County.

Fresh off a very successful 2019 that included expansion projects by both Kenworth and Adena Health System, keynote speaker Jennifer McFarland Barrett, of Franklin Templeton Investments, went through the current economic figures and offered her thoughts about how things might go in 2020.

The long and the short of McFarland Barrett's remarks is that a recession is unlikely in 2020, the stock market is continuing to chug along, and consumer confidence is still high -- all good factors for the current climate. ( FUN FACT: McFarland Barrett has a link to Chillicothe as she is a descendent of Lucy Webb Hayes .)

Friday's attendees also heard from Tiffany Baldwin, of Downtown Chillicothe, who talked about the augmented reality project planned for downtown, and a new partnership that would extend free WiFi throughout downtown.

Tammy Eallonardo, the county's economic development director, and Todd Shelton, regional director of field advocacy for the National Association of Manufacturers, both talked about workforce development. Eallonardo talked about helping fill the employment gap for local manufacturers and also spoke about linking companies and funds to help them further their business, as her organization did with the Joint Economic Development Initiative of Southern Ohio (JEDISO) for Douglas Industries last year.

We'll have photos on our Facebook page and at our Flickr account soon from the event. Thanks to Kingston National Bank for their sponsorship of the breakfast and to Cathy Dresbach and Bill Betson of Edward Jones for helping us connect with our keynote speaker.
DEADLINE: HGTV submissions due Friday
There's just a few days left to turn in your HGTV Hometown Takeover submissions! Friday is the deadline. Go to HGTVHometownTakeover.com and submit your videos, photos and explanations!

And, please send us a note about your submissions so we can track what went out. Send to mthrone@chillicotheohio.com.
Non-profit corner
Ross County Humane Society on the rise
Last week, the Ross County Humane Society conducted its annual Community Board Meeting and the news was great.

Just a few short years ago, RCHS was in a financial and cultural mess with the bottom coming with a net loss of nearly $56,000 in 2016. Since then, though, Executive Director Jenn Thomas and the board have made the humane society a true Chillicothe success story.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My wife and I adopted Digby from the shelter a few years ago. He was born with a cleft palate, like my daughter, Juliana, and he's been a great companion to our family ever since. (That's him above - he's a great pillow and an average watchdog.

Back to the facts, last year, 678 dogs were adopted from the shelter, which has not euthanized a dog because of space in six years. In addition, the humane society gave 2,760 pounds of dog food to the pets of low income families and 358 dogs and 178 cats were spayed or neutered at low cost clinics.

But the financial turnaround might be the biggest story. From the $55,000 loss in 2016, RCHS has slowly climbed up and finished 2019 in the black to the tune of $81,826, which will allow them to focus on some capital improvements to the Lick Run Road shelter. They've partnered with Gigi's, a nonprofit group that helps find homeless dogs a place to live - which includes helping rural dog shelters improve their shelters. Gigi's and RCHS will be helping to make a slew of improvements to the shelter for the care of the dogs.

There's much more to say about the resurgence of the Ross County Humane Society, but they're looking for donations to help their operations and volunteers to help them carry out the mission. Click the link below and see if you can help.
Special thanks to our

Platinum: Adena Health System, Advanced Services Heating and Cooling, Atomic Credit Union, C. Walters Management, Central Ohio Financial Services, Chillicothe City Schools, Chillicothe Paints, Classic Brands, Horizon, Janney Montgomery Scott, Kenworth Truck Co., Kingston National Bank, Landmark Properties Group LLC, McDonald's, Ohio University Chillicothe, Petland Inc., Printex Same-Day Printing, Ross County Banking Center, Signature HealthCARE of Chillicothe, and Wesbanco.

Gold: National Church Residences, Scentsy by Chris Powers, Staff Source, U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Chillicothe, U.S. Bank.

Would you like to hear more about premium member benefits? Call Bobbi at 740-702-2722.
Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce
45 E. Main St., Chillicothe, OH 45601
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