UPCOMING EVENT

Don’t miss the first DRINK GNV Brewery Tour Presented by ServPro of Alachua County West

Friday, June 7, 3pm

First Magnitude Brewing Company

1220 SE Veitch Street



The Chamber is launching a new Buy Local campaign that highlights what makes Gainesville unique and celebrates the talent we have here in our favorite community. EAT and DRINK GNV are two of those that we are most proud of and so we are very excited to host our very first Brewery Tour. 

Join us as we visit all of our Member Breweries including: 

Big Top, First Magnitude, Swamp Head, and Cypress & Grove. 

We will also provide food, snacks, and plenty of water along the way. 

Guests will meet at First Magnitude at 3:00pm (Parking available). We'll spend approximately 45 minutes at each location before boarding a bus and travelling to the next location. Each guest will receive a commemorative tumbler, a souvenir lanyard, and food and beverage (BEER!) at each location. 

Space is limited so be sure to book your spot early! 



Cheers to Drink GNV!

For more information and to register to attend,  Click Here .

Sponsored by Servpro Alachua County West

UPCOMING EVENT

CEO InSights featuring Nancy Eckert of LifeSouth Community Blood Center

Wednesday, June 12, 8 - 9:30am

Hippodrome Theater, Gainesville

25 SE 2nd Place, Gainesville

Put Into Context.....With a Point of View

Our lives are influenced by the time and culture in which we live, as well as who we are. Decisions that may not have appeared significant when they were made can ultimately become defining moments. Facts, education, advice and instinct all play a role.

The CEO of an organization must make decisions that have far reaching impact on the organization. Blood banking is an integral part of the healthcare system. As such, decisions frequently are much more significant than merely the financial implications. Nancy will share with you some of the stories of the difficult decisions she made as CEO of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers.

CEO InSights is an event series featuring topic presentations by local presidents, CEOs and other community leaders in an intimate, studio-type setting. The goal is to share personal and timely insights on critical topics including leadership, innovation, culture and more. 

 

Join us this Wednesday, June 12th, as our guest speaker will be Nancy Eckert, President and CEO of LifeSouth Community Blood Center.

There are a few seats still available.  Registration is required.  A light breakfast will be served. 

  

For more information and to register,  click here .

Sponsored by BBVA Compass

UPCOMING EVENT

How To Achieve Success Through Mastermind Groups

Roundtable / Mastermind Kickoff Event

Friday, June 7, 7:30am - 9:00am

Carr, Riggs and Ingram

4010 NW 25th Place, Gainesville

 

As a Business Owner, do you feel your business benefit from being part of a small business peer advisors group? If so, join us this Friday for an "Introduction to Small Business Roundtables" led by Collin Austin, COE (Chief of Everything) and Owner of New Scooters 4 Less.

 

This meeting is exclusive for small business Owners / CEOs, attendance at this introductory event is the prerequisite to joining a Small Business Roundtable / Mastermind Group.



Collin will share his personal insight and experience on the value he received by participating in a Small Business Roundtable and the value you can expect to gain for your business. Registration is required with seating limited to 30 attendees.

 

Mastermind groups provide support, function much like a board or directors or executive coach, lend advice and serve as a confidential group of peers to discuss any challenges your business may face. Once the roundtables are formed, groups can chose to meet monthly when it is convenient for them.

 

Don't miss out on this opportunity to jumpstart your business by taking this step in your professional development.

Click Here to register.

Sponsored by

UPCOMING CHAMBER EVENTS

June 7: Small Business Roundtable

June 7: DRINK GNV Brewery Tour

June 11: Business Before Hours - LifeSouth Community Blood Centers

June 12: CEO InSights - Nancy Eckert

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS

May 21: Live@Aloft with Clay Brooker

May 23: Bike Night @ Winghouse

May 29: IPDC Lunch & Learn Series: Choosing the Right Bank for Your Business

May 29: Heal Your Heart With Art!

May 30: Live@ Aloft Hotels with Thomas Anthony

May 31: Easton Foundation's Gator Cup

May 31: The Body Language of Marketing

Jun 5: United Way Express Bus Tour

UPCOMING EVENT

Lunch & Learn : Social Media Marketing for Business 2.0 – Using FaceBook’s New Design 

to your Advantage

Wednesday, June 5th, Noon - 1pm

Saint Leo University

4650 NW 39th Place, Suite B, Gainesville

Presented by : Mary Reichardt, Director of Marketing at Butler Enterprises

Facebook has redesigned and revised itself, adding more features for its’ users. With these changes come opportunity for you and your business.  

Come join us for this informative talk where the audience will leave feeling more comfortable with the new Facebook changes and confident in how to take advantage of the changes to increase your business success. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sponsored by

UPCOMING EVENT

Join us for Business Before Hours at LifeSouth

Tuesday, June 11, 8:30 to 10am

LifeSouth Community Blood Centers

4039 W Newberry Road, Gainesville

Join us Tuesday, June 11th for Business Before Hours from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at LifeSouth Community Blood Centers.  Admission is free with your Chamber membership, registration is required.

 

Business Before Hours is a structured yet relaxed environment for making effective connections within the Chamber business community.

 

You may find a strong referral source, a new vendor, the perfect client or simply get a foot in the door for connecting at larger events. Come build lasting business and personal relationships at Business Before Hours. We hope to see you there!

There are only a few spaces remaining.  Once the event fills up, you will have the option of being added to the waiting in the event a cancellation occurs.

Click Here for more information and to register.

UPCOMING EVENT

ALL IN Conference & Expo 2019

Thursday, July 26

UF Hilton

1714 SW 34th St, Gainesville

We are excited to be hosting the very first ALL IN Conference & Expo this July. To add more value and opportunity to our traditional expo we have done some reimagining and wrapped a fabulous conference around the event to bring education and inspiration to the day. The expo will still take place as it has in years past and guests can choose which elements they want to participate in. 

The conference will run throughout the day at the Hilton UF starting at 9am. The expo will open to the public at 1pm. Guests attending the conference will be able to attend the expo free of charge. Guests of the trade show can purchase conference tickets attend the education sessions. 

Would you like to do some professional development for you or your team but can’t take the time to leave the business for several days to travel for a conference? Now you don’t have to! We are providing opportunities for education right here in our backyard. We have topics and speakers appealing to all levels of experience. 

 

Topics that day include: 

And many more! 

The ALL IN 2019 event will include: 

UPCOMING EVENT

Leadership Gainesville Class 46 now Accepting Applications

Deadline: June 14, 2019

Are you ready to make a difference as a leader in our community?

Leadership Gainesville is now accepting applications for its 46th class. This 10-month community leadership program is designed to give leaders of today the tools they need to grow their impact in the Greater Gainesville region. LG provides an in-depth immersion into the issues and opportunities of our region.

Leadership Gainesville allows you to:

For more information, contact Joe Johnson at  [email protected].

UPCOMING EVENT

9th Annual Gainesville - Alachua County Employment Law Seminar

Wednesday, June 19, 8 AM - 5 PM

Best Western Gateway Grand Hotel

4200 NW 97th Blvd, Gainesville

Sponsored by the City of Gainesville Office of Equal Opportunity, Alachua CountyEqual Opportunity Office, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP and Gray Robinson Attorneys at Law.

Topics:

Recent Developments in Labor and Employment Law

Discipline, Discharge and Separation Agreements

FLSA/ FMLA Update

Empl oyee Speech in the Era of Presidential Tweets

T he Story of Patricia King

To register, please contact [email protected] or call (352) 393-8490.

REMINDER

Hot Jobs through CareerSource NCFL

Each week, CareerSource North Central Florida staff members identify current Hot Jobs that employers are eager to fill.

If you’d like a vacant position to be included on this list, please call (352) 244-5112.   ...See this week's Hot Jobs

To apply for jobs listed:

EDUCATION UPDATE

Third-grade FSA English Language Arts scores released; local ‘turnaround’ schools post gains

The Florida Department of Education (DOE) has released the scores from the 2019 3rd-grade English Language Arts (ELA) Florida Standards Assessment (FSA). Those scores show that the percentage of Alachua County students scoring at a Level 3 or above on the test rose from 56% to 57%. That puts the district one percentage point shy of the Florida average, which is 58%.

Third-grade scores are released first because Florida requires school districts to retain 3rd graders who receive a Level 1 on the language arts FSA. That means those students are not able to move onto 4th grade unless they are able to demonstrate their proficiency through some other state-approved instrument, such as a different exam. Level 1 students must also be offered the opportunity to attend summer reading camps, which will start up in less than two weeks.

Terwilliger Elementary School, which is currently designated a ‘turnaround’ school based on its school grades in previous years, posted an 11 percentage point increase in the number of students earning a Level 3 and above on the exam, from 27% to 38%. The school also posted a 15 percentage point drop in the number of Level 1 students, from 43% to 28%.

Metcalfe Elementary School, the district’s other turnaround school, also posted gains on the test. The percentage of students scoring a Level 3 or above rose from 11% to 22%, while the percentage of students scoring a Level 1 fell from 47% to 38%.

Because the FSA is given in grades 3-10, this is the first year that these students have ever taken one of Florida’s standardized tests. Because their performance on the test can’t be compared with their scores from previous years, the 3rd-grade test serves as more of a baseline, giving a snapshot of where each student is and helping guide principals and teachers on moving them forward. 

Third-grade scores are one of the more than twenty factors that the DOE uses to determine elementary school grades, including test results from other grades in other subjects that show both overall proficiency and gains students have made during the school year.

Scores from other FSA subjects and grade levels are expected to be released sometime in June, with school grades coming out later in the summer.

that if you refer a business to become a Chamber Member, you will receive a $25 Gift Card from any participating Chamber Member when they join.  For information on our member referral program, contact Julianne Raymond, your Membership Account Executive at the Greater Gainesville Chamber at [email protected] .

UPCOMING EVENT

Maple Street Biscuit Company in Tioga will now be open Sundays for Brunch

Maple Street Biscuit Company Tioga

140 SW 128th St., Building 5 Suite D, Newberry

Maple Street Biscuit Company in Tioga Town Center is pleased to announce that they will now be open on Sundays for breakfast and brunch. This is a minor deviation from the other Maple Street Biscuit Company locations nationwide, but the owners of this location noticed a niche to be able to serve the west end community at a higher level and extend a gracious opportunity to those who can’t make it to the restaurant during the week.

“We want to be a place where all of the community can have the opportunity to connect,” says Edwina Hurst, Community Leader for the Tioga Location. We listened to feedback from our guests and made the adjustment to our business model to be able to serve our customer base better.” The Sunday hours will only be at their Tioga Town Center location and not the other location that they have in Butler Plaza. The new hours begin on June 2.

New Members

Robinson Financial Group

Universal Supplies and Services

Renewing Members

Aloft Gainesville University Area

C. David Coffey, P.A.

Captozyme Inc.

Celebrate Primary Care

Gainesville Mall

Gnosys Networks

ICI Homes

Jeff Montgomery Associates, LLC. DBA Chevron At Hunter's Crossing

North Central Florida Apartment Association

Sissine's Office Systems

Studio32 Orthodontics

Tomlinson Motor Co.

United Way of North Central Florida

Zaxby's dba Zax, Inc.

MEMBER NEWS

New Crocodile Exhibit Now Open at Florida Museum

Open through January 2020

Florida Museum of Natural History

3215 Hull Road, Gainesville

Florida Museum of Natural History visitors may now test their strength against a crocodile’s bite, learn how they hunt using soundwaves and see live reptiles in the new “CROCS: Ancient Predators in a Modern World” exhibit. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for Florida residents and $5.50 for ages 3-17. Museum members and UF students with a valid Gator 1 card receive free admission. For more information, visit www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/exhibits/crocs or call 352-846-2000.

UF Innovate and Trimark Properties Broker New Affiliation Agreement for Lab Near UF Campus 

Trimark Properties and  UF Innovate have agreed to work togetheron a state-of-the-art laboratory space in Catalyst Park, less than a mile from the University of Florida campus. 

The newly-renovated lab with private office space, constructed by Trimark Properties and named the  1140 Lab , will give renters access to UF Innovate's incubator educational programs, networking events and robust collection of mentors and advisers. Lab renters will also have access to the UF Library system, the most comprehensive system of its kind in the state of Florida, as part of the agreement. 

“The value UF Innovate brings to any entrepreneurial company cannot be overstated,” Trimark CEO John Fleming said. “Mentorships, education through workshops, symposiums, informal gatherings, access to vital business components and accountability – to just name a few.” 

The tangible benefits of the building’s facilities and the equipment accessible through the UF Innovate partnership are also uniquely valuable, Fleming said.

The 1140 building itself is designed to work as both a wet (chemical-centric) or dry (computer-centric) lab space. The agreement with UF Innovate grants access to equipment like autoclaves, chemical fume hoods, incubators, a -80-degree freezer, an upgraded HVAC system and both DI and RO water filtration systems. 

“Access to vital equipment necessary for experiments without the need to self-fund these financially burdensome tools is a major value add for any company,” he said.

As a developer, Trimark has worked on several projects around Innovation Square, which serves as the heart of the  Innovation District , over the last few years. These projects, like Ingenuity and the 417 Building, have given Trimark valuable insight on developing office space and are part of an overarching goal of bringing the area to life. 

“Our vision, that of UF and Trimark, for the Innovation District area hasn’t changed from the original concept,” Fleming said. “What we did find, once the master plan was in place, was the need to aggressively work on actual infrastructure so prospective companies or entrepreneurs could recognize the tangible changes to the area.”

This common vision and proximity to the Innovation District made for a natural partnership between Trimark and UF Innovate, said Mark Long, director of incubation services at UF. 

“UF Innovate and Trimark have existed literally side by side for the past few years here in Innovation Square,” he said. “Taking that relationship to a partnership level was a natural progression to benefit everyone in Gainesville that is in entrepreneurship.” 

Long said the partnership will help whoever moves into the 1140 Lab grow by allowing them access to extra resources that a business normally wouldn’t have, such as potential funding opportunities and UF Innovate’s extensive network.

He also said agreements like the one between UF Innovate and Trimark are important in growing entrepreneurial support in Gainesville.  

“We look for potential partners that can enhance the ability of startup companies to move here, grow here and stay here,” he said. “And, Trimark is a really effective enhancement to our efforts to build an entrepreneurial community down here in mid-Gainesville.”

Entrepreneurs, researchers or medical professionals can currently rent either the entire 3,300 square foot 1140 building or one of two 1,665 square foot suites.