Here we are in this season of winter once again with its beauty, joys, and challenges. Added to our ‘winter mix’ is the still looming COVID pandemic situation and the uncertainty that it engenders in our health and way of living. In nature winter is a fallow time and it seems to be a downtime in our lives too. We slow down. We go outdoors less. We hunker down into our own personal hibernation. While we may think of it as a time of darkness, loneliness, or emptiness, it can be for us a stimulus to pause and reflect on our lives. Each of us has our unique gifts that need time to regenerate. Though the colors and life of summer and fall have faded away; something is still going on underneath the earth’s surface. Life is happening.

Are you dreading the winter, unsure of how or if the OMICRON strain of COVID will affect you and those you love? Sharon Scibek of Gracious Space invite you to consider joining others in their “Winter” series of conversations. Give yourself the gift of a 90-minute conversation. They are FREE.

Gracious Space is offering FREE Seasonal Conversations for Women held on January 18th.

Please join Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. for a virtual event featuring best-selling author and real estate marketing expert Chelsea Peitz on February 2nd from 10-11am. Chelsea is an internationally recognized real estate keynote speaker whose superpower is breaking down complex concepts into actionable, easy-to-execute social media strategies.

For over 7 years, she has taught the real estate community how to leverage social media and technology to build a powerful personal brand and develop content that generates real leads without feeling ‘salesy.’

Chelsea became a licensed real estate agent in 2001 B.F. (Before Facebook) and did business the “old fashioned” way for over a decade. While she’s no longer an active agent, she’s continued to work within this niche and merge old-school strategies with new-school technology to teach others how to become more human by using tech.

Are you looking to hire a great employee? Interested in access to training resources? Seeking labor market information?

The Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning (DWDAL) coordinates Maryland’s workforce programs ensuring that businesses have skilled employees needed to be competitive in today’s global, state, and local economies. Our goal is to ensure that businesses have skilled workers and job seekers have access to employment and streamlined training resources and services. We will discuss programs like Maryland Workforce Exchange, Registered Apprenticeship, and Recruitment & Job Fairs just to name a few.

The Catalyst Fund’s goal is to support businesses that aren’t qualified for traditional financing vehicles and to bridge gaps in existing/available funding options. Loans are provided at market rate or below.

In addition, we now offer the new Collateral Assistance Fund available to Howard County businesses that assists companies to satisfy the collateral requirement to secure a catalyst loan.

The Catalyst Fund, powered by the Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA), is part of Maryland’s Video Lottery Terminal Small, Minority and Woman-Owned Business Account initiative. The fund is a locally managed source of capital used to finance start-ups and expanding businesses statewide whose projects will create permanent jobs and leverage private sector investment. Catalyst is a Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) as borrowers repay Catalyst Fund loans, the principal and interest payments are returned to the fund for lending to other businesses to create more jobs and investment opportunities.

Loan funds can be used for normal business uses such as working capital, equipment, real estate, franchise fees and inventory purchases. Loan amounts are always subject to availability of funds.

Inclusive Ventures Program (IVP) aims to assist small, minority, women and veteran entrepreneurs in Anne Arundel County with education, mentorship and access to capital. The goal is to help these businesses maximize opportunity, create jobs and grow our local and state economy.

Business owners must apply to the program. Preferred candidates are entrepreneurs who have a track record; the company should be in business for at least two years and have revenue and employees.

Upon acceptance, entrepreneurs will participate in the program’s signature component, the Virtual Entrepreneurship Cohort and Seed Fund. This online experience is a three-hour class once a week for six weeks. During the seventh meeting, each participant will receive a certificate of completion and a $5,000 grant to be used for working capital. Participating businesses also receive exclusive, complimentary consultations with legal, human resources and accounting experts and may apply for additional funds through AAEDC’s VOLT loan fund and Workforce Training Reimbursement program.

The next application period is scheduled to open on January 24, 2022. Please continue to check this page for updated information.

The ESB Engineers Week Council (EWC) is currently accepting sponsorships for its 2022 Engineers Week (EW) taking place February 18-25th, 2022. This year the week will include a Maritime Day for the first time, with partnership of MITAGS, The Maritime Conference Center and Sail Baltimore. Sponsors and volunteers make this annual program a success for the hundreds of Maryland High School students participating in the program.

The Chamber Member Rewards program is a member recruitment program that provides incentives to participants who forward prospects to the Chamber resulting in new memberships.

HOW IT WORKS:

Weekly Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Awareness Conversations

The contingent workforce (niche, hard-to-find, professional skilled workers) plays a key role as part of an organization’s overall human capital strategy. And this essential workforce has gone through tremendous change and growth over the last few years. In fact, according to a report from Intuit, roughly 25-30% of the total workforce in the U.S. is now contingent — and that number is only increasing.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are already a growing part of the conversation for full-time employees, so it is essential to start thinking more comprehensively about the diversity and inclusion of the workers who comprise the staffing industry’s contingent workforce segment.

Join here!