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Chamber Connections

March 11, 2022

Nominees & Winners Announced

CMC’s Spirit of Community Awards celebrates the individuals and businesses who make the region special. This annual event honors educators, businesses, public safety officers, and military personnel for their community contributions!

“We are so excited to celebrate and honor some of the incredible individuals and businesses who serve our community. Our region’s high quality of life is due in large part to the people we will be recognizing. We hope you can join us IN-PERSON at Live! Casino to thank those who make our region one of the best places to live, work, and do business!” Kristi Simon, CMC President & CEO.

The CMC is thrilled to announce 2022 Spirit of Community Winners and Nominees, click below to learn more!

Winners & Nominees

Small Business Seminar

How to Build Trust & Gain Customers Through 5-Star Reviews

Bad reviews? Angry staff reviews? Annoying customer reviews? We'll show you how to turn that around and gain POSITIVE reviews!

Local businesses are using new and highly effective strategies to generate lots of 5-star reviews for their business. You may have noticed all of your competitors' reviews and wondered how they did it. They’ll never show you, but I will!

In this informative session, we’ll cover:

Why consistent online reviews across multiple sites are important for any business
The 3 big reasons why your customers don't post reviews
Proven strategies for gathering more reviews and attracting new customers

About Our Speaker

Dominic Vecchiollo has worked in publishing and marketing from a young age — since starting a class newsletter in the fourth grade — and opened DOSSU Design + Consulting, a digital marketing agency, in 2001.

During his career he's created and worked on award-winning campaigns for nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and local businesses. He has worked at Baltimore CenterStage and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as print shops and marketing agencies in central Maryland.

Along the way, Dominic has learned a good deal about reaching audiences and moving them to action. Now he's applied that experience to help you harness the power of the Internet to attract more customers — and he's made it easy, too!

M&T Bank & Office Without Walls Present:

Setting Up Your Business (Webinar)

Want to start your own business but don't know how? Already a business owner or entrepreneur looking to take things to the next level?

Sign-up for this free education webinar featuring Top Industry experts from M& T Bank and Award Winning Estate Planning & Business Law Attorney, Sahmra A Stevenson with S.A Stevenson Law Offices, Office Without Walls®.

Topics Covered Included:

How to access capital support/start up your business
The Importance of having a personal attorney, banker, insurance agent, & CPA for your business
Overcoming fear of leveraging resources and capital available to you
How to create the means to hire talent to drive your business forward
How to legally structure your business & protect your assets and legacy as a business owner
and much more....

BGE Energizing Small Businesses

BGE Energizing Small Business Grants Round 3 Grant Recipients

In 2021, BGE awarded 176 small business with $20,000 grants through its Energizing Small Business Grants program. This grant program is part of BGE’s $15 million pledge to assist small businesses with COVID-19 relief and recovery and is a multi-year commitment expected to run through at least 2023.

Through the BGE Energizing Small Business Grants Program, eligible businesses located in BGE's service area will have two additional opportunities this year to apply for grants of up to $20,000:

The first round opens February 14, 2022 at 9 a.m. ET and closes March 25, 2022, at 6 p.m. ET. Recipients will be announced in mid-May.
The second round opens July 25, 2022 at 9 a.m. ET and closes September 2, 2022, at 6 p.m. ET. Recipients will be announced in mid-October.

Applicants must be an existing BGE electric and/or gas customer with positive BGE credit history. Other eligibility criteria include:

Be a business founded in 2020 or prior
In good standing (or on the way to) with the State of Maryland
A maximum of twenty-five (25) employees
Annual gross revenues in 2021 of less than $7 million USD
Demonstrated need for funding to support business and serve customers

Learn More

Central Maryland Chamber Salute in the March Edition of The Business Monthly

CMC UPCOMING EVENTS

SAVE THE DATE & REGISTER TODAY!

Coffee Catch Up | March 17th | 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. | AAWDC | Register here

Mid-Session Update | March 22nd | 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. | Virtual | Register here

Small Business Seminar: How to Build Trust & Gain Customers Through 5-Star Reviews | March 23rd | 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. | Hybrid | Register here

Membership 101| March 24th | 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. | Virtual | Register here

Spirit of Community Awards | March 28th | 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. | The HALL at Live!| Register here

Mid-Year Economic Outlook Update| April 6th | 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. | Virtual | Register here

Business Builder Breakfast | April 7th | 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. | Hella's Restaurant | Register here

Networking Mixer | April 14th | 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. | Maryland Jockey Club | Register here

Coffee Catch Up | May 25th | 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. | Tipton Aiport | Register here

Central Maryland Chamber Job Board

Job Opportunities Available

Utilize the Chamber’s job board to help you find the perfect hire!

Members may post job openings to the board for free.

Job Board

Fostering IDEA's

Weekly Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Awareness Conversations

Enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Requires Listening

O’Melveny partner Darin Snyder, head of the firm’s DEI, shares important realizations with the legal industry and corporate America to accomplish real progress on diversity. He says merit alone doesn’t explain disparities, companies need to have open and honest discussions, but most important is just to listen to diverse voices.

A recent study by consulting firm Russell Reynolds Associates found that more than half of Fortune 500 companies employ a chief diversity officer—a position that LinkedIn has described as the “job of the moment.”