I cannot tell you how much we appreciate our members, both long term and brand new. Your continued investment in the Darke County Chamber allows us to be successful!

The ad below will be running in the Advocate and Early Bird, but I wanted to make sure it was shared here as well.

Thank you all!

Peggy

We want to welcome the following new member to the Chamber of Commerce:

Frank Urwin

1429 Cranberry Road

St. Henry, Ohio 45883

419-925-4095

Michael’s Insulation and Roofing Inc. was founded in 1986 in St. Henry, Ohio. The name was later changed to Ohio and Indiana Roofing. The company moved in August of 1996 to the current location on Cranberry Road. Ohio and Indiana Roofing was started as a division of Bruns Building and Development in 1997. OIR is now one of many divisions of Bruns Construction Enterprises, and they currently operate out of the BCE office in Cranberry.

We are a commercial and industrial roofing firm committed to accommodating the unique needs of each client and offering creative solutions to meet those needs. We are a team of individuals who work for the same common goals: Professionalism, Quality, and Service.

We offer a full range of roofing services including Roof Life Extension, Preventative Maintenance Program, Service Work, New Construction, Re-Roofing, and Superior Warranties. Our product lines include Duro-Last, Firestone, Carlisle, FiberTite, and coatings.

If you’re a woman who owns a business and you’d like to apply for federal contracts, getting officially certified as a woman-owned business is essential. The federal government’s goal is to award at least 5% of its contracts to women-owned small businesses each year. While the certification process may seem daunting, it’s not that difficult if you know the basic application rules and materials needed.

There are two types of women-owned certifications, Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and Women-owned Small Business (WOSB). WBE is a designation that many private sector businesses and organizations, and some state and local governments use. To be given this designation, you must apply through one of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) third-party certification partners.

WOSB is a designation used by federal government agencies. Under the WOSB designation, you may also be qualified to apply for an Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) designation.

The certification process for these designations changed in 2020. While there is a lot of paperwork involved, the federal government has done a lot to streamline the process.

1. Verify that you meet WOSB eligibility requirements, which are:

2. Gather the materials you will likely need to apply. These may include things like:

3. Apply online through the self-certification tool and complete the process. This site also provides a wealth of resources to answer your questions.

4. Upon receipt of the full application and paperwork, the SBA usually decides to grant or deny the designation within 90 days. Incomplete packages may require additional documentation before a decision can be made.

Once approved, you will need to maintain your designation with an annual recertification.

While there are about 13 million women-owned businesses in the US, only 4,800 are certified as WOSBs. With the increasing visibility into data and the government’s goal of providing funds for small and minority business, this is an ideal time to get certified.

Click the image below to learn more about the programs

“So, madam president, last Friday was a grim milestone. It was the 100th day of the war in Ukraine, a war being waged by Russia against an ally and a democratic country, Ukraine. 100 days of brutal, unrelenting rocket and missile attacks throughout Ukraine, including attacks on a number of civilian targets like hospitals and churches and apartment buildings, schools. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and soldiers have been killed and entire cities have been laid to rubble by the Russian barrages. For the 14th straight week when the Senate has been in session during this war, I have come to the Senate floor, again today, to discuss the status of this unprovoked and bloody invasion and to talk about what our role as Americans ought to be. First, it can never be emphasized enough that the people of Ukraine, professional soldiers and civilians and volunteers alike, have demonstrated courage, fortitude, and competence in beating all expectations in their existential battle against the odds to preserve their freedom and protect their homeland. I'm not surprised because I've seen the spirit and bravery of the Ukrainian people firsthand in my seven or eight or nine trips to Ukraine, including meetings with Ukrainian troops on the line of contact before this latest invasion, I have seen the Ukrainian spirit. To have held off Russia this long demonstrates their strength and their resiliency. But at this moment in time there is reason for concern too. President Zelenskyy just said that Russia now controls 20 percent of Ukraine's territory. Before the war started, Russia controlled just 7 percent of Ukraine after its illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the creation of a Russian backed separatist government in parts of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. If you look at this map, you can see here what Russia took in 2014, Crimea and part of the Donbas here, and look what they have now and look where the battles are occurring. I made another trip to the region last week, and what I heard was that thanks to the fierce Ukrainian resistance, the Ukrainians have had success in some parts of the country." Read more...

We thank the Diamond Circle and Executive Prestige level members

for their ongoing support of the Darke County Chamber of Commerce.