It's an invigorating time of year for the Chamber, with Pride season around the corner and an influx of small businesses joining our membership! Here's a recap of what we've been up to:

The Chamber is pleased to announce its latest corporate partner, DoorDash! We are thrilled to enter this partnership and work together towards LGBTQ+ economic equality, and appreciate their support for our mission.

On March 18, we were grateful to have Scott Gillanders from Berkshire Bank host a webinar titled “Fit Financials for Fabulous Financing.” This wonderfully-alliterative webinar showed business owners how to prepare documentation and best present their business financials when applying for funding opportunities. View the entire webinar on our YouTube channel.

Thank you to corporate partners Addgene for recently welcoming Grace Moreno as a speaker! Grace had the opportunity to present to the Addgene Team about the Chamber’s work, LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace, and how Addgene’s contribution to the Chamber helps increase LGBTQ+ economic equality across the state.

This month, the Chamber welcomed representatives from Massachusetts HealthConnector for Business to speak to our membership about health insurance options available to them. The Chamber and HealthConnector have established a direct line for small business members of the Chamber with at least one employee to access health insurance through HealthConnector. If you are an existing member in need of this service, or if you would like to become a member of the Chamber in order to access this resource along with many others, please contact Thais De Marco.

In case you missed the news, the deadline to apply for a PPP loan in this wave was extended to May 31, but it is entirely possible that funds will run out before then. As a reminder, the Chamber can help all of our small business members navigate these programs 1-on-1.

If you are a member who still wants to apply for PPP or want to explore options, or if you’d like to join the Chamber as a small business member, please email Thais De Marco.

Join the Chamber team and our friends Caroline Williams and Dan Martiniello from the MA District Office of the SBA to learn how to get your PPP loan forgiven, including an explanation of what steps to take, the timeline for forgiveness after receipt of the loan, what forms you have to fill out (and how to complete them), and more!

Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Time: 10–11 AM

The Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce is the Presenting Sponsor for the 10th Annual LGBT Elders in an Ever-Changing World Conference, a virtual one-day conference focused on interdisciplinary practice and community engagement for people working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older adults and caregivers.

Registration is open for this sell-out event! For workshop information and CEU details, please visit their website.

Our Chamber welcomes the following small businesses, each of which have become members since our last newsletter!

Chamber members are invited to join our statewide Facebook networking group.

Stay informed about the latest news and events by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and visiting our website.