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Chamber Connections

July 9, 2021

Military Affairs Committee School Supply Drive

The Military Affairs Committee of the Central Maryland Chamber will be collecting school supplies to provide to the 4 Elementary Schools, 2 Middle Schools, and High School located on Fort Meade. All supplies need to be dropped off at the chamber conference room (8379 Piney Orchard Parkway, Odenton) by appointment only. Contact Kim to make arrangements at kim@centralmarylandchamber.org. We will make arrangements to deliver to the schools before they start for the 2021-22 Academic Year.

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Howard County Launches Additional HoCo RISE Grants for Non-Profit Organizations

Howard County non-profit organizations can apply for another round of HoCo RISE Grants starting July 15, 2021. This round of grants is targeted towards social services non-profits impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including health and human services, youth services, business assistance or workforce development. Howard County will expend more than $1 million in grants supported by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

The grants will be administered by the Howard County Economic Development Authority, and applications will be open July 15-30.

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Community Navigator Pilot Program Application Date Extended

The SBA extended the application date for the Community Navigator Pilot Program from July 12, 2021 to July 23, 2021, and anticipates making award decisions by September 2021. Established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the community navigator approach will reach our nation’s smallest businesses, with a priority focus on those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, as well as women and veterans. The Biden-Harris Administration has made delivering equitable relief to hard-hit small businesses a top priority and will continue to take steps to ensure equitable distribution of relief.

The Community Navigator Program will have a significant impact in revitalizing small businesses through a Hub and Spoke “Navigator” featuring a lead “Hub” – at the center of a network of “Spoke” organizations that deploy trusted community advocates to work with small businesses during recovery. These networks leverage the business development expertise of the central hub organization and the community credibility of spoke organizations to better connect critical resources with small businesses, with the priority focus on those owned by women, veterans, and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

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Howard County first, Anne Arundel County fourth in U.S. News’ Top 500

The fourth annual project from U.S. News & World Report assessed nearly 3,000 communities nationwide across dozens of metrics, exploring the critical role location plays in the well-being of hundreds of millions of Americans. In the ranking, Howard County placed first and Anne Arundel County placed fourth among Maryland jurisdictions listed.

Overall, Maryland’s 15 highest-scoring communities performed best in the economy, population health and public safety categories. On average, they achieved their worst scores in the housing, environment and community vitality categories.

Metrics such as a community’s crime rates, access to parks, high school graduation and poverty rates, and household income are grouped into 10 categories ranging from the economy, equity and population health to the environment, food and nutrition, and community vitality.

Communities are scored on a 100-point scale tied to how they perform relative to one another, and receive a ranking based on their performance as well.

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Equality of Opportunity Data Center

"Black Americans make up roughly 12% of the workforce, but only 7.6% of the highest earners and 17% of the lowest earners. Read more about this issue and others as well as solutions that will help close the equality of opportunity gaps at the Equality of Opportunity Data Center"

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Membership 101

August 26 | Virtual | 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

U.S. Government Must ‘Take the Fight’ to Cybercriminals

Businesses are Adding Lots of Jobs. We Need to Get More Workers into Them.

Over the July 4th holiday weekend nearly 1,500 businesses were the victims of a ransomware attack.

Continued attacks on private and public institutions underscore the need for coordinated action between the Biden administration and the business community. We need to enhance security, drive international collaboration, and hold attackers accountable when they violate domestic and international laws.

U.S. Chamber take: On Saturday, Christopher Roberti, Chamber Senior Vice President for Cyber, Intelligence, and Supply Chain Security Policy, issued this statement:

“This latest ransomware attack impacting hundreds of businesses is yet another reminder that the U.S. government must take the fight to these foreign cybercriminal syndicates. The government must use its full capabilities to investigate, disrupt, prosecute, and hold accountable these known criminal gangs.”

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the much-awaited June jobs report. The topline numbers are great. Digging into the data shows that more work is still needed to increase our workforce so we can maximize the prolonged economic boom we are in the beginning stages of.

By the numbers: The economy turned out 850,000 jobs, handily exceeding the consensus estimate of 700,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.9% as 151,000 workers came back into the labor force. Wages grew 0.3% from May, and on an annual basis are up 3.6%.

With the 850,000 new jobs, there are 145.8 million jobs. That is 6.7 million below the February 2020 level of 152.5 million workers. At June’s pace, it would take another 8 months to get back to the pre-COVID employment level.