We are still working on building our newly formed Workforce Development Committee (WDC). Thank you to those that have already connected with me. Are you, or is someone from your organization, interested in participating? Send me a quick email as we are planning the first committee meeting.
1) Rescinds the travel restrictions for the tri-state area: New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
2) Employees no longer need to have 2 negative test results before they return to work. If they have been symptom free for 10 days, they can return.
3) Any person traveling through an airport or on a cruise ship, no longer has to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
4) Anyone who has had close contact with someone with COVID-19 should stay home for 14 days after their last exposure to that person.
5) However, anyone who has had close contact with someone with COVID-19 and who:
a) developed COVID-19 illness within the previous 3 months and
b) has recovered and
c) remains without COVID-19 symptoms (for example, cough, shortness of breath)
does not need to stay home.
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Reminder: We are still in phase 2 of re-opening with 50% occupancy. Please check your local ordinances for further restrictions.
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Two articles for you today. The first was a find from Thursday morning so I decided to add it today: “Top 31 Buzzwords That Employees Truly Hate”, written by Geoffrey James, contributing editor to Inc.com. It is a quick list and when I reviewed it, saw some of the words we all use occasionally. The article shares that it is more about how often and how many of these words you put into one sentence or conversation.
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What was a surprise to me was that the word “Pivot” was number 2 on the list. For me this is a new word that I will always associate with COVID19 – and I applaud our local small and medium sized businesses that did PIVOT, and changed the way they did business so that they could come through this pandemic. Think this might be a favorite word of mine right now vs. one that I hate. Linda shared - even before learning it was on the list - that's she's done with "Deep Dive." Were your least favorite business terms included? Let us know!
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Good news is that I don’t have all these habits, bad news is that there are a few on here I need to address. One habit is “working through lunch” – whether working at the Chamber or remotely, eating lunch at my desk is common for me. Will probably still eat there but may take the short break and re-energize. I am going to say that I don’t have a habit of “saying yes when I want to say no” but I do think that Linda would disagree.
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The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) closed on August 8 and the results are in - 432,893 businesses in Florida received a PPP loan, totaling $32.2 billion into Florida’s small business community. These loans are 100% forgivable if at least 60 percent is used on payroll and the remaining percent is used on allowable expenses, such as rent, mortgage interest, or utility payments. Otherwise, these loans have an interest rate of 1 percent and are between 2-5 years.
At the time of the program’s closing, nearly $134 billion was still available in funding. As a part of the recently-stalled phase 4 stimulus, Congress is considering extending and expanding the program to 501(c)(6) organizations*, or allowing for certain small businesses to seek a second loan. To add your voice to the hundreds of businesses and organizations asking Congress to #SaveNonprofits, click here.
*Chambers of Commerce are 501(c)(6) organizations.
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The Office of the Chief Information Officer Cyber Security Team is aware of a phishing campaign where malicious actors are impersonating the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Disaster Assistance (ODA) and SBA-themed Eventbrite events. These malicious actors are asking users to verify their account to collect personally identifiable information (PII).
Users engaging with an SBA event on Eventbrite expect privacy protections while interfacing with the agency.
SBA will not use Eventbrite to:
- Actively seek PII
- Search Eventbrite for or by PII
- “Follow” public users proactively without a waiver.
SBA will only collect minimal PII from users on an SBA Eventbrite event to accomplish a purpose authorized by statute, executive order, or regulation
SBA will use Eventbrite to:
- Establish user names and passwords to form administrator profiles
- Create event pages
- Register attendees
- Track attendance to official SBA events.
To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, do not include your full name, date of birth, social security number, address, phone numbers, email addresses, case numbers, or any other PII in public-facing comments or responses.
If you are in the process of applying for an SBA loan and receive email correspondence asking for PII, ensure that the referenced application number is consistent with the actual application number. Remember, phishing emails may contain links to click and/or attachments to open. For additional information on scams and frauds, please visit: https://www.sba.gov/document/report-sba-programs-scams-fraud-alerts
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On Tuesday night I tuned in to a Facebook live event hosted by Captains For Clean Water (CFCW). Though I was familiar with the organization when they started, it wasn’t until the summer of 2018 that I truly understood the commitment they had to our local waters. CFCW does these events quite often and I learn something every time I participate. I share the link this week for two reasons. The first reason is that Captain Daniel Andrews was hosting one of my favorite water quality experts, Marisa Carrozzo, Everglades and Water Policy Manager for the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. The second reason is that there was great conversation about how local businesses, Chambers, and the SWFL Alliance of Chambers work together to protect our water and our economy related to water. You can watch the Captains for Clean Water conversation here.
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J.C. Cruises is not only a longtime member of the Chamber, they are also our neighbors, located across the street from us at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin. We frequently hear the horn of the Capt. J.P. coming down the river in the afternoons!
Family owned and operated since 1972, J.C. Cruises offers a variety of tours on the scenic Caloosahatchee River. The 475-passenger paddle wheel boat called Capt. J.P. offers lunch and dinner cruises.
J.C. Cruises has a full slate of special events coming up, including Thanksgiving and Christmas lunch cruises, Christmas Caroling Santa cruise, New Year's Eve Dinner/Dance cruise, Sunset Doo Wop Cruise and much more. They also have daily cruises - to the Franklin Lock, Gulf of Mexico and Intercoastal Waterways. A full cruise schedule is available here and their offices are open 10am-4pm M-F for personalized help. Call 239.334.7474 for special group pricing, private party and celebratory occasions.
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Wishing everyone a great weekend. Stay safe. Wear a Mask.
Colleen
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