The first quarter has ended, and now is the time to take stock if you are achieving the targets you wanted to set forth. One of the goals we set forth this year was to ensure we continued to maintain the pulse of our membership, fully understanding if our programming was meeting the mark. If you have attended any of our events recently, you would have been sent a follow-up poll. We encourage everyone to participate in those surveys as it will allow us to adjust our programming accordingly. Of the surveys we have sent out this year, the Chamber is maintaining over a 92% satisfaction rate for those who have attended our events (this includes our Annual Meeting, Business After Hours, and our EBL Symposium). While these results are overwhelmingly positive, we will continue to encourage your participation in our surveys and offer an opportunity for you to provide additional comments. Everything we do ties back to our mission statement of nurturing a strong economic environment in Western NY while providing members with the tools to ensure their success.

Another goal laid out in our strategic plan was enhancing our Emerging Business Leadership Program. We have heard from our members, both large and small companies, about the need to provide professional development to their employees in a setting where they feel more comfortable sharing their challenges and learning best practices for their careers. Over the past five years, we have strived to provide that environment and our 2023 EBL Leadership class is our largest yet. This diverse group of young professionals enjoyed their second class last month. We were thrilled, once again, to partner with Daemen University to host our EBL Symposium that included our Leadership Class participants and various members of our Chamber. See below for pics! Nearly one hundred young professionals participated in this half-day educational symposium to learn about improving personal brand, transformational leadership, goal setting, and inclusive leadership. Holly Hubert, the founder and CEO of GlobalSecurityIQ, will host the next EBL class focusing on the Science and Art of Leadership. Holly, a Chamber board member, brings a wealth of leadership experience from an extensive career in law enforcement as a 25-year member of the FBI and is now an entrepreneur with her cyber security business. Holly has been instrumental in assisting our EBL program. As we pair our Leadership participants with members of our Board and senior leaders in our community for the Mentorship component of the program, we want to thank Holly for her contributions to the Board and for working with our Emerging Business Leaders.

Hosting our quarterly New Member Orientation this month on April 28th. I encourage you to share with your marketing and sales teams so they can join us to learn how to maximize your membership. Register here. Thursday, April 20th, Lunch Mob will be happening at The Eagle House. Owner Tricia Browne is a long-time member of our Chamber, and The Eagle House is one of Western New York's most historic restaurants. Please join us to network in this casual setting that is always well-received by our members. If you're planning ahead, next month, we will head to downtown Buffalo to kick off the Cinco De Mayo weekend a day early at Deep South Taco on Ellicott Street on Thursday, May 4. May’s Business After Hours event will be on May 16^th at the Town Square Media offices where WeAreBuffalo.net will host our group… this is one you won’t want to miss since someone will be leaving with a pair of tickets to the Taste of Country happening June 23^rd at Sahlen Field.

As I write this message, unfortunately, the 2023-2024 New York State budget is still not finalized. There are a lot of moving parts to how the budget process works, however, the Chamber is monitoring what we feel would be the most devasting outcome to our area, and that is the timelines on banning natural gas. We have adamantly opposed many of the timelines the Climate Action Council set forth, and this past winter further reaffirmed our position not to ban natural gas when many homes were without power multiple times due to the various storms... READ MORE HERE

Email us memberservices@amherst.org

The Alzheimer’s Association Western New York Chapter is looking for passionate committee members for the Buffalo Walk to End Alzheimer’s, the Alzheimer’s Association’s #1 fundraising program! Use your personal and professional talents to advance the fight against Alzheimer's disease and all other dementia at our September 30^th, 2023 Walk!

There are lots of ways to put your interests and skills toward our fight against Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. Through planning the event experience, recruiting new teams, bringing on new sponsors, or helping returning teams reach new fundraising goals. We need your help to grow our reach and spread awareness to our community! Your Alzheimer's Association staff partner supports you throughout the program and is very flexible and happy to tailor your volunteer experience around your interests and schedule. 

Ideal volunteers would have some of these traits: enjoy connecting with people, passionate about ending Alzheimer's, enthusiastic, creative, comfortable talking on the phone and a willingness to participate in or co-host events. Monthly commitment will vary from person to person but approximately 2-3 hours per month. As mentioned above, we are flexible with time commitments as well!

Contact Buffalo Walk Manager, Maddie Weitz, at mrweitz@alz.org or 716-913-9809 for more information

SPRING 2023 Diversity Career Fair

Thursday, April 27 from 10:30 am to 12:30 p.m.

at the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Central Branch downtown Buffalo

“The challenges and strategies to finding talent in the post pandemic world.”

If you have any questions please contact Dennis Martinez via email: dennis.martinez@nysed.gov.

Fifty Fabulous Women Giving Circle is a grantmaking organization that supports organizations in specific counties around our chapter locations. They are a diverse, inclusive, dynamic, and inspiring collective of women that brings awareness to organizations helping those most impacted by the pandemic: women and children. Their philosophy is ‘money in/money out.’ Each quarter, all contributions are given out in grants and the process starts again the following quarter. They are able to maximize the impact of our member contributions as an all-volunteer organization with no overhead. A full 100% of member contributions go directly to programs that support the wellbeing of women and children. FFWGC is also a learning community where members gain new insights into philanthropy as a vehicle for social change and find reward in being directly involved in shaping the future of our community. In addition, members have the opportunity to network and build relationships that last a lifetime.

For more information about applying for a grant and/or joining the circle, please visit ffwgc.org

Experiencing stress, conflict, and overall lacking motivation at work?

Picture Perfect Mind LLC, focuses specifically on helping people to feel better on a day to day basis with mindfulness, thought management, and neuroscience. With an approach that goes beyond stress reduction, we provide professionals with the power to release limiting beliefs and connect to their true purpose. Check out our brochure here and reach out to Lindsay Amico at pictureperfectmind@gmail.com to schedule a workshop or lunch n' learn for your staff.

We're offering a 15% discount to any Amherst Chamber members for the month of April only!

Lindsay offers weekly videos with tips and tricks on Linkedin- follow her here!

With the temperatures getting warmer and the days getting longer, now is a great time to make a fresh start with your fitness routine. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to jump into marathon training right off the bat. The key is to start off slow to avoid injury and feelings of frustration. Depending on how much inactivity you had over the winter, it could take as long as six weeks to re-establish a solid fitness base.

Here are some tips for starting or easing back into a fitness routine this spring:

·       Figure out how to fit physical activity into your daily routine first, then set realistic goals. Pick the time of day that works best for you. Investing in a pedometer, wearable fitness tracker or using a mobile fitness app are great ways to track your activity and set goals for improvement.

·       Incorporate stretching into your daily routine to reduce muscle soreness. Hold a stretch for 20 seconds to get the most benefit.

·       To help avoid injury, don’t increase your mileage, intensity or speed by more than 10 percent per week.

·       Get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine of spring. Activities like walking, running and biking can often seem easier when you do them outside rather than at a gym or inside your house.

·       Increase your activity level while doing something you love, such as spending time in your garden, playing ball with your kids, teeing up for a round of golf or taking your dog to the park.

·       Keep sneakers at your desk to encourage walks around your worksite or to run an errand on your lunch break.

·       Find a fitness buddy who will help keep you company and keep you motivated. Spring might be the perfect time to reconnect with friends.

Once you finish an activity, take notice of how good you feel, both physically and mentally. By keeping these feelings fresh in your mind, you’ll be more likely to stay on the path to a healthier you.