December 28, 2005
Legislative & Leadership Conference 3 weeks away
EARLYBIRD REGISTRATION ENDS DECEMBER 30 AND REGISTRATION FEES WILL INCREASE ~ NO SWEET TALKING! Why pay more? Register now by downloading the printable REGISTRATION FORM you can fax back with a credit card payment.
View the conference agenda and brochure HERE. And don't forget to finalize your hotel room at the Crowne Plaza Albany (room block information is on the conference registration form). Here’s just a bit of what you can expect at this year’s conference in Albany January 17-18th:
- Greg David, Editor of Crain's New York Business ~ luncheon keynote
- Bob Vosburgh, President of 9G Enterprises ~ Organizational Excellence mega-session
- Cathi Hight, President of Hight Performance Group ~ Chamber 2015: A Look into Your Future; and Membership Retention: The Power of Valuing the People You Have
- The Business Council’s Legislators’ Reception
- 45 Ideas in 45 Minutes in the “CANYS Lounge”
- On the Map Winners’ Show-and-Tell Session
- SPECIAL BONUS working group session on health insurance with Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills
- Plus even more!
9Gs Organizational Excellence workshop coming in January
Has your chamber completed the 9G Organizational Excellence survey yet? Chamber executives: be sure to forward the survey link (and code!) to all chamber staff members.
Chamber staff: be sure to take the online survey by January 5th, and include your chamber code when asked. Remember, these results are completely anonymous, but they won't be included at all without your chamber code.
The survey questions probe internal and external chamber organizational dynamics: balance, communication clarity, empowerment, accountability, work atmosphere, recognition, etc. It’s designed to give chamber leaders a very complete view of how their chamber’s doing organizationally. Have a look at the dynamic presentation here: www.9gs.org/workshops/orgex.htm
Any chamber with five or more participants in the survey is entitled to a one-on-one debrief with Bob to go over individual chamber results at the January conference. Got questions? Email maggie.moree@bcnys.org.
Just For the Kids debuts new school report card website
The Business Council’s Education Task Force, the University at
Albany and others in New York’s business and education communities
have introduced a new, easily accessible web-based version of New York
State’s school report cards.
This information is being offered by a new collaborative effort called
Just for the Kids-New York (JFTK-NY). It is available free of charge,
with no registration required at www.just4kids.org.
JFTK-NY through www.just4kids.org
offers accurate, easy-to-understand school performance data from all public
elementary and middle schools in the state—including charter schools—based
on 4th and 8th grade test data. It also includes study results from consistently
high-performing elementary schools and highlights these schools' best
practices.
Margarita Mayo (518-465-7511
ext. 272) and/or other members of the Education Task Force and U-Albany
are available to provide a presentation regarding this web site to your
members. The presentation will explain how you or your Business Education
Committee could use the full capabilities of the web site to enhance your
own business and education partnership activities.
JFTK-NY is also supported by SUNY, IBM, State Farm Insurance, the Broad
Foundation, and AT&T. It is affiliated with the National Center for
Educational Accountability.
Incumbent worker training grants available
The New York State Department of Labor/Workforce New York has announced another round of the Building Skills In New York State (BUSINYS) incumbent worker training grant.
Due to the popularity and requests from the business community and Local Workforce Investment Boards, another open ended, non-competitive round of grants has been issued in the amount of $15 million statewide. Under this new round the maximum award for individual applicants is $50,000.
For more information on this grant please refer to the Request for Applications (RFA) by following this link: www.workforcenewyork.com/rfa37-l/rfa37-l.htm
Any interested applicants should first contact their Local Workforce Investment Board prior to submitting an application. Local Board contacts can be accessed at the following link: www.labor.state.ny.us/workforcenypartners/lwiacontacts.shtm
Tell us about it
Congratulations to Martha Sauerbrey, President & CEO of the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce, who won election to the Tioga County legislature in November. She is one of three freshman legislators, and won her race by a margin of 53% to 47% over her opponent. She will continue to serve as president and CEO of the Tioga Chamber.
Jean McPheeters at the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce needs your help: "The Tompkins Chamber has been awarded a NYS DOL grant for On the Job Training. I think that other chambers in NYS have had this grant in the past and I know that others have been awarded one for 2006. I’m trying to link up with some experienced Chambers to ask about the pitfalls to avoid." E-mail Jean at Jean@tompkinschamber.org.
Congratulations to Darlene D. Kerr, who has been named the new President of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce as of January 16, 2006. She will replace David Cordeau who left in August to join the staff of DestiNY USA.
The Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas is seeking an executive director. Resumes can be faxed to the attention of Alice Roth, President of the Chamber of Commerce of the Tonawandas, (716) 692-1867. The Chamber is a 550-member organization located between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. More information regarding the position is available at www.buffalojobfinder.com.
Got a question you’d like to ask other CANYS members? Job opening in your chamber? Great idea you’d like to share? Send it to maggie.moree@bcnys.org.
