Blogs

In late November, I had the pleasure of visiting three very different communities: Greenville, S.C.; Carmel, Ind.; and Madrid, Spain.

The first features a stunningly beautiful downtown in a region that has attracted major international manufacturers. The second embodies the best of suburban/exurban living, with prosperous neighborhoods, vibrant retail, abundant high quality health care and vibrant small employers. And Madrid is a major world capital struggling successfully to recover from a deep, long recession.

In these places, I met with chamber board members determined to drive their organizations and regions to new heights, largely through bolstering private business success. The Greenville Chamber is a mature, well-resourced operation, led by a new CEO—a proven professional with the skills and wisdom to kick things up several notches. OneZone—in Hamilton County, Ind.—is a recently merged entity serving multiple communities, with daring volunteer and staff leaders. Everyone involved is determined to plan the future they want, rather than stumbling forward on hopes alone. And the Madrid and Spanish chambers are navigating the transition from a government funded, public-law chamber into a privately funded, service focused advocacy organization.

If we can help these organizations—and we do; if we can learn lessons from them to share with others—and we can; if we can be inspired by their energy—and we are, ACCE and the chamber movement will be vibrant for years to come.

Ever wonder how ACCE’s Education Attainment Division (EAD) team stays up to date on all things education and workforce development related? We take advantage of the many free e-newsletters available and wanted to share a few of our favorites with you. From equity to fundraising, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a collection of the ones we have found to be most valuable. 

Collective Impact

Collective Impact Forum Newsletters
Content related to collective impact, includes case studies, tools, and resources from Collective Impact Forum / Note: You must make a profile to receive emails.

Economic & Workforce Development

C2ER Weekly
Content related to economic development, workforce, and labor issues, includes resources curated from around the web and programs of the Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER).

National Skills Coalition Monthly
Content related to workforce, education, and training policies, includes news curated from the web and resources created by the National Skills Coalition.

SSTI Weekly
Content related to economic development through science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, includes news curated from around the web and analysis from the State Science & Technology Institute (SSTI).

U.S. Chamber Center for Education and Workforce Monthly
Content related to business engagement in education and workforce development, includes resources created by the U.S. Chamber Foundation.  

Education

Community College Daily or Weekly
Content related to issues and legislation that affect community colleges, includes resources curated from the web and articles written for the American Association of Community Colleges.

Education Dive Daily
Content related to trends and advancements in either the K-12 or higher education industries, includes headlines curated from around the web.

Gallup Newsletter
Content related to research on the U.S. education system, includes original data and research reports from Gallup.  

InsideTrack Innovation Bulletin Weekly 
Content related to innovation in higher education, includes headlines curated from around the web

Lumina Higher Ed News Daily
Content related to higher education attainment, includes news curated from around the web and resources created by Lumina Foundation.

Equity & Youth

America’s Promise Alliance Weekly
Content related to issues affecting the successful education path of young people, includes resources curated from around the web and a list of funding opportunities.

CLASP Newsletters
Content related to economic and workforce policies that affect low income people, includes analysis and resources from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).

Philanthropy and Fundraising

Inside Philanthropy Daily
Content related to fundraising strategies, includes insights into funder mindsets and fundraising tips.

Philanthropy News Digest RFP Alerts Daily
A daily roundup of recently announced requests for proposals from private, corporate, and government funding sources / Note: Creating an account allows you to filter your RFP preferences.

Philanthropy News Digest RFP Bulletin Weekly
A weekly roundup of recently announced requests for proposals from private, corporate, and government funding sources

Policy

Federal Flash
Five-minute (or less) video series on important developments in education policy from the Alliance for Excellent Education.

Pew State Line Daily or Weekly
Content related to trends in state policy, includes news curated from around the web and policy analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Workplace/HR

HR Daily
Content related to workforce and workplace trends and practices, includes analysis and news from the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM).

Do you know of any e-newsletters to add? Email mvegliante@acce.org with your suggestion and it will be added to this list. 

Tags: Economic Development, education, Education Attainment, Grant research, Grants, Policy, Workforce Development

Months of anxious waiting have come to an end – the Department of Labor (DOL) last week released the final revisions to its overtime exemption rule. The new rule, which takes effect December 1, doubles the exempt employee annual salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476. DOL estimates that the change will impact 4.2 million workers.

Under current rules, full-time, salaried workers who make at least $23,660 per year may be exempt from overtime pay. DOL’s initial proposal would have increased that floor to $50,440, more than a 110% jump. Additionally, the proposal called for automatic increases to the salary threshold, a large bump on the “highly compensated employees” (HCEs) threshold ($100,000 – 122,128 annually) and also sought feedback for changes to the duties test and nondiscretionary bonuses.

The final ruling inches back from the proposed rule, but the threshold still remains more than double the current level, at $47,476, or $913 per week. The threshold for HCEs also soars to $134,004. The new thresholds will also be set to increase automatically every three years.

These changes come as a big win for labor groups, which have been pushing for an update to the current overtime rules. The hope is that the additional pay will help many laborers lift their families out of poverty – as proponents of the new rules claim the current salary threshold is too close to the poverty level for a family of four.

Many chambers and small business owners expressed concern over the problems that the new regulations may cause. They claim that rather than boosting pay, many workers will find their hours cut, benefits rolled back or flexibility decreased in order to avoid or offset having to pay additional overtime. The administrative burden is also of significant concern – with organizations having to assess each employee’s new eligibility, and in the case of those who will remain below the threshold, time and hassle of tracking and reporting time.

The Lubbock Chamber quickly expressed their “disappointment” over the final ruling, saying the federal government may have been hasty in making their decision before a study of the full economic impact could be done. Likewise, the Columbus Chamber issued their own statement of concern about the impact on small businesses and the workers they employ, also suggesting the Secretary of Labor should “conduct a detailed and extended economic analysis."

What’s next?

Compliance will be a major concern for businesses of all sizes, and many chambers will help educate their members. The Greater Des Moines Partnership and other chambers have already announced seminars and trainings around the new rules to help member businesses understand what they will be required to do – to assess their employees for raises, reclassification, or other changes.

Still, some hope to block or adjust the new rule before it goes into effect at the end of the year. Lawmakers in the House and Senate also introduced last week the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, in order to ensure what they call a more “balanced and responsible approach” to updating the federal rules. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chairman, Tim Walberg (R-MI) stated “Our nation’s outdated overtime rules are in need of modernization, but it must be done in a responsible way that doesn’t stifle opportunities for working families to get ahead.” Stay tuned to the ACCE Government Relations Division for more on that.

 In the meantime, several organizations have provided resources that may be helpful to chambers and their members:

• Society for Human Resource Management FLSA Overtime Rule Resources
• The DOL has provided guidance specific to nonprofits on the new pages: overview and guidance.
• Venable LLP has a an overview webinar covering all relevant FLSA rules in this area as they apply to nonprofits and also tips on governing compensable time for non-exempt employees.

Tags: Department of Labor, Government Relations, Overtime, Policy

For many chambers located in areas hit by disaster, one of the hardest aspects of the recovery process is to make the world aware that the affected town or region is indeed “open for business.” When devastating pictures and stories of despair dominate non-stop media coverage, all this bad news can have lasting negative consequences on the local economy.

As Flint, Mich., finds itself in the midst of the ongoing water crisis, many of its businesses are feeling the pinch as a result of all the negative publicity. In response, the Flint-Genesee Chamber of Commerce launched in March a social media campaign to drive business and tourism to the city of Flint. According to the chamber’s news release, the #ChooseFlint campaign, which runs through early April, "challenges people to visit a local business or attraction, take a photo and share it on social networks – and then call on three friends to do the same." The chamber launched the campaign on its Facebook page with a video illustrating different ways to #ChooseFlint.

Elaine Redd, the chamber’s director of communications, says the nationwide support has been tremendous. “So many people have asked how they can support Flint during this time,” says Redd. “One of the ways they can help is to tell everyone they know that Flint is open for business. Make a conscious choice to ‘Choose Flint’ by patronizing Flint restaurants and other businesses, and challenging three of their friends to do the same.”

Read more about the campaign here and then head over to Twitter see the many cool ways people decided to #ChooseFlint.

It’s a bird… it’s a plane… it’s a borrowed idea.

As Superman and Batman battle in thousands of theatres in the coming weeks, it’s worth looking more closely at where the first of them – Superman – came from. Like a host of other successful creations of popular culture, Superman emerged from more than one mind.

Most of these beginnings can be seen in an MGM movie, “The Secret Six,” which came out in the spring of 1931. This film features six masked businessmen who were fed up with a local criminal and put him away. The criminal was named Slaughterhouse Scorpio and was loosely modeled on the famous evildoer of Chicago, Al Capone. The movie also included an idealistic, crime-fighting reporter named Clark. (This is Clark Gable, in one of his first major roles. He stole the show!)

Al Capone
So here, in one film, were key parts of the Superman story: secret identities, “good” vigilantes, and a crime-fighting reporter named Clark. Superman’s creator, Jerry Siegel, would name his idealistic reporter Clark despite the overwhelming (to that point) unpopularity of the appellation “Clark.” (That name did not even place among the most popular 200 boys’ names of the 1920s.) Siegel would later admit he named Clark Kent after Clark Gable. 

Superman with his Clark Kent alter-ego emerged for Siegel in late 1933. That was only 18 months after “The Secret Six” opened. It’s hard to imagine Jerry Siegel suddenly invented his Superman independently from “The Secret Six,” which also included secret identities, “good” vigilantes, and a crime-fighting reporter named Clark. That is a long string of coincidences.

“The Secret Six” film was in turn influenced by something else. The movie was partly based on the “real” Secret Six, a group of Chicago business people who went after Al Capone and other gangsters in the early 1930s. These businessmen were a committee of a chamber of commerce, the Chicago Association of Commerce. They were extraordinarily effective by most counts, including Capone’s himself. At one point the criminal said, “The Secret Six has licked the rackets. They’ve licked me. They’ve made it so there’s no money in the game anymore.” The group hired a chief detective, Alexander Jamie, who brought in his brother-in-law, Eliot Ness, to help on the federal side.

The “real” Secret Six (apart from their leader, who of necessity was a public figure – the president of the Chicago Association of Commerce) maintained secret identities because they didn’t want to be killed by Capone or his henchmen. But their secret identities were a part of their glamour and their idea for crime fighting was widely copied and popular in the media. Soon there was a Secret Five in Kansas City and later a Secret Seven in Cleveland, both formed by their local chambers of commerce. And, of course, speaking of media influence, the Chicago chamber’s fight with Capone inspired MGM to make “The Secret Six.”

Secret identities, which had been known before (as in “Zorro”), were extremely popular in the early 1930s thanks to people using them for real-life, high-profile, life-and-death activities. Also popular was the related idea of business vigilantes fighting the bad guys. And when Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion on Oct. 17, 1931, people could take heart that these groups were effective even against the most famous criminal of all time. This may later have been of some comfort and inspiration to Jerry Siegel, whose father died in 1932 when his store was robbed by hoodlums.

Jerry Siegel was a master chef, but he didn’t cook from scratch. He chose the ingredients available to him when he created Superman. And many of his ingredients were from the biggest crime-fighting story of his era, the catching of Al Capone, and from the movie loosely based on that story. Siegel’s genius was in taking his hero to the skies and making him human at the same time with a unique, very personalized secret identity, complete with love interests.

It is interesting how the high-profile struggle against one criminal by, of all things, a chamber of commerce, could have so many ramifications in American cultural life. Business people’s fight to take down the world’s most famous criminal (Capone) resulted, indirectly, in the birth of the world’s most famous superhero (Superman). Superman, in turn, begat Batman and a host of other comic-book heroes.

The Chicago Association of Commerce didn’t create Superman; Siegel did. But Superman couldn’t have existed without the chamber’s Secret Six and the MGM movie made about them. Without secret identities, without the concept of “good” vigilantes fighting crime, without a crusading journalist named Clark – just what would there have been left for Superman to be?

Mead is senior vice president of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and the author of “The Magicians of Main Street:  America and its Chambers of Commerce, 1768-1945.”

Those of us in the industry will disagree, but to those not "in the know", Chambers can have a stodgy image. We hear of more and more events, campaigns and programs that aim to change that perception though, and this new video from the Chattanooga Chamber is up that same alley.

The chamber, along with their partners at the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, has launched an off-beat new video to target high-tech individuals with a mind to starting new businesses. The video chronicles one such startup and their attempt to launch their new "kissing booth" app on the West Coast. The entrepreneur moves to Chattanooga and finds far fewer roadblocks in her path, saying the city made everything "literally perfect."

Though the colorful storytelling and off-beat tone of the video is certainly a different approach to economic development than what they've done in the past, the video helps to reach a new audience to promote both the airport and region as a place to bring new businesses.

Click here to read more. 

Tags: Economic Development, Entrepreneurship, Tech, Video

What’s missing?

As education and workforce development (EDWD) organizations are wrapping up annual strategic planning processes for 2016, many are still looking back on their plans wondering what is missing. Seasoned EDWD professionals know all too well that there is no silver bullet when it comes to improving education attainment and developing a talented and competitive workforce, and that various factors affect the talent pipeline; yet, the question of what will most significantly accelerate their organization’s annual goals will hover over their minds throughout the year.

So what could be missing—even from best practice models like cradle-to-career collective impact initiatives, which build cross-sectors partnerships to improve student outcomes? Chances are that what is missing is a comprehensive and well-balanced health and wellness agenda. At ACCE, we see a growing number of chambers of commerce that are championing health and wellness initiatives in their community, understanding that efforts to improve the talent pipeline work hand in hand with improving health.

What’s the connection?

You may be wondering just how critical a health and wellness action plan is to improving education attainment and workforce outcomes, and the correlation between the two is stronger than most of us realize. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that losses in productivity due to worker illness and injury costs U.S. Employers $225.8 billion annually, equal to $1,685 per employee, enough to significantly impact a business’s bottom line. One study, conducted by the nonprofit Health Enhancement Research Organization, even suggests that best-practice workplace wellness practices are linked to better corporate performance (read more at SHRM.org). These findings help us to understand how deeply health affects our workforce.

What is also interesting is that, on the flip side, EDWD significantly impacts health outcomes. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created an excellent Better Education = Healthier Lives infographic, which demonstrates how an individual’s health is greatly shaped by their socioeconomic factors, such as education and income. It states that “Each additional year of schooling represents an 11% increase income. High earnings increase access to healthier food and safer homes, and can even lower uncertainty and stress.”

Recognizing that you cannot advance one agenda without the other, ACCE has identified the following three opportunities for chambers of commerce to incorporate health and wellness strategies into their EDWD efforts.

1. Ensuring Children Are Ready to Learn: Chambers of commerce are uniquely poised to work with key education stakeholders and community service providers to ensure that young children receive the quality education and wellness care they need to be healthy and ready to learn by the time they reach kindergarten. By focusing on a community’s youngest residents, a chamber can not only ensure children are set on a positive trajectory to succeed in school and career, but also instill effective wellness habits that will shape their future health—and as an added bonus, help develop a talented and productive workforce capable of competing in the 21^st century global market.
2. Promoting Workplace Wellness: With direct access to the business community, chambers of commerce can provide employers with the support and guidance needed to implement innovative and effective programs and workplace policies that encourage employees to adopt healthier lifestyles. The benefits of workplace wellness programs far outweigh their cost, and more and more employers are finding that, in addition to helping employees adopt healthy work-life habits, these programs produce more productive employees, help attract and retain talent, build staff morale, combat employee absenteeism, minimize staff turnover and reduce healthcare costs for employers.
3. Building a Healthy Community Culture: Chambers of commerce already champion opportunities to raise the quality of life for their residents, knowing their members will prosper as a result. These organizations—which typically represent diverse sectors of the community, including business, non-profit, education, and health and government entities—can offer opportunities for their members to participant in events and/or councils that are focused on improving community health. Strong community health can be the tipping point towards economic vitality and equitable prosperity, fulfilling a chamber’s vision for its community.

Where to start?

For ACCE members looking to develop or expand an education and workforce development agenda that is inclusive of health and wellness, ACCE’s Education Attainment Division has pulled together excellent examples of chamber-led health and wellness initiatives and created a series of communication briefs, which are available on the division’s Workforce Wellness and Community Health Chamberpedia page. The division will be also be providing on-going technical assistance throughout the year and developing additional resources with an expanded online library of health and wellness resources to come this spring, as well as in-person support and education-and-workforce-development-related sessions at ACCE’s 2016 Annual Convention August 9-12 in Savannah, GA.

To learn more about these resources or to share how your organization is championing health and wellness, please contact Analidia Blakely, Education Attainment Division Manager, via email at ablakely@acce.org.

Tags: Children's Health, Community Health, Education Attainment, Workforce Development, Workforce Wellness

The vast majority of respondents to our recent QuickPoll on Chamber Foundations either currently manage a 501(c)3 foundation or have one in the works. The results provide details on foundation missions, funding, and staffing - as well as some good advice from your chamber peers. Some highlights:

"Establish foundation governance that shows independence from your Chamber board. Establish a clear financial firewall between the Chamber and your foundation so that the IRS will not consider your foundation to be a supporting organization for your Chamber activities. Supporting organizations under 509(a) cannot receive grant funding from private foundations. Create strong contractual documents for rental of space and allocation of costs for staff time and network resources, etc. Draft your mission very broadly before submitting form 1023 to the IRS. Think big picture in allowing enough leeway to include programs or initiatives you may want to incorporate years down the road. You do not want to have to resubmit to the IRS when you expand your focus later." 

"Talk with other chambers who have already gone through this process. Use the ACCE & WACE resource library. Ask everyone you know about nonprofits. We launched our foundation 3 years ago and at that time it was difficult to find chambers that had active or successful foundations. Do not give up, keep asking, and push forward."

"Be in it for the long haul."

Thanks to all who participated! For more information and resources related to Chamber Foundations, please see our Chamberpedia page on the topic.

(The full list of ACCE QuickPolls is available here.)

Tags: Foundations, HERO, QuickPolls, Research

As a member of ACCE and a service provider for the chamber industry for eight years, we’ve always experienced great service from our counterparts serving in the chamber industry. But recently, Central Holidays West went beyond the definition of customer service.

I’ve traveled with Central Holidays West on a few European trips, and they always deliver what they advertise and more. Last November, when a group of ACCE members traveled to Sicily, was no exception. The itinerary allowed plenty of free time to explore on our own, but there were also interesting excursions and guided tours that gave us a taste of the island. We picked and pressed olives, enjoyed a home-cooked meal in a tiny villa, and climbed Mt. Etna for the season’s first snowfall.

But the “above and beyond” moment I have to share was a highly personal experience. Both of my grandparents are from Sicily and, although we’ve never met, I still have family on the island. My dream for this trip was to meet some of my relatives for the first time. My Sicilian relatives were a couple hours’ drive away and I doubted that I could pull off a visit, particularly without disrupting the group’s experience. But I asked our amazing tour guide Lorenzo Tarzia anyway, to see if it might be possible.

Within an hour, Lorenzo met me in the hotel lobby and told me that a car would pick me up in the morning and drive me to the small, out-of-the-way village where my relatives lived. I would then be able to meet up with the rest of the group later in the day. 

“Really?” I asked.  “Yes,” he replied, “you’re all set.”

This was a "bucket list" item for me and he’d made it possible in an hour. I was blown away. This guy is amazing!

As promised, the next morning Sebastian from “Sicily with Sebastian” arrived at the hotel in a beautiful new Audi.  Lorenzo was there, like a father watching a daughter leave for prom, to make sure I was all set. Sicilian-born Sebastian speaks fluent English and knows every spot on the island and its history. Besides being a historian, he’s also an avid photographer. Throughout our two-hour excursion he’d pull over at one amazing vista after the next, making sure I didn’t miss any photo opportunities.

When we arrived at my relatives' business to meet them for the first time, Sebastian acted as an interpreter and photographer. We spent 4-5 hours touring the village and saw where my grandparents lived, went to school and church. By the time we left, Sebastian and I both felt like family. A couple of hours later I was back with Lorenzo and the group.

Central Holidays West and their local connections made this a trip of a lifetime for me. Thank you Ian, Kent and Lorenzo for making this a trip I will cherish the memories from for the rest of my life!

The Mid-America Economic Development Council, which represents economic development agencies in 10 states, has recognized the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber with an award. The Chamber's OH-PA Stateline Export Initiative, launched earlier this year along with the International Trade Assistance Center at Youngstown State University, was recognized in the Business Retention and Expansion category. The initiative is designed to bring exporting awareness, foreign direct investment and supply chain matching to a 10-county region in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. 

You can read the full story here.

Tags: Economic Development, Partnership