Blair Business Mirror Features Chamber’s Young Professionals
Small Business “4-um” Postponed
McKnight to Speak at December’s “Breakfast Club”
Chamber Again Partnering With “Gown Meets Town”
“Bridges Out of Poverty” Training Available to Chamber Members
Nomination Forms Available for Annual Meeting Awards
Athena Award Nomination Deadline Also December 31st
GRYP Holiday Networking Event is Thursday
Update Your Information for the Chamber’s Membership Directory
Chamber Seeking Spring Intern
Congratulations . . .
Blue Card Discounts

Blair Business Mirror Features Chamber’s Young Professionals
The next issue of the Blair Business Mirror will be published on Tuesday as a supplement to the Altoona Mirror. The cover story focuses attention on GRYP – The Chamber’s Growth and Relationships of Young Professionals program – which is observing its 10th anniversary this month. Inside features include a Q&A with businessman Jim Bovard and a look at the many logos that are part of The Chamber’s array of programs. If you don’t get the Altoona Mirror, you’ll at least enjoy the mailed copy that you should receive by the end of the week.

Small Business “4-um” Postponed
The Affordable Care Act is an extremely important piece of legislation to the business community. But the many scheduling conflicts that occur leading up to the holiday season made it difficult for a large number of people to attend the Small Business “4-Um” on ACA that was scheduled for Wednesday. So the event is postponed and will be re-scheduled for early 2014. Stay tuned . . .

McKnight to Speak at December’s “Breakfast Club”
The Chamber’s “Growth and Relationships of Young Professionals (GRYP)” program will be the focus of this Thursday’s Breakfast Club which begins at 7:45 a.m. at The Casino at Lakemont Park. GRYP is marking its 10th anniversary of helping Blair County’s young professionals to make an impact on the community through service projects and member education. Currently, close to 200 young professionals hold GRYP memberships.     As part of the Breakfast Club celebration, one charter member of the GRYP Steering Committee will travel from his current home in Pittsburgh to give the keynote address. Steve McKnight, formerly the Marketing Director at Altoona-Blair County Development Corporation, helped to get GRYP off-and-running and still feels attached to the program. McKnight is a co-founder and Vice-President of Community and Market Assessments at Fourth Economy Consulting in Pittsburgh. The cost to attend the Breakfast Club is $16 for Chamber Members and $30 for non-members. To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online. Corporate sponsor of the Breakfast Club is Saint Joseph Institute.

Chamber Again Partnering With “Gown Meets Town”
For the third consecutive year, The Chamber and Penn State Altoona will partner on an event that showcases the many talents of Penn State Altoona’s engineering students. And for the first time, the school’s entrepreneurial students will also play a key role. “Gown Meets Town” will be held on Friday beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Devorris Downtown Center in Altoona. It is an event that all businesses should attend, if only to support a group of students who we hope to convince to stay in our area. To attend, call Judy Paul at 940-3400.  There is no cost to attend and lunch will be provided.

“Bridges Out of Poverty” Training Available to Chamber Members
Child Advocates of Blair County/Blair County Head Start would like to extend an invitation to business members of the Blair County Chamber to attend a Bridges Out of Poverty training, scheduled for December 16, 2013. This one day training, provided by Terie Dreussi-Smith, M.A. Ed, a trainer and co-author of Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities., is designed for professionals and community members who serve, employ, or supervise people experiencing poverty.  Bridges out of Poverty is an approach that helps employers, community organizations, social-service agencies, and individuals address and reduce poverty in a comprehensive way. People from all economic classes come together to improve job retention rates, build resource, improve outcomes, and support those who are moving out of poverty. For more information or to register, contact Autumn Temple at (814) 941-8336. 

Nomination Forms Available for Annual Meeting Awards
The Blair County Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Awards Presentation is one of the most popular events among attendees that the organization holds.  Much of its popularity centers on the fact that the awards presented that morning are to unsuspecting recipients. That practice will not change. At this year’s Annual Meeting, set for January 31st at 7:30 a.m. at The Casino at Lakemont Park, the number of awards presented will be reduced by two. The Athena Award and the George Award will be presented at the February and June Breakfast Clubs respectively to allow them to have a more singular focus. Both award recipients will be announced in advance.
The awards that will be presented at the Annual Meeting are: The Small Business Person of the Year, the Donna D. Gority Servant Leader Award, the Joseph P. Rosenhammer “Chamber Spirit Award” and the GRYP Impact Award.  To make a nomination, call The Chamber and a nomination packet will be sent to you.  Or you can pick one up at the Chamber Office. Or, better yet, you can go to the Chamber Website and download an application.

Athena Award Nomination Deadline Also December 31st
Even though the prestigious Athena Award will not be presented until the February Breakfast Club, the nominations for that award must be received in the Chamber Office by no later than December 31st.  Visit The Chamber Website to download a Nomination Form.

GRYP Holiday Networking Event is Thursday
The Chamber’s Growth and Relationships of Young Professionals (GRYP) will hold its Holiday Networking Event on Thursday, December 12th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Ramada Altoona Conference Center. The cost to attend is just $5.00 for GRYP members and $10 for non-members. GRYP members with a Treasure Tag get in free! To register, call The Chamber at 943-8151 or register online.

Update Your Information for the Chamber’s Membership Directory
The Chamber is heading into the final stages of preparing the member information for the 2014 Chamber Membership Directory and it’s important that members visit the Chamber Website and determine if any of the information listed there has changed.  If any has, please contact Cindy Cessna at 943-8151 or email her at ccessna@blairchamber.com.

Chamber Seeking Spring Intern
The Blair County Chamber of Commerce is seeking an intern for the Spring Semester. The intern should be majoring in Business Management, Marketing or Communications. The internship can be either for credit or personal enrichment. Interested students should contact Linda Stotler at 943-8151. 

Congratulations . . .
. . . to Joe Keller, President of Keller Engineers of Hollidaysburg, who was recently honored with the Pennsylvania Library Association’s Trustee of the Year award at the Association’s annual conference.  The award is presented to a public library trustee in recognition of outstanding leadership and service to library development.
. . . to Mountain Lion BackPack Program, which was honored by the Altoona Area School District with a “Service to Education Award” as part of American Education Week.

Blue Card Discounts
Here are a few of the discounts you can receive with your Chamber Blue Card. Click here to see the full list of Blue Card Discounts. To have an offer listed contact The Chamber at 943-8151.     

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