Celebrate & Support Local with the A Message from Our President & CEO The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce dba the the workplace, and the economic impact to uplift the area. It’s not Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce (The Chamber) the heavy load that breaks you down; it’s how you carry it. We and Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry is know how to do the heavy lifting and we know how to carry it. dedicated to local businesses of all sizes, to the diversity of our workforce and industrial base, and to the vitality and quality of We are better than anything this pandemic brings. Helen Keller life in our community. once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world can’t be seen or even heard, they must be felt from the heart.” • We connect, innovate and elevate our local businesses, com- munity and economy. We have a rich diversity of workforce and workplace, a strong • We build value to attract businesses to the area. culture of charity and support, all represented right here in or- • We build sustainability to create legacy businesses. ganizations throughout the Wyoming Valley that truly shine • We build upon our core business value propositions to make amongst us. And during a time of this pandemic, reflect that life it built to last. always waits for a crisis to reveal how brilliant we can be and • We advocate on business related policy and government af- how we can pivot during this time of crisis to be rebuilt, as we fairs for our members with our NEPA, State and Federal lead- regain our foothold to build it back reimagined and better. ers. Our community is one that has been challenged before. It is Our businesses, workforce and community are core to who built on the premise that if it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t we are and where we stand. We do so with a laser focus on our change you and it won’t make your resolve stronger. The idea of business community and its vitality and growth. reimagining the future is to be better than you used to be - and not the same as you are. We Listen. We Deliver. We Care. When you change the way you look at things, the things you 2020 certainly has been a year of challenges, a year of dy- look at change. So let’s remember to honor those local front line namic changes and a year that brought us an unprecedented life hero’s for doing what they do, and perhaps it may change the altering pandemic. We do truly learn the most and can become way you look at things. I know it does for me. the best when we are confronted with the worst, most difficult of times. And we have seen that this year with COVID-19. We Wico van Genderen have seen the best of us, with our first responders and our health President, CEO care and essential workers risking and sacrificing to help us get through this. We have seen our community groups rally together to help working families and businesses that are struggling and in need. In these challenging times, we have come to realize that the most difficult paths can often lead to the most interesting des- tinations. We have come to the realization that we need to look within, that we really do need each other, and to look at our intrinsic own core values. If ever there was a time to support lo- cal, to recognize our local heroes and first responders, to own our own story, and that we can work to write our own re-imagined ending, it is right now. We can all make a difference to our community, the workforce, 2 Celebrate & Support Local with the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber! Greetings and Updates from Our Chamber Team Executive Overview on How We’ve Pivoted in 2020 to Reimagine Our Fu- necting our resources, and elevating and advocating for the community. Our ture, with Lindsay Griffin, Chief Operating Officer & Vice President vision never shifted but we are now adapting to a post-COVID world - being the dynamic force in connecting the community, building economic innova- As we near the end of 2020, I tion, and elevating the quality of life in the region. This piece is a showcase of am so proud of our community all of our current efforts and future efforts that we invite you to engage with. and all we have collectively done We encourage and welcome any and all businesses, students, and community during this challenging year. We members to join with us as we continue to reimagine our future as we elevate have learned what the true spirit the valley, the place we all call home, together. of collaboration can accomplish, that we have the ability to adapt no In this first section, you will hear from our entire team about all of the ways matter what the circumstance, and that our organization has pivoted this year to keep our business community the true definition of resiliency. As and economy strong. The rest of the publication will give an in-depth look at your Chamber team, we have been those programs and what our future holds. so incredibly proud to be a partner of this community and be there to offer guidance, support, education, COVID-19 Loan Program Assistance Update from Matthew Bickert, Chief and resources to our businesses, Financial Officer non-profits, citizens, and everyone in the Greater Wyoming Valley In the past year, Wilkes-Barre region and beyond. We have had Connect has pivoted many of its the opportunity to work alongside core offerings to meet the chal- countless other organizations dur- lenges presented by COVID-19. ing this time and to partner in ways In March, PIDA announced their we have never before to offer any COVID-19 Working Capital Ac- and all assistance to those in need. (Lindsay Griffin, Chief Operating Officer & cess (CWCA) loan program, and To all of you who have Zoom-ed, Vice President) as a certified economic develop- partnered, collaborated, Facebook ment organization, we were in live-d, donated, assisted, and joined alongside us this year, our team cannot an authorized group to handle thank you enough. application submissions. Through the weeks following, our team Almost a year ago to this date, we created our 2020 Strategic Plan. Our interfaced with approximately goals aligned to connect, innovate, and elevate this area. While we quickly 120 small business owners in pivoted to develop a new COVID-19 Recovery Plan for our organization NEPA, working with them to put and region in the spring of 2020, with a focus on responding, returning and together their loan applications (Matthew Bickert, Chief Financial Officer) reimagining, our mission has always remained the same. We are committed and submit them for review. to accelerating the economic engine of the region by fostering innovation, con- We were able to secure over $1.2 million in working capital loans for 24 local Celebrate & Support Local with the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber! 3 Greetings and Updates from Our Chamber Team businesses, protecting approximately 250 local jobs. If more funding becomes ety of resource providers offering entrepreneurial services to teach businesses available in the future, our organization is ready to be there as a resource to how to harness opportunities and manage challenges, which is so important help our small businesses navigate the process. during these challenging times. We encourage you to reach out if your busi- ness is struggling during this time – we want to help. Our intake form could be How Wilkes-Barre Connect Has Supported Our Area’s Businesses with found at https://wilkesbarreconnect.org/. Hit the "Get Started" button and we Shanie Mohamed, Economic Development Specialist will be in touch to assist you in your needs. We have pivoted in our Connect Creating a New Value-Driven and Impactful Membership Model with Everal programming in 2020, moving our "Ben" Eaton, Membership Director quarterly Wilkes-Barre Connect Spotlight Series events and intro- Over the past few years, we have ducing a new event series called revamped our membership to meet Connect Further, to a virtual format the needs of our members. In 2017, streamed live on our Chamber our Chamber upgraded our web- Facebook page, where they were site and database. With that came able to reach a combined nearly an online portal for our members 2,500 in viewers. to utilize to network virtually, post jobs, increase their business's With one of our main economic online presence, and a whole host development initiatives, Coding of other virtual benefits. During the the Coal Region, we pivoted our de- pandemic, this portal has become livery to provide our free computer increasingly important for our programming curriculum to Luzerne members to continue to receive (Shanie Mohamed, Economic Develop- County students entirely online and those same benefits of joining our ment Specialist) outside of the classroom. In further chamber that our members have building out the logistics of the come to know from us. We con- (Everal “Ben” Eaton, Membership program, we recognized that, especially in remote education, the high-quality tinue to invest in this technology Director) curriculum we offer should be met with equally-as-high-quality instruction. and continue to add new benefits We have since forged a partnership with Penn State Wilkes-Barre to utilize to meet the needs of our members. In the following pages, you will see how their professional educators to teach our curriculum virtually and maximize our chamber pivoted to move many of our events and programs virtually to the value of our program overall, and our computer programming curriculum continue to deliver on the programming many of you have come to love over is provided by Codelicious We anticipate our first semester of classes to start the past few years.