Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/22485
Chair speaks As we begin 2011, our great city has a number of fantastic The 18th “Best Performing City In the Nation.” accomplishments to boast about. T is year, the Milken Insti- tute ranked our area as the 18th “best performing city in the nation.” T is is a jump from 31st last year and a leap of 144 places since 2003. While I know that this news has been reported across mul- tiple sources, I mention this increase because it is the result of a lot of great changes that our community is undergoing, and a testament to improvements across the board in quality of life, education, crime statistics and lastly, business climate. Your Chamber has been hard at work on many of those eff orts. In 2010 we an- nounced several programs that directly impact local business’ bottom lines such as the relaunch of Chamber Care, our group health care plan that has saved participat- ing members thousands, our Prescription Drug Card program and the Strategic Alliance for Business Resources for Entrepreneurs (SABRE), which connects and leverages the communities’ small business resources. T e Chamber also successfully brought back Showbiz, the area’s largest business- to-business tradeshow. T is year attendance grew to over 1000 people. We also celebrated the fi rst year of the Fayetteville Young Professionals, a group that is not only moving and shaking with multiple opportunities, but that also gives back through community service such as Fayetteville Beautiful, donations to the Salvation Army and many more local groups. On the economic development front, we have added two talented specialists to our already very strong team, and are seeing many positive results, such as the Booz Allen Hamilton expansion, the Strategic Solutions Unlimited Expansion, and the successful recruitment of the Embassy Suites to our community. Additionally, the state announced over 200 million in funding for our I-295 loop, a project that will prepare us for the tremendous growth at Fort Bragg. We have also worked closely with many of our partners such as the Partnership for Defense Innovation and their Defense Security Technology Accelerator. T e ac- celerator recently opened the doors of their new lab, a state of the art facility that will test equipment for the military. Funding for the lab came from $4.7 million in Congressional Department of Defense budget appropriations. T e Chamber, the City, the County equally fund a lobbying team in Washington DC, that works to secure funding for vital projects for Cumberland County. T at group’s top priority has been funding for this lab. As we look forward to next year, we expect that the good news will continue to come. We also have plans for the launch of several new programs tailored to help- ing our local businesses capitalize on the expected growth.As we begin 2011, our great city has a number of fantastic accomplishments to boast about. T is year, the Milken Institute ranked our area as the 18th “best performing city in the nation.” T is is a jump from 31st last year and a leap of 144 places since 2003. While I know that this news has been reported across multiple sources, I mention this increase because it is the result of a lot of great changes that our community is undergoing, and a testament to improvements across the board in quality of life, education, crime statistics and lastly, business climate. Your Chamber has been hard at work on many of those eff orts. In 2010 we an- nounced several programs that directly impact local business’ bottom lines such as the relaunch of Chamber Care, our group health care plan that has saved participat- ing members thousands, our Prescription Drug Card program and the Strategic Alliance for Business Resources for Entrepreneurs (SABRE), which connects and leverages the communities’ small business resources. T e Chamber also successfully brought back Showbiz, the area’s largest business- to-business tradeshow. T is year attendance grew to over 1000 people. We also celebrated the fi rst year of the Fayetteville Young Professionals, a group that is not only moving and shaking with multiple opportunities, but that also gives back through community service such as Fayetteville Beautiful, donations to the Salvation Army and many more local groups. On the economic development front, we have added two talented specialists to our already very strong team, and are seeing many positive results, such as the Booz Allen Hamilton expansion, the Strategic Solutions Unlimited Expansion, and the successful recruitment of the Embassy Suites to our community. Additionally, the state announced over 200 million in funding for our I-295 loop, a project that will prepare us for the tremendous growth at Fort Bragg We have also worked closely with many of our partners such as the Partnership for Defense Innovation and their Defense Security Technology Accelerator. T e ac- celerator recently opened the doors of their new lab, a state of the art facility that will test equipment for the military. Funding for the lab came from $4.7 million in Congressional Department of Defense budget appropriations. T e Chamber, the City, the County equally fund a lobbying team in Washington DC, that works to secure funding for vital projects for Cumberland County.T at group’s top priority has been funding for this lab. As we look forward to next year, we expect that the good news will continue to come. We also have plans for the launch of several new programs tailored to helping our local businesses capitalize on the expected growth. Fascinate-U and Time Warner Cable present Super Science Saturday on between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. January 15 8 UCW JAN. 5-11, 2011 (910) 829-9171 www.fascinate-u.com 1 16 Green Street in Historic Downtown Fayetteville Admission Prices: WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM