Jim Calhoun Will Guest at Next Chamber Breakfast

In the more immediate future, we at the Chamber are getting ready to welcome University of Connecticut Hall of Fame Men's Basketball Head Coach Jim Calhoun on Monday for his yearly member breakfast meeting. Calhon is fresh off of his third national championship and is as energized as ever; his talk should be a terrific one. 

The event is always a sellout and we plan to close out registration for the event later on this week. Those interested in attending should sign up today in order to secure a seat.

The Durham Fair proved to be another rousing success this year, despite a tough weather situation that was similar to a few years ago.  I would like to commend Gene Chiappetta and his entire volunteer team for working though this difficult situation to make the event the premier agricultural fair in the state.

The thousands who attended were treated to great food, exciting and impressive exhibits, an action-packed demolition derby and great entertainment regardless of the weather.

Also, the Chamber was very happy to welcome U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney, D-2nd, to its member breakfast meeting last week. Joe gave our members an update of, among other things, the Deficit Reduction super committee and the major decisions it needs to make by Thanksgiving to put the nation on a path to fiscal stability.  I encourage Congressman Courtney to stay aggressive in his support of Connecticut’s workforce.

Congressman Courtney and Ann Evans from the Department of Commerce also presented the Chamber with the Our Heroes Award at the breakfast meeting. This award, co-signed by Congressman John Larson, was presented to the Chamber for its support of the Middletown U.S. Export Assistance Center Military Internship program.

This program offers a specific number of unpaid internships to offer military undergraduate and graduate students considering careers in business. Interns assist with researching and analyzing regulatory, trade and investment issues. In this capacity, the interns help prepare briefs, memos and other materials as well as responses to internal and external clients or tracking deadlines and upcoming trade events.

The Chamber has also reached out to Congressman Larson in a collaborative letter that went out on Sept. 21 that supported the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction’s inclusion of job retention and creation as part of the necessary actions to lower the federal deficit.  As the letter states, the Chamber and the seven other metro chambers in the state are fully engaged in promoting an environment that enhances Connecticut’s ability to retain our current jobs and increase employment for all residents.

Deficit reduction certainly is of major importance to everyone in our county, state and nation. At the very micro level, the Chamber plans to reduce its operating costs by “going green” in the months to come and beyond.

As of Jan. 1, we will no longer issue a monthly event calendar mailing and will send this calendar in electronic form. Billing and dues will also be implemented in this fashion; the goal is to be completely green by this winter. Chamber members are asked to provide updated email addresses if need be, so that they may receive these mailings.

For information on Chamber events and activities, contact Matt Fraulino at matthew@middlesexchamber.com or (860) 347-6924.