Blackstone Chamber Newsletter - December , 2024

Local Business Spotlight

SEC is Accepting Applicants for 2025 Youth Tour

High school juniors across Southside Electric Cooperative’s service area are invited to apply for next summer’s Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.

SEC will take several students to the nation’s capital June 16-20, 2025, for a week of sightseeing, learning about electric cooperatives, visiting the halls of Congress and meeting students from across America. The Cooperative pays all the expenses for its students. Learn more about the 2025 Your Tour.

LAST CHANCE!

All Aboard the Blackstone Christmas Parade!

Join us for a magical evening as the annual Blackstone Christmas Parade rolls into town with the enchanting theme, "The Polar Express"! This year, we're inviting all area residents and businesses to hop on board and make this event truly unforgettable.

Date: Friday, December 13, 2024 Time: 6 p.m. Theme: "The Polar Express"

Registration closes TODAY, December 12!

Don't miss out on this opportunity to be part of a magical Christmas tradition!

Check Our News & Events Page

Chamber Training

The December 2024 and January 2025 Discounted Products

The courses listed below will be available at a 50% discount during the months of December 2024 and January 2025.

In the Human Resources Category

· Establishing Performance Goals and Expectations 12565EN P5945EN

· Skills for Interviewing 12589EN P5890EN

· Interviewing Job Candidates 12681EN P5928EN

· Hiring Right 17881EN P3250EN

In the Sales Category

· Sales: The Basics 12568EN P5911EN

· Sales: Qualifying Prospects 12570EN P5941EN

· Sales: Team Effectiveness 12683EN P0283EN

· Sales: Telephone Skills 12684EN P5948EN

To take advantage of the program:

· Have your members sign into your Chamber’s Online Training Site.

· Click on the appropriate Category.

· Click on the Course Title.

· Click on Add to Cart.

· Click on View Your Basket and add the Discount Code: COC-JAN2025

· Click Apply Coupon to see the adjusted Cost.

· Click on Checkout.

· Enjoy the course(s).

Empower Young Minds with the American Red Cross!

The American Red Cross is excited to offer FREE Virtual and In-Person Preparedness Presentations for children, blending fun with life-saving skills!

Programs Include:

Be Red Cross Ready for Kids (Grades 3–5): Learn essential safety skills in a 45–60 min session.
Prepare with Pedro (Pre-K–Grade 2): A 30–45 min interactive story time on fire safety.
Hands-Only CPR (All Ages): A 15–20 min session teaching life-saving CPR basics.

Special accommodations for blind/low vision and deaf/hard-of-hearing children are available.

📧 Schedule your session today at PrepareVAR@redcross.org and help your young ones stay safe and prepared this holiday season!

IR-2024-308, Dec. 6, 2024

WASHINGTON – On the final day of National Tax Security Awareness Week, the Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners urged tax professionals to reassess their plans for protecting themselves and their clients’ sensitive information amid increasing attempts by identity thieves to steal tax data.

Identity thieves on the hunt for taxpayer data aren’t just targeting taxpayers, they’re going after the tax professionals, who hold enormous amounts of sensitive taxpayer data, in hopes of filing fraudulent tax returns. This year, the IRS has already received more than 250 reports of data breach incidents from tax professionals affecting approximately 200,000 clients.

Read IR-2024-308

Southern Virginia Entrepreneur Workshop

The Community Investment Collaborative is accepting applications for the Spring '25 semester of our 16-week Entrepreneur Workshop through Jan 3, 2025. We're excited to not only be able to offer the training sessions again, in person, in Charlottesville and Culpeper-Orange, but also, for the first time, our program will be available virtually in Southern Virginia.

Applications:

Charlottesville Workshop (CHO)

Culpeper-Orange Workshop (COW)

Southern Virginia Workshop (SOVA)

Share Your Business Story with the Community!

The Blackstone Chamber of Commerce is excited to spotlight our local businesses and share their success stories with the community. We invite all local businesses to submit their news articles, ideas, and stories for our Local Business Spotlight feature. Whether you have a new product launch, a special event, or an inspiring business journey, we want to hear from you!

Submitting your story is easy with our online submission tool. Simply click the link below, fill out the form, and share your news with us. Let’s celebrate the vibrant business community of Blackstone together!