The Chamber is proud to announce that nominations are now being accepted for our annual awards honoring TACC member businesses that have differentiated themselves through their exemplary commitment to their customers, employees and the community.

Fill out the nomination form online.

Honorees will be announced at the Annual Meeting & Awards event to be held virtually on Wednesday, April 27th.

We had the honor to coordinate the ribbon cutting ceremony last week for a fantastic new Chamber member, Society Coffee Bar! Special thanks to the TACC leadership and local and state officials who came out to celebrate with us!

Be sure to stop in to Society Coffee Bar and give them a warm welcome and try their delicious coffee and pastries!

Join our TACC Team! 🎉

We have a part-time Membership Coordinator role to fill who will work closely with our President & CEO in implementing a strategy to increase memberships, sponsorships, and programs. The position is 20 hours per week, and has a base + commission pay module.

For full position description and application details, visit our website.

High School Seniors residing in Taunton, Raynham, Berkley or Dighton, who are pursuing a career in business or a related industry may be eligible to apply for the Charles E. Volkmann Scholarship. Students must apply online.

Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded. Recipients will be recognized at the Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Awards event on Wednesday, April 27th at Noon on Zoom.

Happy Black History Month! This week, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman issued a statement and video to commemorate Black History Month. Administrator Guzman also announced the availability of $1.5 million for 10 new grant opportunities for established Minority Serving Institutions aspiring to host a Women’s Business Center to provide business services for women entrepreneurs. As Black History Month gets underway, the announcement highlights the SBA's commitment to creating funding opportunities that increase equity for small business owners – a priority under Administrator Guzman. Learn more.

The PenFed Foundation, has announced the second annual Black History Month Ignition Challenge. This challenge supports Black veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, and military spouse entrepreneurs by helping them to identify their business impact and goals, and providing an opportunity to compete to win funding and mentorship. 

The top three winners are eligible to move on to a pitch competition for grants up to $25,0000. Voting is open to all members of the public through Thursday, February 10. Click here to cast your vote!

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has officially withdrew its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which would have required large employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that they become vaccinated or alternatively produce a negative COVID-19 test on a weekly basis. In withdrawing the ETS, OSHA specifically cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to reinstate a stay of the proposed rule, which effectively prohibited its implementation. In addition to the withdrawal, OSHA also moved to dismiss the remaining lawsuits pending before the federal courts which target the ETS. Between the ETS withdrawal and motion for dismissal, this appears to be the end of this version of OSHA’s large employer ETS.

The MA Senate recently passed a $75 million COVID-19 related supplemental budget bill, S.2626, utilizing the legislation to also extend the popular restaurant provisions allowing for outdoor dining, drinks and cocktails-to-go through December 15, 2022. The extensions were added during Senate floor debate in an amendment offered by Sen. Susan Moran of Falmouth. An amendment to extend the restaurant provisions to May of 2023 was withdrawn. The bill will now need to be reconciled with an earlier passed House version that did not include the restaurant extensions.

Hear directly from the IRS on topics to help your business succeed, how the IRS can better serve small businesses, and discuss issues or concerns you have when preparing and paying taxes.

Join the IRS for a series of online meetings in February and March (divided by location/states) for small business organizations and owners.

The meetings will include:

• Presentations from IRS leadership covering the top tax issues affecting small business owners regarding income, deductions, employment taxes and recordkeeping

• How to get ready for the 2022 filing season

• Tax scams targeting small businesses

• How the IRS is reorganizing to better serve small business taxpayers

• Listening session to hear concerns, feedback and suggestions from participants

Learn more.

Last week, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced $3 million in new funding for state governments to help emerging small businesses across America develop their cybersecurity infrastructure – a priority of the Biden-Harris Administration, outlined in the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

As part of the Cybersecurity for Small Business Pilot Program, through the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, state governments are eligible to compete for grants that will help deliver cybersecurity assistance to nascent and start-up business owners. Applications will be accepted from January 26, 2022, through March 3, 2022. Learn more here.

The City of Taunton, through the American Rescue Plan Act, has established the STEP-UP Grant Program to assist City of Taunton small businesses through a combination of technological, web, and media enhancements that serve the dual purpose of mitigating the effects of Covid-19 and providing long term solutions to help their businesses thrive. Grants will vary based on individual needs and available funds.

​These grants will assist a small business with:

Learn more here. Attend our webinar to get help with your application.

Do you want people to think about your business before all others? Of course, you do. The first step to patronizing your business is remembering it exists.

Imagine you have a free evening, and you want to go out to eat. It doesn’t matter how amazing the food is at the new place down the street; if it doesn’t pop into your mind, you won’t be going there.

The same is true of your potential customers. They need to think of you to spend money with you.

So how do you ensure you’re top of mind and that they will think about your business over the competition? You need to find a way to stand out and be memorable. A good product or service is the first step. Good customer service is also a solid choice. But to truly stand out you must do something slightly different. Read more.

Join us for the next session of our Chamber Chat virtual networking series! Meet other members in this fun and informal setting with trivia and prizes! This session is Thursday, February 17th at noon and is sponsored by Bluestone Bank.

Register below for this event.

You could sponsor a future session for just $50! Email Kris for sponsorship details.

Ten chambers from the Southeastern Massachusetts area have banded together for a fun and exciting virtual Mega Mixer!

Business people from any one of those chambers can join us on Thursday, February 24th from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. This event is designed to help you meet new people, get the word out about your business and have a great time all from the comfort of your home or office.

There will be representatives from Cape Cod Canal Region, Cranberry Country, Martha's Vineyard, Metro South, Nantucket, One SouthCoast, Plymouth, Taunton, Tri-Town and United Regional Chambers all gathered together!

There will be games and prizes. Register below.

Join us on Tuesday, March 1st at 9:00 a.m. for this popular annual event! The Legislative Update will feature Senator Marc Pacheco and State Representatives Carol Doherty, Patricia Haddad and Norman Orrall, with welcoming remarks from Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell. Hear what’s happening on the hill during this informative session. Legislators make themselves available at forums like this to hear your concerns and answer your questions. We encourage you to submit a question prior to the event to info@tauntonareachamber.org.

Register below.

Join the TACC Young Professionals Group for an evening of caffeine, cocktails, and conversation! Society Coffee Bar is generously hosting and sponsoring our "Coffee & Cocktails" social on March 10th from 5:00 - 7:00 pm at their beautiful café located at 260 Broadway in Taunton. There will be light refreshments and raffles prizes for attendees to enjoy! Register below.

Have some fun this month at the Old Colony History Museum (OCHM)! There will be a tour of UMass Dartmouth’s Portuguese archives, baking favorites from the Taunton Inn, hands-on fun, and more! Learn more here.

February 14 @ 6:00 p.m. – Register for the Event on Facebook; or online here.

February 16 @ 7:30 p.m. – Register for the Event on Facebook; or online here.

If you’re unable to attend one of these virtual sessions, a feedback survey will open the evening of the 14^th and will remain open for several weeks on the site. You may also provide feedback directly to Lizeth Gonzalez, Senior Comprehensive Planner, at lgonzalez@srpedd.org.

The Raynham Master Plan site is a great source of background information and provides updates on the progress of the plan to-date.

The Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School (B-P) has proposed a $305 million school building project. To view the scope of the project in its entirety, visit B-P’s website. On this site, community members can find information about the project’s timeline, a tax impact calculator, frequently asked questions, updates and more. To view the financial overview of the project and review state statutes governing debt approval for regional vocational-technical schools, including the estimated debt service costs for Dighton, click here.

Residents will vote to consider the Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School’s proposed $305 million school building project in a Special Election that has been rescheduled to be held between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 5th.

The City of Taunton is the new home of the “Massachusetts Monarchs”! The Monarchs (formerly South Shore Monarchs), are a “Professional” basketball team and member of The Basketball League (TBL). The Monarchs are owned by Dr. Dwayne B. Thomas, Ph.D. Taunton High School has been selected as the Monarchs home gymnasium. Dr Thomas had previously attended many MIAA basketball events and was impressed with the school gymnasium, capacity, and location.

Businesses which are looking to Increase Brand Awareness, seeking Image Enhancement, searching for opportunities to display and promote product trials, desiring additional sales opportunities, Hospitality Opportunities, etc., can find these and more through sponsoring and partnering with the Monarchs! Learn more here.

***Dr. Thomas will be holding a “Meet and Greet” session via ZOOM, (limit 50), TODAY, Feb. 9th at 7:00pm, to all interested members. Dr. Thomas will be glad to answer any questions, share his background, his vision involving the benefits of the program, the basketball programs’ positive effects on the City of Taunton as well as the surrounding cities and communities, and the opportunities created. To get the Zoom link, email jaypj205@gmail.com.

Let SCORE business advisors help you navigate the SBA Debt Relief Programs or the start-up and growth of your small business. All services are FREE and CONFIDENTIAL. If you are an existing SCORE client, please send an email to your SCORE counselor to schedule a phone call or Zoom conference. If you are new to SCORE, please complete the Request a Mentor form and someone from SCORE will contact you via email to schedule an appointment with an advisor. Sign up for SCORE webinars here. View upcoming webinars here.

Google My Business is the leading, most used and most trusted online profile available to your business. Although it’s free, 70 percent of Google My Business profiles are incomplete.

Veteran digital marketing expert Dale Shadbegian will lead a 40-minute presentation with time for Q&A to walk you through the important steps of the Google My Business Platform:

• Eligibility for a Google My Business profile

• Account setup and creation

• Brief overview of keyword research

• Account optimization

Register here .

Your business is growing, but as a small business owner, can you scale to keep up with the outreach? You can with MailChimp and it's FREE!

Newsletters are still a critical component of sales and customer outreach. MailChimp's free plan provides a robust, quick, and free way to communicate with existing customers, and even potential customers.

This online webinar is designed to be a high level look - 45 minutes with 30 minutes Q&A for specific questions. This webinar will allow business owners to have better exposure to MailChimp.

Get your hands dirty with us as Dale covers:

• account setup

• sending your first email

• growing your audience

• evaluating results

Register here .

This year, during an unprecedented national health crisis, small businesses needed help more than ever before. In order to support these business owners when they needed it most, the SCORE Foundation provided funding for SCORE’s Small Business Resilience program. This platform allowed SCORE to pivot their mentoring and educational services onto virtual platforms, where clients could easily access the pandemic-related information, guidance and resources they needed to survive and thrive. Learn more here.

Veterans make up an important part of the small business community. They make up 8% of the population, but own 9.2% of all American businesses. Check out these resources specifically for veteran entrepreneurs. SCORE is here to help!

Are you looking for ways to help your small business community? Would you like to grow your network or develop professionally? As a SCORE volunteer, you get it all!

Join the SCORE network of 10,000 volunteers. SCORE relies on volunteers to help small business around the country thrive.

Interested? Visit the volunteer web page to find about the many benefits of volunteering and the right opportunity for you!

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