Best of Nominations Open Through June 1st
Nominate your favorite business now
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It’s time again to vote online for people, places, businesses and organizations for the Best of North Kitsap, Central Kitsap, South Kitsap and Bainbridge Island.
Nominations began May 17 and run through June 1. Voters can nominate their favorites in a variety of categories. You may nominate and vote once per day in each category. The Top 5 in each category will then be voted on from July 1 to July 15 to determine the winners in each category. Results will be published in special sections inserted in the newspapers in September.
Click here to nominate your favorite South Kitsap business.
Click here to nominate your favorite Bainbridge business.
Click here to nominate your favorite Central Kitsap business.
Click here to nominate your favorite North Kitsap business.
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Thanks to 2024 Armed Forces Day Sponsors
Mark your calendar for next year: May 17, 2025
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Save-the-Date: GKC Annual Meeting
& Membership Luncheon
Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 11:00 am
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RECAP: May Membership Luncheon |
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Our May luncheon is always well-attended as we continue our month-long honoring of Kitsap's Armed Forces Community. This year we were joined by Commander Luke Kelvington of the USS Pennsylvania to share insights on our local submarine command. We were also excited to award the Armed Forces Day Ambassador Scholarship to 5 local students, as well as welcome 8 new members for their first luncheon. We are so excited to have you all with us and look forward to working with you in the coming year! |
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Ribbon Cutting @ Viking Education Academy
Friday, May 31, 2024, 2:00 pm
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Bremerton GreenDrinks@ Admiral Theatre
Thursday, June 6, 2024, 5:00 pm
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Get the Most Out of Your Member Benefits |
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According to the Harvard Business Review, 54% of job seekers considered better health, dental and vision insurance worthy of “heavy consideration” when evaluating job offers.
If you’re competing to attract and retain top talent, just making benefits available in not enough – employees need to regularly make use of their benefits and understand what is available to them.
Our partner, Business Health Trust has put together six post-enrollment strategies to help your workforce thrive – and help you keep them happy. Click the link to read:
🔗 Article Link: https://businesshealthtrust.com/news-insights/welcome-to-the-post-open-enrollment-playbook-ensuring-your-workforce-thrives/
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Renew your membership today to ensure your benefits as a member of the Greater Kitsap Chamber! Questions about when to renew or how to upgrade your membership? Need a new membership window cling or digital badge? Contact Irene now!
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Missed a previous edition of the Chamber's Community Connections?
View all the past issues on our website HERE.
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New Members - Welcome to the Chamber! |
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New Member Offers Special to Fellow Members
Advertise your business to 12,000+ homes & businesses
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Special Chamber Member offer: 10% off advertising space in Tideland Magazine, the West Sound's premier lifestyle magazine. Tideland is distributed quarterly to 12,000+ homes and businesses on Bainbridge Island and across Kitsap County, as well as on select ferries. Each issue celebrates all the West Sound has to offer---from food and culture to parks, trails and community. Our readers are educated, influential and engaged in their communities, making Tideland an ideal avenue for reaching the most sought-after audience in the area. For rates and more information about advertising in the magazine, check out our media kit and contact Laura Liming, (206) 659-6140 laura@tidelandmag.com
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May Member of the Month, Gretchen Ritter-Lopatowski of Three Leaves Design, is recognized at the Chamber luncheon last week. Pictured from L to R: Irene Moyer, GKC Vice President; Ashley Oaksmith, GKC Board Director; Ritter-Lopatowski; David Emmons, GKC President; and John Morrissey, GKC Board Chairman. |
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Member Education & Training Resources |
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SCORE: Learn the Basics of QuickBooks Online
Friday, May 31, 2024, 9:00 am
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Are you an aspiring or established business owner looking to get started with QuickBooks? Are you trying to figure out what you’re doing but keep getting lost? Do you like bagels? Well, then this is the workshop for you!
Who You Are: Although anyone interested in QuickBooks is welcome to take this workshop, it is designed for aspiring and established business owners looking to learn the basics.
What To Have When You Sign onto Zoom: You will need your laptop and possibly power cable. We will be performing exercises together using a sample QuickBooks Online data file.
What You Will Learn: In this SCORE workshop, you will learn how to use QuickBooks Online to record your daily business transactions. (No QuickBooks signup required!) Subjects covered include:
- Customer sales and payments
- Supplier purchases and payments
- Banking and Chart of Accounts
- Reporting from QuickBooks Online
- Best practices and common mistakes
Please note that this workshop is only training on QuickBooks Online and not QuickBooks Desktop.
Workshop Fee: FREE
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KCR's BE$T Summer Program
Pre-registration now open for July 9th start
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Kitsap Community Resources’ Business Education Support & Training (BE$T) Program is committed to providing the business training and network of supportive community services to enterprising individuals to gain self- sufficiency through small business ownership.
The 8-week Business Basics Program gives you the tools to launch and expand a new business or grow your existing business.
- Develop your business concept
- Define and understand your target customer base
- Learn about money management and break-even point analysis
- Study cash flow, pricing, taxes and financial statements
- Learn how to set up operations including legal structure
- Design a marketing and sales plan
- Develop your own basic business plan
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Women's Employment Workshop
Friday, June 7, 2024, 11:00 am
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WA Hospitality Webinar: Lending Solutions
Wednesday, June 12, 2024, 10:00 am
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The number of small business owners who said they keep coming up short on funds is 66%, making them unable to take their business to the next level.
Maybe you applied for ERC funds and are still waiting to get them back to your bank account. Or maybe you’ve received Employee Retention Credit funds, and it’s just not enough to bridge the gap. Or maybe you didn’t qualify for COVID relief at all.
Adesso gets it. That’s why they are stepping in to help.
Our partner, Adesso Capital, offers lending solutions to help you get the money your business needs. In this lending webinar by Adesso, learn more about different lending options and find solutions that work best for you and your business.
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Business News & Resources |
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Washington's Long-Term Care is Now Portable
Legislation makes benefit portable for those who move
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Courtesy of the Washington State Governor's Office
The WA Cares Fund, Washington’s new long-term care insurance program, launched last year. Seven in 10 Americans will require long-term care at some point, and WA Cares provides flexible benefits that workers can use if they have an illness, accident, or other need for care later in life.
Legislators improved the program this session by making WA Cares benefits portable. Now, Washingtonians who paid into WA Cares can still benefit should they move away.
If you’re picturing palm trees and “dry heat” for your Golden Years, you’ll have to look beyond Washington. If you go, you can now take your long-term care benefit with you.
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WA Hospitality: Scam Prevention Toolkit |
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This toolkit is designed to help you protect your business against a variety of scams. The digital landscape is rife with phishing, smishing, credit card chargebacks and more. Navigating the complexities of scams and fraud can be daunting. How do you identify threats? Where and who do you report instances of fraud to? This toolkit aims to guide you through these questions. Click here for toolkit, courtesy of the Washington Hospitality Association.
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Quick and interesting reads for employers, employees,
local leaders, and everyone in between!
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The Greater Kitsap Chamber is proud to serve as a resource partner with the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Stay tuned to this section quarterly for education, resources and more from L&I. |
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Got a question or issue to be solved?
Call L&I's Small Business Liaisons for assistance.
Phone: 1-800-987-0145
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Nonprofit News & Resources |
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How to Make It Easy for People to Give |
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Photo: Getty Images by Ridofranz
Getting people to give is hard work because, inside the mind of a potential donor, many things are working against you.
- I don’t know enough about you.
- I can’t make a real difference.
- I don’t think of myself as a philanthropist.
- I don’t know how to evaluate one charity against another.
- I don’t know how much to give.
- I don’t have time for this.
People have competing demands for attention and resources. It’s hard for them to make a decision, so the easiest thing to do is to reach no decision at all.
And when you don’t make it easy for donors to choose to support your charity, you inevitably make it easy for them to choose not to. This is where I ask you how you view your role. Are you a philanthropy facilitator or a fundraiser? And why, do you think, making this distinction might matter?
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KEDA Issues Request for Proposals |
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The Kitsap Economic Development Alliance (“KEDA”) seeks a consultant to survey, analyze, and make recommendations regarding Kitsap’s available land, buildings and infrastructure for industrial development. The purpose of this Kitsap Industrial Lands, Buildings and Infrastructure Survey (“KILBIS”) is to inform an industrial readiness strategy in Kitsap in the interest of economic growth and attracting private investment.
Submissions due by June 3, 2024.
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SK Public Education Foundation Open House
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 5:30 pm
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Inspire WA | Cultural Futures 2024
Tuesday, June 4, 2024, 7:00 pm
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Cultural Futures is a FREE funding, policy, and advocacy workshop for cultural businesses and supporters!
This spring, we invite you to join your local partners for Cultural Futures! Cultural Futures is Inspire Washington’s annual post-State Legislative Session tour when we visit communities to share what happened during the 2024 Legislative Session. It's our job to alert you to new funding and policy opportunities.
The 2025 Legislative Session is ramping up to be a BIG one! We anticipate many new objectives for each of our sectors—science, heritage, and the arts. Without new advocates and active engagement across the state, these large funding requests will be very challenging to secure. If you have thought about getting involved in the past but haven't yet participated, now is the time! With Inspire Washington, cultural advocacy is easy, fun, collaborative, and inspiring!
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Silverdale GreenDrinks
Wednesday, June 5, 2024, 5:24 pm
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Masks & COVID Testing Kits Available
Free at the Greater Kitsap Chamber & Visitor Center
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The Greater Kitsap Chamber still has some supplies available if your local business is in need of KN95 masks or COVID testing kits. Pick up your supply at both GKC locations today. Available while supplies last.
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The Admiral Theatre Presents: |
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Ricky Nelson Remembered
Starring Matthew and Gunnar Nelson
Friday, May 31, 2024, 8:00 pm
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A unique multi-media entertainment event featuring the live music of Ricky Nelson’s hit songs (including “Hello Mary Lou”, “Travelin’ Man”, “Garden Party”) performed by Ricky’s own twin sons Matthew & Gunnar and includes never before seen big screen video footage of the NELSON family with interviews from celebrities influenced by Ricky Nelson.
The show appeals to a wide audience and multiple generations and celebrates the life of America’s original ‘Teen Idol’. The year 2020 marked the 35th anniversary of Rick Nelson’s passing in a tragic New Year’s Eve plane crash. Ricky would have turned 80 on May 8th of that year.
This show stars Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, the identical twin sons of Rock’n’Roll Hall of Famer Ricky Nelson and grandsons of ‘50s TV icons Ozzie & Harriet Nelson. When Matthew & Gunnar hit #1 on the Billboard with their rock band NELSON with their self-penned #1 mega hit “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love & Affection” it put the Nelson family in the Guinness Book of Worlds as the ONLY family in entertainment history with THREE generations of #1 HITMAKERS! With their rock band NELSON, Matthew and Gunnar have five Top 40 Billboard hits, four #1 MTV videos and have sold over 6.5 million albums worldwide!
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Comedian John Caponera
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 8:00 pm
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John Caponera always knew he wanted to be in show business but in what dimension was undetermined until the summer of 1979 when John entered a talent show at a local bar in Chicago. After doing several impressions, he walked away with the five hundred dollar winner's pot and a realization that he might have something to offer in the world of comedy.
Caponera's instincts proved right and after two years working the Chicago comedy club circuit, John took his act on the road where he was immediately accepted. He has honed his act over a forty-year career performing to audiences all over the world. Caponera is considered a comic's comic, a true professional offering a mix of material from topical to impressions to characterizations to stories and one liners.
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Clearwater Casino Resort:
Just One Look - Linda Ronstadt Tribute
Friday, May 31, 2024, 8:30 pm
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Bremerton WestSound Symphony Presents:
Planets & Empowerment
Sunday, June 2, 2024, 3:00 pm
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Tour the solar system with the symphony as The Bremerton WestSound Symphony completes their 81st season of music! Holst’s masterwork features an immense orchestra performing the rage of Mars, the joy of Jupiter, and many others. Tames Alan, of Classic Collaborations, connects this work to the time of its writing with stories and scenes of women in the upheaval and societal change during World War I.
Who: Tames Alan of Living History Lectures and Classic Collaborations with members of the Bremerton WestSound Symphony, conducted by Alan Futterman.
Where: Central Kitsap High School Performing Arts Center, 10140 Frontier Place NW, Silverdale, WA 98383
When: Sunday, June 2, 3PM
Tickets: $28 adults, $10 young adults ages 19 to 29, $5 youth 18 and under
Box office at the venue opens one hour in advance of concert start time, purchase tickets online, or call the number below, or call 360-373-1722.
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Save-the-Date: Make Music Day
Saturday, June 22, 2024, 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
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Bremerton Airshow Returns this Summer
August 17 & 18, 2024
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Stay in the know with what's happening for events
in Central Kitsap by checking out and liking the
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Have something to share? CLICK HERE to submit stories and
events for our weekly Community Connections!
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David Emmons
President/CEO
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Irene Moyer
VP, Membership & Strategic Communications
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Tiffany Diamond
Events Coordinator
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Bremerton Office (360) 479-3579 | 4th & Pacific Downtown Bremerton
Silverdale Office (360) 692-6800 | Kitsap Mall next to Macy's
PO Box 1218 Silverdale WA 98383
If you need assistance, please contact us directly.
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