Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | |
2026 Business Awards Gala
Tickets Available Now!
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GKC Business Awards Gala
Sponsorship Opportunities Available!
| | Help us celebrate the northern lights of our local business community and be a sponsor at the Chamber's 2026 Business Awards Gala! For sponsorship information contact us at (360) 692-6800 or hello@greaterkitsapchamber.com. | |
October Membership Luncheon
Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 11:00am
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Powering Kitsap’s Future: What the November Ballot Measure Means for Business
Kitsap voters will soon consider a ballot measure that could give Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) the authority to explore providing electric service in our community—a decision with potential long-term implications for residents and businesses throughout the county.
Join the Greater Kitsap Chamber for an important and timely conversation featuring representatives from Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD). Attendees will hear directly from both organizations about the ballot measure, what voter approval would—and would not—mean, and the considerations surrounding the future of electric service in Kitsap County.
For businesses, reliable and affordable energy is more than a utility issue. Energy costs, infrastructure investment, system reliability and resiliency, and the ability to meet future growth all affect the cost of doing business and the strength of our local economy.
The Chamber is bringing both organizations to the table to help our business community better understand the issue, ask informed questions, and consider what it could mean for Kitsap’s economic future.
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Chamber: Off the Clock
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 5:05pm
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Secure You Spot in the Greater Kitsap
Chamber's Destination Guide
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There's still time to reserve your spot in the 2027 Greater Kitsap Destination Guide!
With 7,500 printed copies distributed throughout Kitsap County and mailed to visitors beyond the region, the Destination Guide is the Greater Kitsap Chamber's premier publication for showcasing local businesses and attractions.
Don't miss this opportunity to put your business in front of residents and visitors alike. Review the rate card and connect with our partners at Lunar Cow Publishing to secure your placement today.
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2027 Jumpstart Business Success Workshop
Thursday, October 29, 2026, 9:00am
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To succeed in the coming year, you must differentiate. Your product, pricing, and process can all be copied. The one thing that can't? Your culture.
This workshop delivers the simple four-part formula to create a highly engaging culture that attracts your best customers like a magnet. Don't miss out, seating is very limited.
*Registration is free for Greater Kitsap Chamber members.
| GKC Giving Away UW Football Tickets | | |
The GKC is giving away 20 tickets for the UW Football game on Friday,
October 9 at 6:00pm against Iowa. Tickets are awarded on a first come first served based with priority given to GKC members. Email us here for a chance to get a ticket!
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Accessible Healthcare with NICE
Business Health Trust Has You Covered
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Need a Health Benefits Quote but Don’t Have a Broker?
Maybe you handle payroll, hiring, and benefits for your business. When the renewal arrives, you need to compare plans while answering every other question on your desk. You don’t need to sort through all the options alone.
Through our chamber’s partnership with Business Health Trust (BHT), members can request quotes for medical plans from major carriers, consider dental and vision, and get help with enrollment and billing. If you have a broker, bring them in. If you don’t, BHT can help connect you with one.
🔗 Webpage Link: https://businesshealthtrust.com/products/nice-healthcare/
Questions? Contact BHT!
(425) 201-1972
nice@businesshealthtrust.com
Not a BHT member? Are you ready to build a better benefits package?
Visit bhtquote.com to learn more and get a free quote.
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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 us 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 & Renewing Members for September
Thank you for your continued investment & support!
| New Members - Welcome to the Chamber! | Tribal and Conservation Partners Award Grant from Climate Smart Communities Initiative | |
The group, made up of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC), and Haven Ecology and Research LLC, will use the funds to map out where native plants on the Kitsap Peninsula are most likely to survive a warming climate.
Bremerton, WA - The Climate Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI) has awarded a $114,000 grant to the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, the Suquamish Tribe, Great Peninsula Conservancy (GPC), and Haven Ecology and Research LLC. The group will study how climate change is affecting culturally important plants that are important to Coast Salish life.
Over the next year, the partners will study how well local forests and plant communities can handle drought, extreme heat, and other climate-related stresses in the major watersheds of the traditional and ancestral territories of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the Suquamish Tribe. The team will combine mapping, data analysis, and on-the-ground fieldwork to identify climate refugia – areas where plants and ecosystems are more likely to survive climate change.
Although this project will prioritize the needs and values of the Tribes, GPC will invite members of the wider community to serve on an advisory board that will provide guidance and feedback throughout the year-long project. Additionally, many of the resulting maps and data will be shared publicly so that all people living in the project area can benefit from this work.
According to Adrian Wolf, Stewardship Director at the Great Peninsula Conservancy, “This collaborative partnership will not only help our community better understand climate-related threats facing our forests, rivers and shorelines, the project will also help GPC’s stewardship team prioritize staff and financial resources to address these most important issues.”
Coast Salish Tribes are more vulnerable to climate-related hazards due to their relationship to local native ecosystems and the legacy of colonialism. As they have since time immemorial, Tribal communities rely on forest ecosystems and plant materials for commerce, subsistence, and ceremony. But, access to these ecosystems has been severely limited by the systemic removal of native people from their lands, reducing the resources available to the Tribes and their members. As climate change threatens what accessible ecosystems remain, the species that are critical to the Coast Salish way of life become even more scarce. Fishing, sustainable timber management, and other types of natural resource management are both culturally and economically vital to the Tribal communities represented by PGST and the Suquamish Tribe and are increasingly at risk as these resources become threatened.
Responding to climate-related hazards such as wildfire, drought, extreme heat, and shifts in precipitation takes significant financial and personnel resources. The CSCI grant will reduce barriers to understanding the vulnerability of our natural resources by supporting this unique collaboration between subject matter experts and by providing funding for Tribal staff to conduct community member engagement.
Although this project will make significant advances towards increasing the resilience of our communities and ecosystems to climate change, it does not address the underlying drivers of global warming – namely the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. According to Dylan Mendenhall, the Principal Ecologist of Haven Ecology and Research LLC, “Adaptation will never be enough in a runaway climate. The degree to which we can secure a livable planet for future generations hinges on how rapidly we disengage from the fossil fuel industry. The choice is ours and the window of opportunity is now.”
Additional Information:
Haven Ecology and Research LLC is an environmental consulting firm specializing in ecological forestry and habitat restoration, with a mission to empower our community with the knowledge and insights to make strategic land management decisions. Learn more at havenecology.com.
Great Peninsula Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust that protects and stewards the forests, streams, shorelines, and farms of the Great Peninsula of Washington's Puget Sound while connecting people with nature. Great Peninsula Conservancy has protected over 12,500 acres of this spectacular region of west Puget Sound, including magnificent forests, saltwater shorelines, salmon streams, wildlife rich estuaries, and working farms. Learn more at greatpeninsula.org.
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the Suquamish Tribe are sovereign nations and federally recognized Indian tribes. Learn more at pgst.nsn.us and suquamish.nsn.us/, respectively.
The Climate Smart Communities Initiative is a public-private partnership that supports local leaders and adaptation practitioners in advancing climate adaptation and resilience projects in communities across the United States.
https://climatesmartcommunity.org/funding/grants-awardees/2026-awarded-communities/
| Party Planning Is Now at Staples | |
Who's Running You?
Grow Your Leadership from the Inside Out
Thursday, October 15, 2026
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We all have default habits that shape how we think, respond, and lead, but what if you had more choice in how you show up?
Join Doug Nathan on October 15 for Who’s Running You?, a four-hour interactive LKPI workshop that takes a deeper look at the Inner Team Dialogue framework. Through the Inner Team Assessment and guided exercises, you’ll explore the patterns influencing your leadership and learn practical ways to lead with greater intention, adaptability, and effectiveness.
Whether you’re leading a team, an organization, or simply looking to grow in how you show up as a leader, this workshop is an opportunity to better understand what’s driving you and how to take the lead.
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Non-Apparent Disabilities Panel Event
Tuesday, October 20, 2026, 10:00am
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Kitsap Halloween Bash
Saturday, October 24, 2026, 1:00pm
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22nd Annual PNWT Food Drive
October 26-November 13
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Changing Faces, Changing Places
Share your business news today
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Has your team recently welcomed a new hire, celebrated a promotion, or marked a retirement? Kitsap Business magazine's Changing Faces, Changing Places section highlights the people powering our local business community. Chamber members are invited to share their staff updates for inclusion in an upcoming issue.
Send your announcements to news@kitsapbusiness.com and let us help you recognize the faces behind your success.
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2026 Eggs & Issues Candidate Forum
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 8:00am
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Join us for the Chamber’s Eggs & Issues Candidate Forums at the Cloverleaf Bar and Grill, a long-standing tradition started by the Bremerton Chamber over 25 years ago. Open to the public; breakfast available for purchase.
Questions? Contact the Chamber at (360) 692-6800.
Forums are every Tuesday morning beginning September 22nd and running through October 27th.
| Business & Professional Development Committee | | Member Education & Training Resources | | |
SBDC: Accounting Basics and the
Importance of Accounting to Your Business
Thursday, October 8, 2026, 1:00pm
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Do you know the difference between bookkeeping and accounting? Are you having trouble understanding what financial statements are? Then you have come to the right place. Sign up for our Accounting Basics class and learn the important information that you need to know about your small business accounting.
The instructor, Ann Zimmerman, is a Washington SBDC Certified Business Advisor. She earned her BA in Accounting from Western Washington University and received her Master’s degree in Accounting and Tax from Washington State University. Ann has over thirty years of experience in business and has worked in various industries including retail, construction services, manufacturing, healthcare, and not-for-profit.
Registration Fee: FREE
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SCORE: Everything HR
For New & Existing Businesses
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 8:00am
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This Comprehensive webinar session, led by an experienced HR professional, explores workable strategies to help you manage HR at your business with a step-by-step guide. It helps prepare you before you make your first hire. Learn how to navigate the challenges ranging from discrimination and wrongful termination to harassment and employee paperwork.
Key Takeaways:
* Explore why business leaders fail and how to avoid the pitfalls
* How to decide when to make your first hires
* Learn how to better implement and track key HR objectives
* How to set behavioral expectations and audit performance
Registration Fee: $10.00
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SBDC: Build Your Holiday Digital Presence
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 1:00pm
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Today's holiday shoppers discover businesses online before deciding where to shop, dine, or book services. Whether customers are purchasing directly from your website, booking appointments, or visiting your storefront, your digital presence plays a critical role in their buying decisions. In this workshop, participants will learn how to create a cohesive holiday marketing strategy that combines social media, a customer-friendly website, local SEO, and emerging AI tools to increase visibility and convert online searches into holiday sales.
The presenter, Matt Cail, founded Super Charge Marketing to provide professional social media, website design, advertising, and digital marketing services to entrepreneurs, brands, and businesses of all sizes. Prior to Super Charge Marketing, Matt managed other Internet marketing endeavors and businesses dating back to the late 1990s. Matt also spent several years consulting for public entities. Work included improving organizational efficiencies, as well as examining federal telecom, digital, and online policies.
Registration Fee: FREE
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SCORE: Strategic Cybersecurity Practices
Thursday, October 15, 2026, 12:00pm
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Learn about strategic cybersecurity governance of your business' operations, integrating risk, cybersecurity insurance, when to consider using a Managed Service Provider, asset management, training your staff members, and working toward a goal of cybersecurity maturity within your organization.
Registration Fee: $10.00
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Business News & Resources | | |
WA's Minimum Wage Rises to
$17.73 An Hour in 2027
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Published by Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, September 30, 2026
TUMWATER — Washington’s minimum wage will rise 3.5 percent next year to $17.73 an hour. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced the increase today; it takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Washington employers must pay most employees at least the minimum wage for every hour worked.
State law requires L&I to calculate Washington’s minimum wage for the coming year using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). L&I compares the CPI-W from August of the previous year to August of the current year and adjusts the minimum wage based on the percentage change.
Washington’s current state minimum wage is $17.13 an hour, but local governments can set higher minimums. Seattle, SeaTac, Tukwila, Renton, Bellingham, Everett, Burien, and unincorporated King County currently have higher minimum wages than the state. The federal minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour.
More information about the minimum wage is available on L&I's website, along with details about overtime, rest breaks, meal periods, and how to file a wage complaint.
The minimum wage rate is also used to set levels for several other workplace wage-related rights in our state.
Overtime-exempt employees
L&I uses a multiplier of the minimum wage to calculate the minimum salary that executive, administrative, professional workers, and certain computer professionals must earn to be considered exempt from receiving overtime pay.
Under current rules, large employers with 51 or more employees must pay overtime-exempt workers at least 2.25 times the minimum wage. Starting Jan. 1, 2027, the multiplier will rise to 2.5 times the minimum wage. That means an employee must earn at least $1,773 a week ($92,196 a year) to be exempt from receiving overtime pay.
The multiplier is not scheduled to increase beyond 2.5 times the minimum wage.
Small businesses with up to 50 workers are also currently required to pay 2.25 times the minimum wage to any workers they want to be exempt from overtime requirements. That multiplier remains at 2.25 in 2027. That means an exempt employee must earn at least $1,595 a week ($82,976 a year) for an employer to avoid paying the worker overtime.
The multiplier for small businesses is not scheduled to go up to 2.5 until 2028.
The same rules allow exempt computer professionals to be paid an hourly rate rather than a minimum salary. That hourly rate is 3.5 times the minimum wage, regardless of employer size. In 2027, the hourly rate will be $62.06, which is $2.10 more than this year.
Young workers
Under the law, employers are allowed to pay 14- and 15-year-old workers 85 percent of the minimum wage. In 2027, the minimum wage for these younger workers will be $15.07 an hour, up from the current youth minimum of $14.56.
Minimum pay for rideshare drivers
The minimum pay that rideshare drivers will earn is going up Jan. 1, as well.
- For trips within Seattle in 2027, drivers will earn 72 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.69 per passenger platform mile, or $6.34 per trip, whichever is greater.
- For trips outside of Seattle in 2027, drivers will earn 41 cents per passenger platform minute and $1.43 per passenger platform mile, or $3.68 per trip, whichever is greater.
- The remittance fee, which funds a nonprofit center that supports rideshare drivers, will be 16 cents.
Changes to non-compete clauses
State law will prohibit non-compete clauses starting in July 2027. For the six months before the ban takes effect, L&I will use the CPI-W to calculate the minimum annual salary a worker must earn for an employer to enforce a non-compete clause or contract.
Between January and June 2027, the annual salary threshold for employees will be $131,326. For independent contractors, the annual salary threshold for the six months will be $328,316.
Leasing fee for adult entertainment establishments
State law also calls for L&I to adjust the limit each year on how much adult entertainment establishments can charge adult entertainers to use their premises to entertain customers.
Based on the CPI-W index, the 2027 maximum leasing fee for an eight-hour period is increasing to the lesser of $159.64 or 30 percent of amounts collected by an entertainer. The amounts collected do not include those collected for adult entertainment in a private performance area.
Wage complaints investigated
L&I enforces the state’s wage-and-hour laws and investigates wage-payment complaints. A worker rights complaint can be filed online, downloaded and mailed to the agency, or at a local L&I office.
For questions about worker rights and pay, employers and workers can call L&I’s Employment Standards Program at 360-902-5316 or toll free 1-866-219-7321.
| | 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. | | Check Equal Pay Compliance for Free | | |
L&I offers free, customized consultations to help employers understand the impact the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act might have on their organization and employment practices, and provide an evaluation of possible risks.
The Equal Pay and Opportunities Act includes things like:
- Equal pay and career advancement opportunities
- Open wage discussions
- Wage and salary history privacy
- Disclosing salary range
- And more!
To request a consultation, complete this request form. You can also call the Employment Standards Program at 360-902-6625.
| | Nonprofit News & Resources | |
Design Nonprofit Programs Around People,
Not Grant Categories
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Published by NonprofitPRO, September 30, 2026
Photo: Getty Images
People rarely experience challenges in neat categories. A family experiencing a loss may also be dealing with financial stress, childcare, housing concerns, mental health needs, transportation barriers or changes at work. Someone experiencing homelessness may also be navigating unemployment, health issues, substance use and family relationships. These needs don’t arrive one at a time, and they don’t stop at the boundaries of a nonprofit program. People are living one life — even when the systems around them are organized into separate pieces.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies economic stability, housing, transportation, healthcare, education and social and community context as interconnected factors that shape people’s well-being. And nonprofits are seeing the pressure firsthand: according to the Nonprofit Finance Fund’s 2025 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey, 85% of organizations expected demand for their services to increase, while 36% ended 2024 with an operating deficit and 52% had three months or less of cash on hand. As needs grow more complex, organizations are being asked to respond within systems that were not necessarily designed for that complexity.
That creates a fundamental tension for the nonprofit sector: People live whole lives, but funding often pays for pieces of them. Grants target specific populations and outcomes. Programs are designed around particular needs. Success is measured by what fits into a reporting system. The challenge for nonprofits isn’t simply how to deliver more services, but how to design experiences around real life, even when the funding structures supporting that work remain divided into categories.
Read the article here
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SCORE: Strategic Planning for Small Nonprofits Thursday, October 8, 2026, 8:00am
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Don’t be afraid of strategic planning! Even small nonprofits can – and should – engage in some form of strategic planning. This webinar will introduce you to the concept of strategic planning and the important role it can play in helping your organization develop priorities and goals to better accomplish your mission. We will cover:
* The goals and objectives for executing a strategic planning process,
* The basic elements of the process, including how to get started,
* Some different approaches to strategic planning,
* Timeframes and scheduling,
* How to incorporate your planning and its outcome into organizational operations, and
* Pitfalls to avoid
Registration Fee: $10
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New Apartment Project in Poulsbo
Aimed at Workforce
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Published in the Kitsap Sun, October 5, 2026
Photo credit: Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun
POULSBO -- A new apartment complex is taking shape along Highway 305, marking the latest housing project adding density near the downtown corridor.
Visible from the highway just south of the Hostmark intersection, near Greens Your Way and Mezcalito's, and located on the corner of Harrison Street and Ninth Avenue, Aktiv Apartments is Chinook Contractors' latest development project, planned for over 50,000 square feet in total.
According to President Kelly Clark, the four-story building will house 44 market-rate apartments on all floors that will vary from studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom layouts. Clark said the third and fourth floor offer views of Liberty Bay and a rooftop deck available to all tenants. Other amenities include a lounge, work station, a lobby with coffee, an athletic facility and a basement parking garage.
Read the article here
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Kitsap League of Women Voters
General Election Candidate Forums
September 28 - October 7, 2026
| For the November 3rd General Election, the League of Women Voters of Kitsap will invite all candidates for the following races to participate in candidate forums: State Representatives for Legislative Districts 23 and 26, State Senator for Legislative District 26, US Representative for Congressional District 6, as well as the following Kitsap County races: County Commissioner District 3, Assessor, Clerk, Prosecuting Attorney, and Sheriff. They will also conduct a forum for the Kitsap County PUD proposal. | | |
Kitsap Hobby Hunt
Saturday, October 10, 12:00pm
| Kitsap Regional Library invites the community to Quincy Square for a local Hobby Fair! Explore new passions, meet local enthusiasts, and connect with clubs, organizations, and activity groups from all across Bremerton. | |
Glow-In-the-Dark Candy Egg Hunt
Olmsted Tree Farms
October 9 - October 24, 2026
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Trick or Tree - Glow-In-The-Dark Egg Hunt is an epic night of family fun! Your kids will scour our Christmas tree field where THOUSANDS of glowing and non-glowing hidden candy-filled eggs are just waiting to be found. The best part? They'll do it in the dark! And 3 lucky golden egg winners will win a special prize each night! After filling their buckets, the Spooky Woods await them - only if they dare! Choose from 6 nights in October!
But hurry - one night is already sold out!!
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Clearwater Casino Presents:
Cover Boy - Loverboy Tribute
Friday, October 9, 2026, 8:30pm
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Good Times Roll -The Cars Tribute
Saturday, October 10, 2026, 8:30pm
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Skerryvore @ The Admiral Theatre
Saturday, October 10, 2026, 7:30pm
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What are Skerryvore? They’re like no one else. Epic of melody, intimate of feeling and plugged into the roots of Scotland but blasting out to the world.
Four time winners of Scotland’s ‘Live Act of the Year’ award, Skerryvore have evolved from their humble beginnings to become one of the country’s leading forces in a thriving live music scene. At the forefront of a movement that has reinvented and reignited a traditional Scottish scene for a modern, multicultural audience, the band have brought their high energy performances to audiences across the globe. From their early days in Scottish West Coast halls and bars, to festival crowds in the USA, Canada, Australia and throughout the UK and Europe, Skerryvore’s wide range of influences and talent produce a musically expansive, immersive yet intimate set that excites and captivates audiences.
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Abra Cadabra @ The Admiral Theatre
Tuesday, October 13, 2026, 7:00pm
| Attention all ABBA fans! Get ready for a night of glittering costumes, irresistible melodies, and pure joy when ABRA Cadabra— the internationally acclaimed ABBA tribute band— makes their spectacular Admiral Theatre debut on October 13, 2026. | | |
Port Gamble Theater Presents:
Anne of Green Gables
October 2 - October 18, 2026
| | Anne of Green Gables follows the story of the feisty orphan, Anne Shirely. Adopted from an orphanage in Nova Scotia. Anne’s acclimation to life in Avonlea isn’t exactly smooth sailing. The Cuthbert siblings wanted a quiet boy to help out around their farm, but instead they receive Anne, a redheaded, freckle-faced, free spirit who turns their lives upside down with her quirky behavior. Follow Anne as she navigates school, friendship, and life in Avonlea through this charming coming-of-age tale. | | |
Within/Earshot Jazz Festival
Jun lida
Friday, October 16, 2026, 7:00pm
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Music inspired by the roads traveled, the relationships formed, and the cultures carried along the way will move you during Jun Iida’s “Bellflower” program!
Three years ago, trumpeter and composer Jun Iida left Seattle for New York, and this program, built with a band of new friends over the course of a West Coast tour, is the sound of that journey. “Bellflower” is mostly original music, drawn directly from Iida’s own experience moving between places, people, and identities. It’s a program shaped by Japanese heritage, American cities, and the particular restlessness of starting over somewhere new.
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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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Office (360) 479-3579 | 705 Pacific Avenue in Downtown Bremerton
Silverdale Office (360) 692-6800 | Kitsap Mall
PO Box 1218 Silverdale WA 98383
If you need assistance, please contact us directly.
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