December Business Connection
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Board of Directors
Chair of the Board
*Alisia St. Florian
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane
Chair-Elect
*Robert Ferrini
McGowanPRO
Past Chair of the Board
*Cynthia Peterson
Brigham and Women's/Mass General Health Care Center
Treasurer
*James Donellon
Gray, Gray & Gray, LLP
General Counsel
*Thomas Flaherty
Bacon Flaherty LLC
President/CEO
*Thomas O'Rourke
Neponset River Regional Chamber
Anthony Brown
Dedham Savings
Mary Chetwynd
Rockland Trust
Todd J. Chipman, MST, CPA
John T. Chipman & Co., CPAs
Steve Forrest
CertainTeed
Rhonda Kale
Bank of Canton
Michael Kennedy
Norwood Bank
Paul Kouri
Keller Williams
Jon Levy
American Holt Corporation
Mark LoVuolo
Liberty Mutual Insurance
Ashley Mansfield
Dedham High School
Tim McCabe
The League School
Sal Perla
Norwood Hospital
*Member of the Executive Committee
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Member News
Impact Norwood Presents:
A Community Presentation on Marijuana Truths and Risks
Alex Berenson Author of
Tell Your Children the
Truth about Marijuana,
Mental Illness and Violence will speak on January 9, 2020 at 7:00 PM at the Norwood High School Auditorium. Mr. Berenson is an award winning author and former New York Times reporter.
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I write as I approach the end of my tenure as Chair of the Neponset River Regional Chamber to share some thoughts and reflections on what I have learned over the past year.
While attending a conference this past month on the state of education, I listened to Author Grant Lichtman present his new book, Thrive: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution. Mr. Lichtman referred to Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter’s 8 Steps to Change which are as follows:
• Step One: Create Urgency
• Step Two: Form a Powerful Coalition
• Step Three: Create a Vision for Change
• Step Four: Communicate the Vision
• Step Five: Remove Obstacles
• Step Six: Create Short-Term Wins
• Step Seven: Build on the Change
• Step Eight: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture
I realized later, as I reflected on what I had heard, that we can use these principles to guide us as we recognize and accept our changing business landscape and the inevitable ways that these changes impact us as a Chamber, and call on us to make appropriate adjustments. So, while change is never easy, it is our challenge at this point in time and one that I think these guiding principles will help us to achieve.
Mr. Lichtman concluded his talk by saying that to be successful in this era of competition and competing demands, the key is to make your product irresistible. I am confident that we can achieve this goal. So, while I end my time as Chair with much work still to be done, I invite you all to participate with your time, talent and treasure as we shepherd our Neponset River Regional Chamber to becoming simply irresistible in the eyes of our business community.
With gratitude,
Alisia St. Florian
Chair of the Board
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLC
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Annual Meeting Speaker Announced
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Massachusetts is one year into legalized retail Marijuana sales. Kay Doyle, Commissioner
of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Division will be our guest speaker at our Annual Meeting and Awards Breakfast.
Please plan to join us to hear about what we've learned after one year of this new industry.
We will also have a delicious breakfast celebrating our award winners, the anniversaries of several members and the introduction of our 2020 Board of Directors and Officers.
We will present the following awards:
- Small Business of the Year
- Large Business of the Year
- Business Person of the Year
- Paul Smith Award for Outstanding Volunteerism
Friday, January 31st
7:30 - 9:30 AM
Four Points Sheraton
1125 Providence Highway
Norwood
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Chamber Recognized for "Age Friendly" Effort
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Antron Watson, Age-Friendly Director for AARP, presented the NRRC Board of Directors with a certificate recognizing the Chamber's efforts on age-friendly communities.
The Town of Norwood in collaboration with the Elder Care Alliance of the Neponset River Regional Chamber is launching an effort to designate Norwood as an Age Friendly – Livable Community. AARP will present the town with its certificate at a kick-off celebration on Friday, December 6th at 1:30 PM at the Norwood Senior Center located at 275 Prospect Street in Norwood. Local and state officials will be in attendance and all are welcome to attend.
On Tuesday, December 10th, a "Listening Session" will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, also at the Senior Center. This will be the first of several listening sessions where we will hear from residents about what is most important to them. All are welcome to come ready to share your thoughts and get involved!
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Staples Studio Teams up With SCORE
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Staples Studio in Norwood and SCORE have combined their resources to deliver the small business community a one stop shop for:
• Office space, conference rooms, workstations and a lobby-like seating area for meetings
• Free business consulting to help your business prosper, from experienced business executives
• Workshops on such topics as social media marketing, financial & accounting topics, applying for SBA loans, sales and marketing strategies and more...all hosted by Staples Studio and delivered by Score and its partners.
This level of collaboration is designed to provide a comprehensive set of services to the small business community in Norwood and surrounding towns.
An open house celebrating the collaboration was held last month at the Staples Studio.
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Member Benefit of the Month
Online Coupons and Discounts
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Looking to offer a discount to fellow Chamber members? Or even to the general public? You can easily do so on the Chamber website.
Any member can go from our homepage to the "Membership" scroll down tab and click on
"Coupons"
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At the bottom center of the page click the words "Click Here" and
you will be directed to a page where you can quickly and easily add your coupons. At the bottom left of the page click "New Coupon".
You will need to login to the website. If you need your login credentials, simply contact Denise Flynne at denise@nrrchamber.com or 781-769-1126.
Once logged in simply fill out the form with the details of your offer. You can offer a number of discounts and set expiration dates for them. You can add images, links, logos, etc.
Finally, don't forget to let your employees know that they can access member discounts themselves.
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Member Benefit: Canada and New England Cruise
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The Neponset River Regional Chamber and the Tri-Town Chamber are teaming up to offer our members an opportunity to cruise from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia with stops in Portland, Maine, Bar Harbor, Maine and Saint John, New Brunswick.
Offered by Wanderlust Tours and AAA Travel, the trip sails from September 27 - October 4, 2020.
Inside Cabin from $1,399 per person with taxes, fees and port expenses included.
Book by December 31 and save $50!
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"Giving Thanks" to Our Members
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Chamber President Tom O'Rourke, hit the streets prior to Thanksgiving to "Give Thanks" to several long-time members of the Chamber. In addition to social media postings, each member got a box of caramels from McCrea's Candies. Clockwise from the top left are: Poirier's Sales & Service (1988), Flowers & More Design Studio (2003), Norwood Monumental Works (1922) and Datasmith Network Solutions (1985).
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Sustainable Dedham Wants to Hear from Dedham Businesses
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The Town of Dedham is launching a planning process to address Dedham’s greenhouse gas emissions and the impacts of climate change on our community. The end result of this process will be the creation of a comprehensive Climate Action & Resiliency Plan.
Dedham is a tight knit community where people are proud of where they live. Driven by shared values, people are working together to ensure that our neighborhoods, our natural resources, and our economy are resilient to the impacts of climate change. The Sustainable Dedham Climate Action and Resiliency Plan will be the blueprint to achieve that strong, thriving community of the future.
Dedham businesses and residents are encouraged to share their thoughts by taking a brief survey.
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Chamber Supported Education Funding Passes
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(The following statement from the The Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE) outlines the new education funding bill recently signed by the Governor. This effort was supported by the Neponset River Regional Chamber and other employer groups statewide.)
MBAE is pleased that the conference committee reconciling differences in the versions of the education funding and reform bill released a final bill today that prioritizes increases in funding for students and communities that need it the most, includes sufficient guardrails to ensure the money is thoughtfully and strategically deployed to close persistent achievement gaps, and increases state and district focus on preparing students for college and workforce opportunities.
MBAE applauds the work of House Speaker DeLeo, Senate President Spilka, Representative Peisch and Senator Lewis to create a compromise bill that addresses the needs of students and reflects the priorities of critical stakeholders. From the moment they introduced the Education Committee bill two months ago, they have worked tirelessly to get this right. We appreciate their commitment to the students of the Commonwealth.
This is a very strong bill that meets the needs of students and communities, and takes steps toward an education system more reflective of, and responsive to, the demands of the workforce.
The bill requires districts to set targets for closing achievement gaps aligned with state targets, develop three-year plans for how they will meet those targets including how they will allocate funding and utilize evidence-based best practices, and gives the Commissioner the authority to review and require changes from districts whose plans do not meet the requirements of the law, giving the bill the appropriate “teeth” needed and supported by the business community.
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BE SURE TO UPDATE OUR EMAIL ADDRESSES
Tom O'Rourke - tom@nrrchamber.com
Denise Flynne - denise@nrrchamber.com
Stephanie Coyne - Stephanie@nrrchamber.com
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