Plans set for annual golf tournament at Lyman Orchards

MIDDLETOWN — The summer is off and running in Middlesex County, and the chamber continues to be on the move.

Before previewing the many events and activities that are scheduled for this week and for the remainder of July, I want to take a moment to recap a special virtual ceremony that was held last week.

Last Tuesday evening, a Program Completion Ceremony for the 2020 Side Street to Main Street Business “Know-How” Program was held via zoom.

Business “Know-How” was designed as a preparatory companion course to the award-winning entrepreneurial Side Street to Main Street Minority Business & Leadership Development Program, and is specifically targeted to assist, motivate, and prepare minority small business owners in the community who have had no formal business training.

Thanks to the strong support of Eversource, this program, celebrating its ninth year, has led to the development of a number of minority owned businesses in our community. The program sponsor was represented by the President of the Eversource Foundation, Theresa Hopkins-Staten. I appreciate Theresa’s strong and consistent support of our chamber, and her personal interest in this important program.

City of Middletown Director of Human Relations

Faith Jackson, who was instrumental in the founding of the Side Street to Main Street Minority Business and Leadership Development Program over 22 years ago, also offered remarks to the graduates, as did Mayor Ben Florsheim, and chamber Chairman Tom Byrne.

In addition to all of these community leaders, I would like to thank Jim Jackson, facilitator of the Business “Know-How” Program, and Jennifer De Kine, chamber staff liaison. The great work of Jim and Jennifer make this program what it is, a successful and effective tool that has encouraged the development of small, minority-owned businesses, which are now part of the central fabric of the Middlesex County business community.

Switching gears from business development to workforce development, I am proud to announce that this week marks the start of the work experience for the 2020 Middletown Summer Youth Employment Program. The chamber is proud of all of its workforce development initiatives, but this program is especially important because it deals with our youth population.

Thanks to the leadership and support of an outstanding group of program funders, we are able to put over 50 students to work once again this summer in constructive employment environments throughout the city.

Funders include: Workforce Alliance, the City of Middletown, Liberty Bank Foundation, the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, Jarvis Products Corporation, Stone Investment Properties, and Middlesex United Way.

In addition to the team of funders, I also want to take a moment to thank the over 20 businesses and organizations in Middletown that will serve as host worksites this summer. It is critical that we have host worksites stepping up to the plate to provide the work and supervision that is necessary to truly make this an effective workforce development initiative.

All of these local supporters are providing a quality work experience to youngsters who need it, and in most cases, it is their very first work experience. This program also teaches other critical skills that our participants will use in all of their future endeavors.

Back in late June, chamber Workforce Development Director and Youth @ Work Program Coordinator Lorenzo Marshall led two important orientation sessions which covered how to properly fill out tax withholding forms, correctly fill out a time card, our Employee Code of Conduct, proper work attire and etiquette, and more.

This program is truly developing the future of the workforce, and we appreciate everyone’s strong support. I will continue to provide updates on the Middletown Summer Youth Employment Program as the summer progresses.

This week, another busy one for the chamber, kicks off today with a Zoom meeting of our Executive Committee. This committee features a variety of business and community leaders from a number of industry sectors. This meeting will feature an update from key chamber members and staff, along with a breakdown of our efforts to support the business community through this crisis.

This meeting will be led by our newly installed Chairman Tom Byrne, president and owner of Connecticut Rentals. We look forward another productive meeting, and I again want to thank Tom for stepping up to this important chamber leadership role at this critical point for our organization.

Also, chamber staff will be busy this week executing important meetings of our Durham and Middlefield Division, Cromwell Division, Health Care Council, Real Estate Council, Golf Committee, Middlesex County Substance Abuse Action Council, and Chester, Deep River and Essex Division.

We look forward to another busy and productive week of chamber meetings.

On Wednesday evening, our Golf Committee will meet via zoom to continue planning for this year’s 37th Annual Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce Golf Tournament. This year’s event is scheduled for Sept. 16 at Lyman Orchards Golf Club in Middlefield. We look forward to a great day out on the course in midSeptember, and will certainly have much more information as we move through the summer.

I look forward to my weekly meeting on Tuesday with my fellow executives from Connecticut’s eight metro chambers of commerce. The metro chambers collectively represent thousands of businesses in our state, and these meetings always feature productive discussions about collaboration and joint advocacy for the business community.

Our calendar has a number of important events and activities scheduled for the rest of July. On July 14, the chamber will continue the very successful KeyBank Workshop Series which has gone virtual for the time being. Our next session, Sexual Harassment Prevention Training, will cover the definition of sexual harassment, liability, and the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Attorneys from the law firm Jackson Lewis will demonstrate how to limit your company’s exposure to charges of sexual harassment. This session meets state of Connecticut requirements for employers. Please contact the chamber for registration information. This important chamber Workshop Series is sponsored by KeyBank, and I want to again thank their entire team for its strong support of this important chamber initiative.

On the virtual event front, we look forward to welcoming back Edison Liu, M.D., president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, for a virtual luncheon sponsored by Whittlesey, on July 15.

The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit organization focusing on mammalian genetics research to advance human health. This is a timely visit for Dr. Liu, who was awarded the President’s Public Service Medal after leading Singapore’s scientific response to the 2003 SARS crisis. We look forward to an informative event, and I thank Whittlesey Managing Partner and CEO Drew Andrews and their entire team for its support of this event, and of our chamber. I will have more on this major event in next week’s column. To register, visit middlesexchamber.com.

Stay positive, keep going, and remember, the sun always shines in Middlesex County.

Larry McHugh is president of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce in Middletown.