Chamber, county join to rebuild Berks
The Greater Reading Chamber Alliance is pleased to announce the partnership with the Berks County Commissioners Christian Y. Leinbach, Kevin S. Barnhardt and Michael S. Rivera to “Rebuild Berks” and provide Berks County residents and business owners with resources to help them succeed.
While the success of every county strongly depends on supporting local, it’s even more important now than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By keeping business local, we can watch Berks thrive — from business to consumer, shop and source local.
“Because of the pandemic, many area companies experienced supply chain disruption,” said Jim Gerlach, GRCA president and CEO. “We want to encourage businesses to source supplies locally if possible.
“To support this we will have a ‘matching form’ on rebuildberks.com that will allow a business to put in their info and what materials they are looking to source. A team member at the GRCA will then be in touch and will actually help connect local businesses with each other.”
The initiative, which utilizes CARES Act funds, consists of several main points — shopping local, sourcing local between
“Because of the pandemic, many area companies experienced supply chain disruption. We want to encourage businesses to source supplies locally if possible” — Jim Gerlach, GRCA president and CEO
businesses, free training and eventually a grant component.
Information and resources
in both English and Spanish regarding the initiative can be found on rebuildberks.com. Those interested can also visit the website to enroll in upcoming free training sessions.
Over the past few weeks, GRCA has put more than 100 area businesses through a three-part “Best Practices for Reopening Your Business” certificate program and will be offering 12 free workshops this month on a variety of topics.
Business owners are encouraged to sign up to learn about managing remote teams and thriving during times of change and effective meeting facilitation, among other topics.
Together, we can support each other and rise up stronger than ever.
By shopping local, we can directly help our neighbors and make a difference in strengthening the economy in Berks County.
Together, we are greater.