Check Out What's Going On With Our Chamber Volunteer Councils

Be on the lookout for great Chamber Council events this September.

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce wants to keep you updated each month with everything that their volunteer councils have planned this year, including some great community events and initiatives that you can join!

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council

The DEI Council is getting ready to begin its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mentorship Program. It will kick off this month with a full curriculum of activities for participants. Through this 12-month program, the Council’s goal is to help create an ecosystem of mentorship to help diverse-owned businesses succeed and thrive while doing business in the Wyoming Valley. The Council will also be looking ahead to planning their fall programming, as well as developing downloadable toolkits for businesses in our community that are looking to expand their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to utilize as a free resource.

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber’s Women’s Council

The Women’s Council will be hosting an informal meetup event this Thursday for the Council and members of the community who are interested in getting involved. This meetup is in partnership with the Diamond City Partnership’s final Sunsets on South Main Happy Hour event, happening from 5-7 PM at Midtown Village in Downtown Wilkes-Barre. You can find out more about the event here. And don’t forget to stop by and meet our Women’s Council. We’ll have a special table at the event – just look for our signs!

Coming up later in the month, the Council is also collaborating with Wilkes-Barre Connect to host a Spotlight Series Video Premiere on September 29th on the topic of Women in Workforce. The spotlight will include featured speaker Zubeen Saeed, Chief Executive Officer/ President of Building Blocks Learning Center, and spotlight speakers Dr. Christine E. Kiesinger, Founder and Lead Facilitator at CEK Communication; Tracey Selingo, Founder and Chair of Fork Over Love; and Laura Ducceschi, President & CEO of the Scranton Area Community Foundation. Follow the Chamber to be notified when we go live!

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber’s Young Professionals Council

The Young Professionals Council is currently selling tickets for the 2021 Young Professionals Awards, which is happening tonight at 6 PM at The Garden Drive-In! This event will recognize amazing young professionals helping to move our region forward. The community is invited to come and see the exciting live announcements of this year’s winners and honor these amazing young leaders in our area. This event is presented by Coal Creative and put on in partnership with Times Leader Media Group. To find out who this year’s top 3 honorees are in each category, click here and join us tonight to see who the winners will be!

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber’s Government Affairs Council

The Government Affairs Council is currently collaborating with our regional chambers to conduct the 2021 Regional Government Affairs Survey. The survey results will help to inform the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber and chambers across the region to develop actions on legislative matters, advocate with our elected officials, and shape the 2021-2022 Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber Legislative Agenda. The Council will also be hosting our Legislative Forum on October 8th. The community is invited to join our state and local elected officials as they discuss timely and pertinent legislation that impacts our business community, either in person at the event, or by tuning in to our livestream that day. Tickets can be purchased here.

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber’s Nonprofit Council and Ambassadors Council

The Nonprofit Council and Ambassadors Council would love to welcome new members at their next meetings. If you would like to join any of the councils mentioned above, or sign up to stay updated on their news and events, click here.

Spotlighting Our Amazing Chamber Members

The Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber councils have also started to highlight some of the amazing small businesses and nonprofits in our community that make our area unique. The Young Professionals Council; Women’s Council; and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council have three amazing organizations and their leaders spotlighted below!

Meet this month’s Young Professionals Network Small Business Highlight: Joseph C. Borland Esq., Partner at Borland and Borland LLP!

Established in 1979, Borland and Borland is a general and trial practice law firm located in Downtown Wilkes-Barre. The four partners of the firm and their staff are committed to serving their clients and making a difference in their community.

They are located at 69 Public Square 11th Floor Wilkes-Barre. You can connect with them by phone at 570-822-3311 or online.

Meet this month’s Women’s Network Small Business Highlight: Tracey Selingo, Founder and Chair of Fork Over Love!

Fork Over Love is a socially innovative non-profit dedicated to changing the narrative on food insecurity by nourishing the community at large. Their mission is to bridge the gap between restaurants and residents who are struggling to put food on the table because they believe that food is the foundation of a healthy life and they know that restaurants are the foundation of a healthy, culturally-diverse community. To this end, they are inspiring the entire community to help them strengthen the small, independent restaurant community by paying restaurants to provide hot, delicious takeout meals that can be distributed for free to the entire community, so that everyone has access to nutritious meals with absolute dignity and zero stigma, shame or hesitation. In just eight months, they’ve served over 10,000 meals and reinvested more than $100,000.00 into our restaurant community.

Everyone is welcome to fork over love with them—you can sign up to donate, cook, host, volunteer or find food. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Meet this month’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council Highlights: Gary Bernstein, Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Alliance of Northeastern Pennsylvania!

From building body and mind through athletics and wellness, educating our children and youth, sparking excitement through informative programs and entertaining events, engaging young people with the JCC Camp and celebrating all aspects of Jewish culture and life, they’ve got it covered at the Friedman JCC.

In 2019, they opened the doors of our bright new facility to the entire community, “The Center for Everyone”! Designed to be vibrant and welcoming, the sparkling 57,000 sq. ft. facility features a full gym with basketball, pickle ball, squash and other court sports, a state-of-the-art social hall for lectures and programmed events, multiple meeting rooms, catering and dining from both kosher and non-kosher kitchens, a relaxing outdoor patio, and so much more.

Special features of the Friedman JCC also include the Illumination Early Learning Center, Sara’s Table at the Kraus-Chaiken food bank, and a Weaving Room, to name just a few.

To learn more or get involved, visit them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or on their website.