By Jim Giammarinaro
President & CEO of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce
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Editor’s Note: SOURCE and the MetroWest Chamber have formed a partnership. The Chamber’s column will run on Tuesdays on the digital news media outlet.
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FRAMINGHAM – Every week on Tuesday our chamber publishes a newsletter. One of our goals is to keep our members updated on a variety of subjects. Another goal is to provide visibility for individual members.
Our newsletter reaches close to 2,000 email addresses. We also provide content from our newsletter to over 2,000 Facebook followers.
Usually, we lead our newsletter with a profile of an individual member like the one below from this past Tuesday on the Hopkinton Center for the Arts:
We also like to cover information which is important for our members to know during current times such as Vaccination Schedules or Relief Funding as you see below:
Relief Funding
Congress passed a $900 billion COVID-relief and $1.4 trillion government funding package that gives critical pandemic aid to Americans, while securing federal agency operations through September 2021. While no additional state and local aid was provided, an extension of the deadline by which the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) resources must be spent was extended to Dec. 31, 2021.
The mammoth measure, which the president signed into law on Dec. 27, will provide another round of direct payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, education funding, and aid to sectors still reeling from the economic fallout of the pandemic.
Click on the Button Below for an Overview which includes: Direct Payments to Citizens, Tax Provisions, Modifications to CARES Act and the CRF, Expanded Unemployment Benefits, Other Labor-Related Provisions, Small Business Provisions, Health and Human Services Provisions, Agriculture Provisions, Transportation Provisions, Education Provisions, Broadband Provisions, Housing Provisions, U.S. Postal Service, & Disaster Relief Additionally, we highlight some aspects of our advocacy efforts in areas like Inclusion and visibility for industries impacted greatly from COVID.
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INCLUSION
Our Chamber created an Inclusion Team in 2020 led by our Vice Chair of Inclusion, Meredith Greene. Our charter is to provide advocacy for underrepresented populations and individuals with disabilities.
This segment of our newsletter is dedicated to promoting inclusion and highlighting the activities we are involved with to support this goal.
There are a number of activities our group is involved with from providing scholarships, diverse networking events, and multicultural training.
The MetroWest Chamber is participating in the Community Stakeholders Team, headed up by Reverend J. Anthony Lloyd, Pastor of the Greater
Framingham Community Church The MetroWest Chamber and the Brazilian Community are planning a Joint Business after Hours in 2021(date to be determined) Please provide Jim Giammarinaro (jim@metrowest.org) with feedback for our group as we move forward in making the chamber more diverse and inclusionary.
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Recovery Corner
Featured Businesses to Date:
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Show Your Support
Many of our non-profit members are in need of your help! Many of the Non-Profits serving the MetroWest Community have been severely affected by the COVID-19 Outbreak. Whatever you can do to help at this time will be appreciated. Donations to help keep them afloat in these trying times may
make the difference in whether they remain viable or not. Check out the list of the Chamber’s Non-Profit Partners and their websites for more information on how you can help!
If you are looking to belong to an organization who whose focus is solely on the success of their members and has put effective tools in place to support their success, you will want to consider membership in our chamber.
MassBay Community College 
MetroWest Medical Center