Carla Hickey Girl Scouts of Eastern PA March is a pretty important month for women. We celebrate a number of notable events, people, and ideas during this 31- day period. Of course, March is Women’s History Month, as designated by Congress in 1987. Lots of firsts for women in our national government happened in March, including the first female member of Congress taking her seat in 1917 (Jeannette Rankin); the first female member of the U.S. Cabinet (Frances Perkins in 1933); and the first female U.S. Attorney General (Janet Reno in 1993).
I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the fact that Girl Scouts of the USA was founded on March 12, 1912. Girl Scouts is the world’s largest leadership development program for girls and the Girl Scout Cookie Program is also the world’s largest girl-led entrepreneurial program. Speaking of the world at-large: #EachforEqual is the theme of this year’s Inter- national Women’s Day on March 8. The theme is based on the idea that while we are all responsible for our own actions and thoughts, collectively, we can have a tremendous impact on the world to effect massive change and bring about gender equal representation in the board room, government, media coverage, health arena, etc. Why is all of that important to us here in the Lehigh Valley? Because we all have the power and responsibility to help improve the lives of women – ourselves, our co-workers, our daughters...which can only lead to a better Lehigh Valley for all of us! One last shameless plug – an easy way to help yourself or a woman in your work- place: buy a ticket to the LV Women’s Summit on June 4th at the Wind Creek Event Center! Early bird pricing ends March 31, so commit early to coming to hear our phenomenal keynote – award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien!
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Sue Wenner FitNFree 4 Life Gig Economy, Side Hustle, The Entrepreneur Economy...have you heard any of these terms recently? Think Uber or renting a room with AirBnb. By definition, they all pretty much mean the same thing; an alternative source of income. As more and more traditional jobs are going away, and people are experiencing loss of income, more and more families are looking to make a living in a non-traditional way. I remember going to school and hearing, “do well in school,” “get a good job and stay there until you retire.” Today that mentality no longer serves most people. Technology is a huge factor in the downsizing of major corporations. With the surge of online sites such as Amazon, retail stores and jobs are quickly being eliminated. College students are struggling to get jobs in their career fields and many are saddled with debilitating student loan debt. With these challenges comes huge emotional and financial stress.
So what are the options? Try to find multiple part-time jobs to stay financially afloat? People don’t have enough hours in the day to take on multiple jobs to keep up with the mounting pressures. This also results in loss of precious family time. Try to start a brick and mortar business? That takes money and time and is risky. Here’s where the Gig Economy comes in. It’s a way to build an Income Producing Asset and do something you are passionate about. It’s about working with teams of people just like you who are looking for more income to have the lives they dream of living. A great example of successful groups of people doing this are the Millennials and Generation Z. They want the freedom to work where they want, when they want and with whom they want. They want to travel when and where they want with no ceiling on their ability to earn! Let’s not forget the Baby Boomers thinking about their retirement. Did you know that 1 in 3 Americans have nothing saved for retirement!? This is an amazing vehicle for them to accumulate enough money to afford the type of retirement they deserve. Having that Side Hustle or Side Gig, could make a huge difference not only in how they spend the rest of their lives, but drastically improve their quality of life in retirement. And what about the moms or dads who want to stay home and raise their children? So many of them need to contribute to the family income and in doing so, miss those precious “firsts” in their child’s life. The evidence points to the viability of this Entrepreneur Economy. So a few suggestions if you are looking for the right Gig. Find something you are passionate about, something where people see real tangible results, something that is emotional, something that is consumable and something that will create a residual stream of income. Look for a rock solid company to partner with and make sure you are making the best use of your time investment. Times are changing and now, more than ever, we all have the opportunity to create multiple streams of income and take control of the quality of our lives. Edward Salzman Smooth Roots Have you ever wished you had something to almost magically mitigate any anxiety, stress or pain and still be able to function 100% throughout your day? Welcome to the world of CBD. Unfortunately, due to an incredible amount of carefully orchestrated misinformation, CBD has been demonized because it’s derived from either hemp or cannabis which produces a mild to severe psychoactive effect due to another component called THC. THC and CBD are just 2 of about 150 compounds called cannabinoids produced by these plants.
However, there are major differences between both plants and the cannabinoids they produce. While CBD and THC both provide a wide variety of significant medical benefits, it is only THC which produces the “high” or psychoactive effect. CBD does not produce any mind altering or psychoactive effects. This is exactly why it has become so popular. It has shown to be extremely powerful in providing relief to many types of ailments ranging from mild to severe pain and inflammation, anxiety and stress as well as sleep issues and many more. The difference between hemp and cannabis is that hemp produces only a fraction of the amount of THC as cannabis, but in some cases has significantly more CBD and other potential cannabinoids. The industry stands against a big problem. The lack of oversight. Where we come from, the medical marijuana is extremely regulated. From seed to sale tracking, to rigorous testing requirements ensuring product efficacy, to how the products are marketed, packaged and sold. The wide open “hemp CBD” market has literally no regulations. As long as the product contains not more than 0.3% delta 9 THC, it is considered “hemp” not “cannabis” and is not subject to ANY further evaluations like we see with cannabis, which is ludacris. This is the root of the problems with CBD and the entire reason why we left Oregon to form Smooth Roots. CBD is not the problem, the people in the industry are. Ronald J. Young, Jr. M.P.A., PA Department of Transportation Engineering District 5 Roundabouts are frequently installed to address intersections with safety issues but may also be installed to improve traffic flow as well as other reasons such as traffic calming, and to facilitate pedestrian mobility.
The main characteristics of a modern roundabout include: generally circular shape; yield signs at the entrances; geometry that forces slower speeds; and counterclockwise circulation of traffic. Also, unlike traffic signals, roundabouts do not depend on electricity to function, so they are not susceptible to power outages. PennDOT reviewed data for 11 roundabouts at intersections that were previously stop or signal controlled, and the review showed: · Fatalities were reduced by 100 percent (from two to zero); · Serious injuries were reduced by 100 percent (from seven to zero); · Minor injuries were reduced by 95 per- cent (from 19 to one);Crashes causing only property damage decreased by percent (from 49 to 48); and · Overall crashes dropped 47 percent (from 101 to 54). PennDOT’s District 5 opened round- abouts last year at US 222 and PA 662 in Berks County, and at the intersection of Broad Street, River Road, Foxtown Hill Road and the Interstate 80 Exit 310 ramps in Monroe County. Roundabouts are planned on the US 222 corridor at US 222, PA 863 and Schantz Road in Lehigh County, and several locations in Berks County. Learn more about these and other projects at www.projects.penndot.gov. Although roundabouts are safer and typically more efficient than signalized intersections, in many cases they may not be the best option due to topography or other reasons, such as property impacts, capacity issues and proximity to other intersections. Additional information on roundabouts can be found by searching at www.penndot.gov, key- word “roundabouts. Frank Heston Riverview Bank Chair Chamber Foundation Can you believe we just completed our 12th year in a row of providing support to our community partners for neighborhood beautification projects? Applications are available now through May 31, 2020 for proposals for new projects throughout the greater Lehigh Valley. Local government, including counties, cities, boroughs and townships, are eligible to apply along with municipal and redevelopment authorities, and non- profit organizations. If you have a project in mind that will be visible within your community, shows collaboration with others, supports business retention or expansion, is consistent with local revitalization strategy, improves existing or develops new facilities and will leave a lasting impact on your main
street or neighborhood, we want to hear from you. Think about outdoor seating, pole banners, lighting, signage, landscaping, bike racks, murals and holiday decorations. What public space do you use most? Last year we heard from so many of you - from Alburtis to Allentown, Bath to Bethlehem, Carbon County to Catasauqua, Coopersburg to Easton, Emmaus to Hellertown, Macungie to Nazareth, Slate Belt area, Monroe county and New Jersey! Twenty-eight awesome improvements like hanging baskets, decorative lighting, historical signage, flags honoring local heroes, park expansion and more. Like I said it’s been a great run – and we aren’t done yet. Brenda de Paula Lehigh Valley Health Network Did you know that mental health conditions are incredibly prevalent among founders/entrepreneurs? This is based on a study by University of California, San Francisco researcher Michael A. Freeman, MD, and collaborators. Some refer to this phenomenon as founder’s burnout. As a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board member and an advocate for health, I want to share a resource that may help you in your entrepreneur journey. Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Department of Psychiatry developed a mobile app to provide a centralized resource center for behavioral health information. Through a generous grant from the Dorothy Rider Pool Health Care Trust, the app was developed on the Guidebook platform, and serves as a complementary tool to manage behavioral illnesses and conditions. The app offers a list of emergency resources, programs, information about medicines, therapeutic and support groups, self-help strategies, signs and symptoms of mental health illness, and more. If you feel this free app would be valuable to you, here’s how to download it: 1. Go to your App Store or Google Play and search for “Guidebook.” 2. Download the “Guidebook” app. 3. Search for “LVHN Behavioral Health.” 4. Click on the app and access the resources. For more details or questions about the app, please contact Paul A. Siegfried, Behavioral Health Education Specialist with LVHN, at Paul_A.Siegfried@lvhn. org. Bart Bailey Cook Ross Just a reminder that Allentown is the 3rd largest city in PA. I often wonder what is the greatest thing about living in the valley and what’s holding the area back from being a thriving community? I do see the potential here in the valley, the opportunity to leveraging the gift, talents and diversity of the community at large. The challenge could be the fear of letting go of the single stories we all have about each other. Learning to leverage the different in a way that honors your truth and challenges your truth. The Valley will be a thriving community, when we decide to step into the being uncomfortable in order to leverage creative tension to grow. At that very point Allentown and the Valley will be a thriving community for all it’s residents. It requires each person to honor your own story, speak your truth without blame, shame and guilt. While creating the opportunity to suspend your judgement and challenge the single stories we have about others. Are you willing to connect and appreciate “others”, for your growth? This kind of work creates belonging, businesses thrive in this space because we appreciate each other’s humanity. Feeling valued and appreciated creates loyal customers, it is directly linked to economic longevity.
Lehigh Valley Economic Report Dr. Kamran Afshar Chamber Chief Economist The Chamber’s Finance Committee According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) consumer price index rose by 0.2% in December 2019. This sets the inflation rate for 2019 at 2.3%, which is low on historical bases, however, it is the highest inflation we had since 2011 when it peaked at a high of 3%.
Increases in the price of gasoline by 7.6% and healthcare by almost 4% pushed the overall inflation in 2019 to 2.3%. There were other interesting price changes in 2019 also; beef roast prices rose by 7%, while eggs became 3% cheaper. And electronics prices continued to pull down the overall inflation with computers dropping by 15% and TV becoming 20% cheaper during the year, which was not really much of a surprise. However, I’m sure this one will surprise almost everybody by hearing that new car prices, according to the BLS, rose by only one-tenth-of-one percent last year! That is because the new car that the BLS prices every month does not really exist; it is the price of a new car if it had the same equipment and quality that it had in 1997 but built in 2019. All the additions and improvements are deducted from the price, which goes to the joke that the salesman says and do you also want an engine to go with car you just bought! Before the Great Recession, inflation was rising at a pretty healthy rate, reaching as high as 5.6%, however, the recession wiped out that inflation alongside 8.7 million payroll jobs, a booming housing market, more than 500 commercial banks as well as thousands of other businesses. Prior to the Great Recession the FED’s major concern was to prevent the rate of inflation from continuing to climb while not killing the labor and stock markets. Well we know how that one went. While the FED was behind the 8 ball at the beginning of the Great Recession, it rapidly cutup and to its credit, it then liberally provided credit to the banking system helping many banks fend off bankruptcy. As it was also rapidly raising the amount of high-powered money in circulation, increasing it by more than 4-fold. Still some 500 banks disappeared during that period. In the process the FED expanded its balance sheet and reduced the rate of its overnight loans to member banks to almost zero. It should be noted that during the same period, many European center banks reduced their rates to below zero to encourage their member banks to borrow and lend. The unemployment rate now at 3.5%, the economy at full-employment, and while the rate of economic growth is dropping, it still presents a potential for higher inflation. Inflation rate over the last 3 months was 3.3%, significantly higher than the 1.8% of the previous 12 months. Adding this to all the uncertainties of the international markets and politics, shows a higher probability of real inflation in 2020. Written By: Jennifer Glose When Bethlehem native Christopher Morganelli was growing up, he had the mindset of a builder and the creativity of an architect, and was always intrigued with understanding how things worked.
That thought pattern would cultivate into a passion for the innovative, ever-changing world of technology, paving a career path for Morganelli that began with a computer science education at DeSales University, where he blazed a trail, graduating with seven internships under his belt, including with several highly regarded corporations and organizations in the Lehigh Valley. “I saw firsthand what the corporate world and working on a team was like,” Morganelli said of the internships. “And I saw how quickly technology is being utilized.” Upon his college graduation in 2011, Morganelli made the decision to give entrepreneurship a try and go into business for himself. Morganelli knew that his vision of opening and managing an IT (Information Technology) firm, which would offer managed IT services, meant for a long journey, if taken alone. Enter friend and New Jersey na- tive Alai Caetano. In 2014, Morganelli joined forces with Caetano, whose computer programming and IT experience spans 20 years, including leading large departments of IT at AIG and Tiffany & Co., as well as on Wall Street where he maintained and managed IT for trading companies. “Technology is truly a passion and is also of interest at the hobby level for him,” Morganelli said of Caetano. The union of Morganelli and Caetano soon became Morganelli Caetano IT, LLC, known today as MC IT. Today MC IT has five engineers and provides Help Desk to more than 1,200 users in the Greater Lehigh Valley, as well as in New York, New Jersey and Florida. Morganelli is the company’s Director of Operations, while Caetano serves as Director of Technology. “Growth has been really exciting,” Morganelli said. Response Time, Knowledge Base MC IT’s original path to managed services was different than most, with first focusing on user experiences through software implementations, which Morganelli said was a great avenue to secure a foot in the door of businesses. Once the relationship was built with the customer, MC IT was able to talk with the client about allowing MC IT to also manage its technology needs and provide the ongoing Help Desk support needed. This became the beginning of the managed services product line for MC IT. The sweet spot for MC IT’s man- aged services, according to Morganelli, are companies with 20-60 employees, but the firm services companies with as little as five employees and as many as 350. “We will support any size business that values technology,” Morganelli said. Locally Sourced When asked why someone should choose MC IT, Morganelli was quick to reply. “Our response time and knowledge base.” According to Morganelli, the company has invested greatly in its technology and infrastructure, from cutting edge industry monitoring and management tools, to on-site and cloud-based data centers that span across the U.S. Not to mention the redundancy for peace of mind. Also, the five engineers on staff are all local to the Lehigh Valley, keeping a rapid response time of within 15 minutes. “We don’t outsource our Help Desk unlike other MPS’s,” Morganelli said. “We are very proud of that.” Other vital solutions offered by MC IT are disaster recovery, managed security, and user training and education. ‘Connecting the Dots’ As growth continued through MC IT’s nearly six years of business, Morganelli and Caetano wanted to tap into the minds of some great business leaders to help keep the company trending upward. To accomplish that, the duo recently put together an advisory board for MC IT. Morganelli said the purpose of the advisory board is two-fold. “It allows us to get guidance and feedback from veteran technologists, and what hurdles they have seen,” he said. “It’s about being open to suggestions and guidance, while gratefully being introduced and gaining access to the next level of business leaders.” The advisory board of MC IT consists of Mark Kuester, former Vice President of Business Technology for Pfizer Inc.; Marc Kramer, American serial entrepreneur, business book author and journal- ist; and Kim Plyler, President and CEO of Sahl Communications Inc. In addition to having an advisory board, according to Morganelli, being a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber member has helped grow MC IT. “It’s been a vehicle for meeting new business owners and growing our networks,” said Morganelli, who now sits on the Board of Governors for the Chamber. A Vision When asked to offer advice to other entrepreneurs that might be daring enough to take the leap of starting a business, Morganelli was happy to pay it forward. “Have a focus and a vision, and stay true to it,” he said. “Mistakes are going to happen. Learn from them and master your craft.” Although the road may have seemed long in the beginning, Morganelli credits his family for their encouragement to take the step to become an entrepreneur. “Risk is something not everyone may want to take on. The uncertainty is scary,” Morganelli said. “But, with hard work, perseverance and a clear vision, the reward can be worth it.” Dan Quay Lehigh Valley Health Network Whitehall Area Chamber Chair Just like that January is over and February has begun! Your Whitehall Area Chamber has been busy planning many events that you are worth braving the cold to get out and attend!
First, on Thursday, February 13th come out to the Greater Valley YMCA – Suburban North in Catasauqua for a joint mixer between the Whitehall Area Chamber and Catasauqua Main Streets Program from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Enjoy networking, healthy snacks and refreshments, followed by a FREE Zumba Class starting at 6:30 pm (so don’t forget your sneakers!). Our annual State of the Region lun- cheon is also in the works; save the date for March 12 from 11:30 am – 1:00 pm at Fellowship Community! We will be zeroing in on key topics and keeping you up to date on what is happening in our local Boroughs and Townships. Our annual Whitehall Area Restaurant Week is Sunday, April 19th through Saturday, April 25th. Believe me when I say that this is THE BEST TIME TO DINE in the Whitehall Area! No cooking or cleaning up, just enjoy the local flavors from our favorite restaurants in Whitehall, Coplay, North Catasauqua and Catasauqua. This event provides unparalleled exposure to our participants and sponsors, so make sure to sign up early for the maximum exposure! Lastly, we want to thank everyone that came out to support our ribbon cuttings at Violet’s Closet in Catasauqua and the Red Crab Juicy Seafood in Whitehall. Your attendance and participation made these events truly memorable and is so important to our new businesses! Congratulations to both for these mile- stone accomplishments! As always if you have any ideas that you want to share or if you want to get more involved please reach out to KylieA@le- highvalleychamber.org as we are always looking for new people and partnership opportunities. |
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