Official Notice to Members In accordance with the by-laws of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, the Governance Committee has presented a slate of candidates for election to the Board of Directors. The names of the candidates are herewith submitted for your review:Megan Alpert, Merrill Lynch; Ronda Beemer, Senior Director of Business Development, Quandel Construction Group; Ronald R. Beer, Chief Administrative Officer, Geisinger Northeast Region; Joseph Fasula, Co-owner, Gerrity’s Supermarkets; Vincent Galko, Vice President, Mercury Public Affairs; William Nasser, President & Co-owner, Backyard Ale House; Kathleen Pearage, Administrator, Tri-Star Academy and Wee Care Day Care; Anna Ponas, Account Executive, Kelly Services; Alana Roberts, Regional Aff airs Director, PPL Electric Utilities; and Daniel J. Santaniello, President & CEO, Fidelity Bank.Additional candidates for directors can be nominated by petition bearing the genuine signature of at least 15 members of the Chamber, in good standing. Such petition must be filed with the Governance Committee by April 23, 2021. The determination of the Governance Committee as to the legality of the petition(s) shall be final. If no legal petition is fi led by April 23rd nominations shall be closed and the candidates declared elected by the Board of Directors at its May meeting. If a legal petition presents additional candidates, you will be notified and an election by ballot initiated. Members of the Governance Committee are: Dr. Marwan Wafa, Chair; Megan Alpert, Ronald Beer, Jessica Kalinoski, P. Timothy Kelly, Esq., Dr. Jill Murray, Sister Mary Persico, IHM, , Laurie Schwager, and Lisa Zielinski; Patrick A. Fricchione, Jr. and Robert F. Durkin, Ex-Officio.
Scranton Chamber Announces Community Block Party We are excited to announce our plan to host a Community Block Party featuring entertainment, shopping, children’s activities, music, dining and more. “The Chamber Community Block Party” will take place on First Friday, May 7, from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 8 from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m. on the 200 & 300 blocks of Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton and is in lieu of the Chamber’s Annual Dinner this year. The event will follow all CDC guidelines. “The Chamber exists because of our local businesses, and we are here to support them. After the turbulent year of 2020 – and as we continue to come out on the other side of the pandemic – our board and staff wanted to plan a safe, family-friendly event that supports all businesses and celebrates our community,” said Bob Durkin, Chamber president. The Chamber is grateful for the local support from businesses already, including “The Chamber Community Block Party” chairs Peter Danchak, regional president of PNC Bank; and Sarah Effertz, owner of Blu Elefante Event Consulting and Management. The family-friendly event will include three stages featuring 24 bands and multi-cultural performance groups, as well as vendor marketplaces, children’s activities, art exhibits and more. Beginning May 2 and running through May 8, the Chamber will also celebrate and promote “Chamber Restaurant Week” across the greater Scranton community.Small business members of the Chamber can apply for a FREE vendor booth in one of our three Marketplaces along Penn Avenue. To secure a vendor booth and learn more, visit our event page.
CANPACK Group Hosts Ceremonial Event The CANPACK Group held a ceremonial event on Friday March 19 with state and local officials along with community leaders. A short program was presented marking the 908,000-square-foot aluminum can manufacturing plant being completely under roof with final construction expected to be in May. In July of 2020, The CANPACK Group – a subsidiary of Blandon, PA-based GIORGI GLOBAL HOLDINGS, INC. (GGHI) – announced the construction a state of the art aluminum beverage can body and ends manufacturing plant. President and CEO of GGHI Peter Giorgi remarked that “this is CANPACK’s first plant in the United States and will feature a North American Center of Excellence which will demonstrate our R&D and lithographic capabilities. In anticipation of this ceremonial event, Mr. Giorgi added: “We are extremely excited to be bringing CANPACK to the United States and to my home state of Pennsylvania, and we are very pleased that Roberto Villaquiran, CEO of the CANPACK Group, will be joining us in person for this event as well as our leadership team for CANPACK US.” The new $366 million facility in Olyphant will create more than 400 skilled and semi-skilled jobs. CANPACK will open the first of its assembly lines in September with further lines to follow.Roberto Villaquiran, CANPACK’s CEO, notes that “providing life sustaining jobs while creating essential packaging products which can be recycled again and again is foundational with respect to CANPACK’s focus on sustainability, being a responsible corporate citizen, and passionately serving the needs of our customers.” Brooke Lipperini, HR Manager o f CANPACK US, added, “We are hiring passionate and dedicated individuals to join our team. This is an exciting time for CANPACK and we welcome those who want to be a part of the creation of a major manufacturing facility that brings great sustainable product to our great country.” Learn more at Canpack.com.
Chamber Celebrates 2021 SAGE Award Winners at Chamber Gala Photos by Todd Hiller Photography We hosted its Chamber Gala this evening, presenting the 2021 SAGE Awards – the Scranton Awards for Growth and Excellence. This year’s event was a hybrid celebration with SAGE finalists and award sponsors joining us at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, while other guests enjoyed viewing parties from home via Zoom. Chamber president, Bob Durkin, and Chamber board chair, Patrick Fricchione, opened the ceremony thanking all finalists, award sponsors, and Gala sponsors for their dedication to the NEPA community. Our emcee for the evening was Thom Welby, with musical entertainment provided by Lexington Entertainment. The SAGE Awards honor outstanding local businesses for their talent, creativity, and innovation. This year, the awards were enhanced to honor and recognize the innovation our local businesses employed due to COVID-19. The Chamber congratulates all finalists and winners of the 2021 SAGE Awards. The winners in each category are: BEST PRACTICES IN COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT• Coal CreativeBEST PRACTICES IN CUSTOMER SERVICE• Maternal and Family Health ServicesBEST PRACTICES IN MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS• Posture Interactive BUSINESS OF THE YEAR• Fidelity Bank HOMETOWN STAR• Food for All Campaign at The Settlers Inn IMPACT: COMMUNITY OUTREACH• DePietro’s Pharmacy IMPACT: PEOPLE AND CULTURE• Penn Foster IMPACT: PRODUCTS AND SERVICES• Woodloch Resort NEW AND EMERGING BUSINESS OF THE YEAR• Space Time Mead & Cider Works NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION OF THE YEAR• Keystone Mission PEOPLE’S CHOICE• Hematology & Oncology Associates of NEPA SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR• United Sports Academy
A Letter on Workforce Initiatives Dear Chamber Members: The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce and our workforce development affiliate, Skills in Scranton, are working to support member businesses with pandemic economic recovery. In the past year we’ve held numerous webinars, industry collaborative meetings, and conducted one-on-one interviews with many Chamber members. Through the outreach, we learned that workforce is a common concern – specifically the availability and access to a qualified labor pool. To assist our members with their workforce needs, we’ve implemented three new programs. Workforce Wednesday: Each week, one Chamber member business will join us to share information about job openings and company culture. The programs are hosted on Zoom and available on Facebook.Chamber Job Board: The Chamber recently launched a new Job Board for members to open positions at no cost. Small Business Internship Fund: If you are looking for help to grow your business, the Chamber can match you with a college student that can work virtually or on-site. We have access to a pool of students who are ready to gain real-world experience and are immediately available to work or intern. Qualified Chamber members can receive funding to offset internship wages. To learn more about these Chamber workforce development programs, contact Brianna Florovito at bflorovito@scrantonchamber.com or 570-342-7711. Sincerely, Bob DurkinChamber President Patrick Fricchione Jr.Chamber Board Chair
Commissioners Announce Lackawanna County COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Grant Program Lackawanna County Commissioners approved $2,374,844 million in funding to provide grants to eligible hospitality and accommodation businesses through the Lackawanna County COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Grant Program. The program will provide grants up to $25,000 to eligible businesses in Lackawanna County. “The hospitality industry has been hit very hard by the pandemic. The majority of our well-established area restaurants and small eateries were reduced to take-out or capacity restrictions, while our hotels saw a huge drop-off in guest room bookings. We are very pleased to provide some assistance again in conjunction with our partner, The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Together, we will utilize our resources to assist these sectors to get on the road to economic recovery,” the Board of Commissioners stated. In February, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania earmarked $145 million to establish the COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Grant Program. The funding was distributed through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to Lackawanna County. The County will partner with MetroAction, the small business affiliate of The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, to administer the program and provide technical assistance to grant applicants and awardees. Information on the grant program is available at www.metroaction.org. Businesses are encouraged to read program guidelines and gather required program documents. Businesses will be able to submit a grant application for a two-week time frame or until program funding is exhausted. The grant application will open on March 8. READ GUIDELINES
State of the City with Mayor Cognetti Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti will give the 2021 State of the City address from Scranton City Hall on Wednesday, March 3 at 4:30 p.m.Mayor Cognetti will give remarks on Scranton’s challenges and opportunities and illustrate how our community has come together during this unprecedented period of crisis. The address will be live streamed via Zoom, at Youtube.com/ECTV, and Comcast Channel 19. Viewers can dial-in at +16465588656,,88596704167# or use Meeting ID: 885 9670 4167 (no password required).
