Kitsap's Biggest Day of Giving is Here
Join the movement and give now!
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Kitsap County's biggest day of giving is finally here! Find your favorite nonprofit or two to support and make a difference in the work of these local organizations. The Greater Kitsap Chamber is proud to have so many nonprofit members and hope you find one or more to support today!
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April Membership Luncheon
Wednesday, April 26, 2023, 11:00 am
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Celebrating St. Vincent de Paul's New Superstore
TODAY, April 11, 2023, 2:00 pm
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Bremerton GreenDrinks @ Rice Fergus Miller
Thursday, April 13, 2023, 5:00 pm
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Purchase your tickets in advance to get on the list! |
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Ribbon Cutting Celebration for RE/MAX Anchor
Friday, April 14, 2023, 1:00 pm
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Renew your membership today to ensure your place as a Charter Member of the Greater Kitsap Chamber! Questions about when to renew or how to upgrade your membership? Contact Irene now!
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Missed a previous edition of the Chamber's Community Connections?
View all the past issues on our website HERE.
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New Members - Welcome to the Chamber! |
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Encore Communities is all about community here in Kitsap County and are proud sponsors of a variety of Chamber programs and events annually. Pictured is Ashley Campoy, Community Relations Director, at the Heroes Golf Tournament in September 2022.
Contact Ashley today to learn about any of Encore's properties in Silverdale.
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12169 NW Country Meadows Lane | Silverdale, WA 98383 | (360) 692-1228 |
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Miller Woodlawn: Coffee & Conversations
Beginning April 12, Every 2nd Tuesday, 11:00 am
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Bremerton WestSound Symphony
Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:30 pm
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Costco Wholesale - Silverdale |
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Costco is a membership warehouse club, dedicated to bringing members the best possible prices on quality brand-name merchandise. With more than 800 locations worldwide, Costco provides a wide selection of merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services, all designed to make your shopping experience a pleasurable one.
Chamber members since 2017, Costco's philosophy is simple - keep costs down and pass the savings on to members.
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10000 Mickelberry Rd NW | Silverdale, WA 98383 | (360) 692-9213 |
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Weekly Legislative Updates
2023 Session: Week 13 Report
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As an exclusive benefit to our paid membership, the Greater Kitsap Chamber has again enlisted the services of Brad Boswell and team from Boswell Consulting to provide weekly legislative updates during the 2023 legislative session. Brad will also host a monthly Q&A on the last Friday of each month via Zoom to answer your questions directly. |
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Lawmakers Pass Workers' Comp Bill |
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The state Senate passed legislation Monday impacting employers that provide workers’ compensation benefits directly to employees. Self-insured employers include public school districts, counties, public and private hospitals, non-profits, and large private employers across many sectors, covering more than one million workers in Washington.
AWB was encouraged to see amendments from Sens. Patty Kuderer and Mark Mullet pass today with the bill:
- The Kuderer amendment clarifies that the bill is not intended to create or imply a private right of action outside the workers’ compensation system to enforce the new duty it creates. This is an important step to maintain the exclusive remedy of workers’ compensation and appropriate administrative oversight by the Department of Labor & Industries.
- The Mullet amendment makes the new “duty of good faith and fair dealing” applicable to “municipal self-insured employers and their third-party administrators.” This provides the strong remedy public safety unions have sought without creating significant, complex new liability for the entire self-insured employer community.
Contact Government Affairs Director Bob Battles to learn more and get involved.
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Member Education & Training Resources |
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REPLAY: WHA Webinar on Cybersecurity
Three Tools to Protect Your Business
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If you missed the Washington Hospitality's March webinar on Cybersecurity, watch the replay here. Cybercrime and breaches are constantly evolving and are steadily on the rise. Eva Novick from Foster Garvey and Lynsee Wiegand from Parker, Smith & Feek discussed tools to protect and prepare your hospitality business from cyber threats.
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SCORE: Starting a New Restaurant
Wednesday, April 12, 2023, 1:00 pm
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Are you planning on opening a restaurant, café, catering business, farmers market stand, food truck or other mobile food business? Do you need help just getting started – the right way? Join us for this high-quality workshop and hear from someone who has done it many times before on how best to get started.
In this two-hour workshop, you will learn the basics of getting started with opening your food-related business. Topics on which will be discussed are:
- Developing a menu
- Writing a business plan
- Predicting sales
- Preparing a cashflow projection
- Renting space and acquiring equipment
- Making what you will be doing special to attract customers
The clear benefit of taking this workshop will be that you’ll be better equipped to present your vision to yourself and others, particularly lenders to finance your business and landlords who will rent space to you.
Workshop Fee: $40
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Small Business Cybersecurity Training Series |
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Small businesses are under cyber and data-breach attacks more than ever given the current climate. Cyber attacks happen every day, and for a small business they can be very costly and cripple business operations. Having your systems and information compromised is not only a direct threat to your confidential data, it can also ruin your relationships with customers and cause legal vulnerability. It is imperative to learn how to boost your cyber defense systems.
This four-part training series was developed to help small businesses be cyber safe. The series will be a combination of cybersecurity presentation, subject matter expert panel and Q&A. Join us and become cyber safe today!
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Part 4: Implementation
April 18 | 10:30 a.m.
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Lunchtime Lightning Talk @ Vibe Coworks:
"What it Means to Do Business as a Certified
B-Corp, Social Purpose or Minority-Owned Company"
Tuesday, April 25, 2023, 11:30 am
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BYO lunch and arrive at 11:30 for conversation and networking. Lightning talks begin at 12pm and end promptly at 1pm. Advanced RSVP is requested but not required.
This is a FREE event and open to the public. You do not need to be a member of the Chamber or of Vibe to attend.
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GSBA Offers LGBTBE Certification Workshops
May 2 & 9, 2023
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Part 1 - What is Supplier Diversity and How to Get Certified
May 2nd, 2023 - 9AM-10:30AM
In this introduction workshop, our CEO & President Ilona Lohrey will introduce you to the idea of supplier diversity and how to get certified. Ilona will be joined by Stacie Harwood, Sr. Program Manager, Supplier Diversity at T-Mobile, who will share insights into why certification is important and how it can benefit any business.
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Part 2 - Capability Statements and "I'm Certified, Now What?"
May 9th, 2023 - 9AM-10:30AM
In the 2nd half of these virtual workshops, we will cover some of the industry lingo you'll need to pitch your business, how to find your industry codes, how to identify the best corporations to partner with for your business, how to write a capability statement, and more.
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REPLAY: KEDA Annual Economic Forecast |
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If you were unable to make the March 30th Economic Forecast presented by KEDA, find a recap along with video presentations and photos from the event here.
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Greater Kitsap Chamber leadership was out in full force for KEDA's Annual Meeting and Economic Forecast. Pictured clockwise L-R: Board Director Ashley Oaksmith, Clark Construction; Board Director Stacey Saunders, Ryan Montgomery Armstrong; Board Director Jay Mills, Port Madison Enterprises; Workforce Development Co-Chair Carol Kowalski, Kitsap Bank; President/CEO David Emmons, Greater Kitsap Chamber; and Education Chair Beth Wolfe, Platinum Life Coaching.
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Military Relations Committee |
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Sign-Up Now for the Armed Forces Day Parade
Parade applications now available online!
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Business News & Resources |
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Get Your Business Certified Now
Over $1B in WSDOT Project Funding Coming to WA
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Don't Underestimate the Power
of Company Culture
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If you're lucky, you have a friend you talk to for hours on the phone. And, after every conversation, you walk away with 25 new ideas for a startup and the energy to run a marathon.
Imagine we could fill our companies with people who provide the same energy. What if we were excited to go to work tomorrow because it meant we got to talk to and learn from our coworkers? It sounds pretty idyllic, but how do we do it?
Building companies with engaged employees excited to come to work daily requires us to invite the right people to the party — and hire for cultural fit.
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Puget Sound Business Journal Business of Pride
Nominations now open!
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The GSBA is proud to partner, once again, with The Puget Sound Business Journal on their Business of Pride program! The Business of Pride program will include a celebratory event in June 2023 and a special issue of the PSBJ focusing on LGBTQ+ business leadership and development.
As part of the Business of Pride, the PSBJ will be profiling and honoring a number of “Outstanding Voices” in the community. Nominate an outstanding LGBTQ+ business leader, ally or advocate in the Puget Sound area who is making a difference in the corporate world. Submit a nomination today to help us shine a spotlight on people, companies, policies, and progress.
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Nonprofit News & Resources |
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The Greater Kitsap Chamber is proud to be one of only five Chambers statewide selected to partner with the Nonprofit Association of Washington (NAWA) to bring education and resources to nonprofits in Western Washington. Stay tuned to this section of our weekly newsletter for education, resources and more for our nonprofit community. To learn more about NAWA, please visit their website here.
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Recruit Your Way to an Outstanding Board |
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Photo: Getty Images by Maskot
Nonprofits of all sizes must have a quality board of directors to survive and thrive in 2023. The demands, expectations and complexities of operating a nonprofit rely on a host of involved stakeholders to ensure nonprofit success. Look at your current board. As a staff leader, do you really believe your board has the right resolute members that inspire and have passion for the organizational mission?
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Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits
Monday, April 24, 2022
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Are you ready to unlock your nonprofit financial literacy? Join the Nonprofit Association of Washington's Director of Learning, Jennifer Chang and other nonprofit leaders in your area for a nonprofit finance workshop in Sequim on April 24. Finance Unlocked for Nonprofits, which intentionally abbreviates to FUN, was created to bring fun to finance. This workshop is for nonprofit board members and staff wanting to elevate financial knowledge within their organization. Teams are strongly encouraged. From key words and forms to understanding how everything fits together, you will increase your basic nonprofit finance knowledge. This workshop will cover balance sheets, income statements, IRS From 990, giving, oversight and more.
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Comprehensive Plan: Public Comments Show Concern for Island Lake Rezoning |
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The Kitsap County comprehensive plan update is aimed at guiding growth countywide over the next 20 years. But one area of Central Kitsap has become a flashpoint in the ongoing public comment period of the effort.
Nearly a third of the public comments submitted to Kitsap County regarding the county's draft 2024 comprehensive plan focus on the rezoning of land on the south side of Island Lake. As of Thursday, Kitsap County had received 34 public comments that opposed the rezoning of 95 acres of land near Island Lake out of the total 127 comments that responded to the comprehensive plan, and four comments supported the rezoning, according to county documents.
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Kitsap Transit Adds More Buses to Electric Fleet |
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Kitsap Transit’s electric bus fleet is set to increase substantially after its board moved to authorize an $11.4 million purchase of 10 new battery-powered buses.
The board voted April 4 to approve the purchase, which continues to align with the organization’s mission to transition its fleet further from the use of natural gas. “This will bring our battery-electric fleet up to a total of thirty buses, which is what we had envisioned at this point,” KT executive director John Clauson said.
Half of the new additions are set to be utilized within the routed fleet, while the other half would be integrated into the worker/driver fleet, a first for KT, Clauson said. “We’re going to be moving electric buses into that program which, personally, other than the cost of the bus, is an ideal operating situation for a battery electric bus in that it operates for a short while in the morning, it’ll be at our facility recharging, and then it’ll be fully charged ready to go,” he said.
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COVID-19 Updates & Resources |
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Masks & COVID Testing Kits Available
Free at the Greater Kitsap Chamber & Visitor Center
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The Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management provides local businesses with free KN95 masks and COVID testing kits. Pick up your supply at both Greater Kitsap Chamber locations today. |
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COVID-19 Support & Resources |
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Kitsap County Health District is now posting a regularly updated list of COVID-19 vaccine providers in Kitsap County. This list can be found here.
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Kitsap Caregiver Community Meetings
April 14, 15, or 18, 2023
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Dates and times for Info Sessions:
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Suquamish Community Earth Day Cleanup
Saturday, April 22, 2023, 9:00 am
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Live Well Kitsap! Community Hike
Saturday, April 29, 2023, 10:00 am
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Advertising Opportunity:
Put Your Business on the Map
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With nearly all 10,000 copies of last year's map distributed around the greater Puget Sound region, including 7,500 on our local ferries, the Greater Kitsap Visitor Center map is the place to advertise your business! The 2023 edition will include street maps of both Silverdale and Bremerton - perfect if you're new to the area or a long-time resident. Contact the Visitor Center for more information! |
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Day Trip from Kitsap: Spring State Fair
April 13-16 & April 20-23, 2023
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Bremerton Community Theatre: Mary Poppins
Now thru April 30, 2023
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Bert, the jack-of-all trades, introduces us to the troubled Banks family in 1910 England. Using a combination of magic and common sense, a magical nanny named Mary Poppins must teach the family members how to value each other again. She takes the children on memorable adventures, but Jane and Michael aren't the only ones upon whom she has a profound effect. Even grown-ups can learn a lesson or two from the nanny who advises that "anything can happen if you let it". Based on the books by P.L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film.
The lobby opens 1 hour, and the house opens approximately ½ hour, prior to curtain. Performances will be in the Robert Montgomery Auditorium and will run approximately 2 hours and 50 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.
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Port Gamble Theatre: The Glass Menagerie
April 14-30, 2023
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Admiral Theatre Presents: Skerryvore
Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:30 pm
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Since 2005, Skerryvore have brought their performances to audiences across the globe, from their early days in Scottish West Coast halls and bars, to Festival crowds in USA, Canada, Australia and throughout the UK and Europe. Picking up Scottish traditional music’s ‘Live Act of the Year’ twice on the way – in 2011 and again in 2016 – the band’s wide range of influences and talent produce a musically expansive, high energy set that excites and captivates audiences.
With a mix of fiddle, accordions, pipes and whistles, alongside guitar and vocals, underpinned by driving bass, drums and keys, Skerryvore represent the best in contemporary Scottish traditional music. Their 6 studio albums demonstrate the wide range of influences the individual musicians bring to the mix – a unique fusion of folk, trad, rock and Americana, with even some jazz in there!
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Joel Gibson Jr.
Recording Live at the Roxy
Saturday, April 15, 2023, 7:00 pm
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Stay in the know with what's happening for events
in Central Kitsap by checking out and liking the
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Have something to share? CLICK HERE to submit stories and
events for Tuesday's Community Connections!
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David Emmons
President/CEO
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Irene Moyer
VP, Membership & Strategic Communications
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Brenda Kelley
Tourism Coordinator
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Bremerton Office (360) 479-3579 | 4th & Pacific Downtown Bremerton
Silverdale Office (360) 692-6800 | Kitsap Mall next to Macy's
PO Box 1218 Silverdale WA 98383
If you need assistance, please contact us directly.
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