Around the Chamber July 2024

AROUND THE CHAMBER July 2024

In This Issue

SUPER SUMMER EDITION

2 - Nominations Open 11 - State Chamber News 16 - Behind the Scenes (Courtney Radford of Bristol Core) 27 - Chamber Briefs (June Mixer/New Members) 36 - Member Spotlight (Multi-Builders) 43- Best Practices (Phishing Scams)

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Photo credit Festival on the Green

r o f l l Ca ! s n o i t a n i Nom

Chamber Members. nominate your fellow members in the following categories. 2024 Awardees will be honored at our Annual Award Dinner in October.

2024 AWARD CATEGORIES Business of the Year Non-Profit of the Year SAVE THE DATE 2024 Annual Awards, Hall of Fame Induction and Meeting Thursday Evening October 24th 5:00 - 8:00 PM Dinner, Annual Meeting, Awards, Hall of Fame Induction The Historic Vergennes Opera House, Vergennes, VT.

Buster Brush Award Young Professional of the Year Hall of Fame Inductees

NOMINATE HERE Nominations Close August 26th

Around the Chamber

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ACCOC publishes Around the Chamber monthly and it reaches thousands of business, non profit leaders and their employees in Addison County and beyond. Around the Chamber boasts an average 52% open rate with an average read time of 8:32 Members are encouraged to supply their announcements and events by emailing phil@addisioncounty.com. For ad availability and rate card email phil@addisoncounty.com.

Addison County Chamber of Commerce. 2024, All Rights Reserved

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s e n e c S e h t Behind with ford d a R y e n t r Cou

Each month, "Behind the Scenes" features an interview with a leader in our community designed to provide readers a glimpse into his/her interests and passions inside and outside of the workplace This month, "Behind the Scenes" sat down with Courtney Radford, Executive Director of the Bristol Core What is your hometown?

I sometimes refer to myself as a “half and half” because I spent roughly half of my childhood in Southwest Georgia and the other half in the Central Valley of California. For most of early childhood, until kindergarten, I lived in my mom’s hometown Albany, Georgia. We then moved to Merced, California, where my dad is from, for elementary and early middle school before moving back to Albany.

Where did you go to school?

Photo by:Caleb Kenna

Courtney Radford

First ever job?

I was eager to get out of my hometown as quickly as possible, and opted to take a full load of college courses during my senior year of highschool, through the Accel Program. While attending my community college classes, I applied and accepted a job in Student Activities. The job was loads of fun and was my first introduction to event planning and communications work.

Who was your greatest inspiration growing up?

I completed my undergrad degree in Communications/Public Relations at Kennesaw State University, outside of Atlanta, GA. While studying there, I learned about and subsequently joined the Peace Studies minor program. It was there that I started my learning about equitable food systems, international conflict resolution, global religions, and even helped bring an Amnesty International chapter to the school.

The first person that came to mind was my second/third grade teacher. She was kind and artistic. Perhaps this is just a California thing, but she taught us about meditation, tea time, and learning through nature. I remember being fascinated learning that she didn’t have the same last name as her husband, that being the first time it occurred to me that you could, and maybe should, keep your last name. I learned how to play chess because of her, and probably many life lessons I haven’t even realized to attribute to her.

s e n e c S e h t Behind with

adford R y e n t r u o C Who do you most admire?

“Most” is a hard word. I admire my husband for his staunch morals and gentle heart. I admire my dad and his ability to be moved by artistic expression and the nature around him. I admire my mom for her dedication to always reaching for new heights and one-upping her own accomplishments. I admire my step dad for the way he champions and lifts up the people around him. And I admire anyone and everyone who manages to live authentically without judgment of others or themselves.

Favorite Vacation Spot?

Costa Rica has become a special place for me and my husband. On one of our visits there, we stayed in Sámara in Guanacaste province. One of my dear friends from growing up attended massage school there a few years prior and a group of 5 of us really felt like locals for a week. I think that was the first vacation I’ve been on where I truly lost track of time.

We’d wake up at our leisure, walk down to the beach, pick up a fresh smoothie on the way, and drop into a beach yoga class. We’d wander between rental house, beach, fruit stand, and grocery store on a loop without paying attention to our phones or the outside world.

Favorite type of music?

In classic Gemini fashion, I can’t pick just one! My current rotation includes: Alex G, Chappell Roan, Cocteau Twins, Labi Siffre, Yo La Tengo, and Demot Kennedy.

Favorite movie, TV Show?

I am a big fan of what my husband calls “indie movies that aren’t really about anything” but what I say are “just about the human experience”.

Pretty much anything A24 puts out. Other than that, I mainly watch reality TV. I love getting into heated debates about characters on reality tv. It’s not a guilty pleasure, because I’m not embarrassed, I think of reality tv as a great anthropological and sociological study.

Typical work week?

I’ve been in the role of Executive Director for Bristol CORE for 3 months now and my favorite part about the position is that there isn’t a “typical”. From day to day, week to week, and month to month, there’s lots of variety in the types of work that this position handles. I will often have a meeting or two in the morning, most often at our local cafe, Minifactory. After that I might bop around Main Street, checking in with the business owners downtown to see how they’re doing. If it’s Monday, I will stop over at the Bristol Farmers Market. Any other day, I’d probably come home to answer emails or plug away at the never-ending to do list.

es n e c S e h t d Behin with

adford Courtney R What's the greatest career risk you have taken?

The biggest risk I took in my career was applying for and accepting an AmeriCorps position. I was almost 2 years post-college and wasn’t sure how to get the experience I needed to move into a non-profit career.

I decided to apply to AmeriCorps programs in 20 different locations across the country and thankfully landed one in Denver. From the time I received the offer, I had 2 weeks to get prepared, find housing, and move from Georgia to Colorado. I had no friends or family in Colorado and took a huge leap of faith knowing that I would only be making $800 a month and that my rent would be $500. I look back at that time and wonder how I did it - I walked everywhere to save gas money and took up free hobbies like hiking. I knew that even though I wasn’t getting paid much, it could lead to great things for me career-wise if I could get in the door and prove my work ethic. That leap of faith helped me land a full time paid position at the end of my year of service!

What's the one thing you would like to see change in your business/industry?

From my experience working in hunger prevention, and then moving into fundraising, I learned a lot about the types of projects and programs that are “easier” to find funding for. Oftentimes, the things that are easy to fund are direct and immediate interventions, such as meals served or events. Further reaching interventions that are less “shiny”, like advocacy, are more difficult to fund, as are the operational activities that are needed to keep an organization functioning, like accounting and professional development. If I could change one thing about the non-profit industry, it would be for donors and funders to understand the importance of funding the parts of our work that don’t have the same external appeal but are critical to maintain a high functioning organization.

Biggest Career Challenge?

The biggest career challenge I’ve faced was due to COVID. In 2020, I was in my 5th year of working for the national food skills education program, Cooking Matters. The program specifically reached parents and caregivers of kids under the age of 5 that were living on a limited budget. We taught nutrition, budgeting, and food prep skills in conjunction with other service agencies. We had to weigh the risks of coordinating in-person programming against the further increased need for food resource management and service programs like SNAP and WIC. I was tasked with quickly updating our website and adding components to host userfriendly educational resources in lieu of inperson programming. It was a challenging time, but it was also encouraging to see certain rigidities of the way we previously coordinated programming go out the window when we really needed to band together to support the community.

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CHAMBER BRIEFS

BASIN HARBOR HOSTS JUNE MIXER Nearly 70 members attended the Chamber’s June Mixer hosted by Basin Harbor.

Drinks, great food and raffle prizes were enjoyed by all!

CHAMBER BRIEFS

Welcome New Members!

2024 COMMUNITY EVENT SPONSORSHIPSle Thank you to the organizations below that have already secured their sponsor positions for 2024!

Vergennes Day Vermont Gas Systems Gaines Insurance Porter Medical Center Kennedy Brothers Grand Senior Living Bristol Harvest Festival Mountain Community Health Vermont Gas Systems Bristol Financial Waitsfield Telecom Porter Medical Center Middlebury Car Show & Fall Festival Stone Motors IPJ Real Estate Silver Maple Construction Vermont Gas Systems Cambio Roasters Porter Medical Center National Bank of Middlebury Sweet Cecily Champlain Valley Equipment

Promote your organization and support our community events in 2024! Sponsorships are still available but moving fast. Click on the icon above to learn more!

R O F L L A & C S R O D N S R VE O T I B I H X E

Presented by:

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TO REGISTER

CLICK HERE

TO REGISTER

HURRY SPACE LIMITED

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COMING

SOON

Join the Addison County organizations below and advertise in 2024 at the Addison County Visitor Center For complete information visit us HERE

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

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MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Photo by:Caleb Kenna

FOCUS ON NON-PROFITS

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HERE

Officers Robert Feuerstein, Kennedy Brothers (Chair) Megan Mandigo, Marble Trail Financial (Treasurer) Nancy Foster, Champlain Valley Properties (Secretary) Phil Summers, ACCOC (Executive Director) Directors Dickie Austin, Black Sheep Bistro Amy Carlin: Middlebury College Doug Dewitt, Bristol Financial Services Meaghan McLaughlin, National Bank of Middlebury Ned Horton, Otter Creek Bakery and Deli Marty Kulczyk, Robert Frost Mountain Cabins Ben Fuller, The Richards Group Dr. Nicole MacTavish, Hannaford Technical School District Article IV, Section D Designate Directors Kathryn Torres, Better Middlebury Partnership Renny Perry, Addison County Economic Development Corp.

Renny Perry, Vergennes Partnership Bill Sayre, Addison County Regional Planning Commission Courtney Radford- Bristol Core