The City of Slidell elected a new mayor, congratulations Freddy Drennan and filled two out of three city council seats – Sam Abney, District “B” and Jay Newcomb, District “F” on March 27th.  The Police Chief and City Council District “C” remain open in a run-off.  Although the Chamber does not endorse candidates, the board feels it is important to provide information to our members and the community to allow the citizens of Slidell to make smart decisions in electing our government.

           The Public Policy Committee is active in creating awareness to the membership.  All candidates, even the non-opposed, were invited to the chamber for personal twenty minute interviews of the same 5 to 6 questions.  Additional questions were also presented for written responses and answered by the candidates.  For complete responses, please visit our website at www.estchamber.com.

            All four of the run-off candidates participated in the Public Policy Interview...

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               Don’t forget to vote March 27th!  The City of Slidell will elect a new mayor, police chief and three city council seats this month.  In February, the East St. Tammany Chamber hosted a Meet & Greet the candidates with thirteen of the candidates participating.  The candidates, if elected, expressed their position on how they will assist the citizens in fulfilling the Louisiana Economic Development, Slidell Ready Development Community Vision statement “Slidell will be a thriving city with quality jobs and quality of life opportunities for its residents.”  Although the Chamber does not endorse candidates, the board feels it is important to provide information to our members and the community to allow the citizens of Slidell to make smart decisions in electing its government. 

The program opened with the Jr. ROTC Color Guard under the direction of        Lieutenant Kenneth Kimberly of Salmen High School.  Hosting the event was Jeff Crouere, the Host of Ringside Politics and a Political Analyst...

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                          On January 8th, the East St. Tammany Chamber hosted its Annual Awards Event – Hollywood Nights in the East.  The event began with the paparazzi, shooting photos at the red carpet entrance to the Northshore Harbor Center while guests entered through the Walk of Fame listing all sponsors of the event.  The Dominoes Band provided great tunes through the evening with many guests tearing up the dance floor.  The chamber took the opportunity during the band breaks to present the outstanding awards for 2009 to its members, staff and board of directors for the year.  2009 was a championship year for the chamber.  Currently, they are 851 members strong, representing over 10,000 employees.  The retention rate was 90% and they gained 141 new members.  The praise for the success was dedicated to the staff and the  Board of Directors who got off the bench and into the game.  Each director was given a token of appreciation.  The 2009 Director of the Year Award was presented to S. Michele Blanchard,...

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On behalf of the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and staff, we would like to thank our members for their continued support in the business community of St. Tammany Parish and our region.  2009 was a record-breaking year for our Chamber:  Named Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives Chamber of the Year; Awarded Louisiana Culture Award for Economic Development; Provided Value Services to Membership with over 90 events; Membership at an all time high of 851 members; Provided a voice of Business on local, state and federal levels; and we are continuing to build coalitions for a strong business community.  Because of the dedication of our community during economic hard times to the chamber, this year our Board of Directors is excited to offer our members and new members for 2010 their Chamber Investments without an increase in dues. 

At our December Holiday Board Breakfast, Slidell Mayor Ben Morris joined us to install our 2010 Board of Directors.  We are proud to present...

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           Recently, the City of Slidell was honored by being selected as one of 12 communities in the State participating in a new project that offers customized support for economic growth so that we can effectively compete with out-of-state communities for jobs, business development and capital investment. 

The committee is looking for key players in Slidell’s business network and citizens to voice their experience and contribute to organizing this program at all levels of excellence.  For more information about the Ready Communities Program and what goals we are striving to reach, visit www.LouisianaCommunityNetwork.com for more specifics, or contact the committee co-chairs, Brenda Case at brendac@ldvc.com or Jack Francioni at francioni@brianharrisslidell.com to discuss this project and what committee volunteers are being sought.  This is great opportunity for Slidell and East St. Tammany to open its doors to economic growth.

Louisiana Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, Steven Moret,...

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The Office of the Lt. Governor, the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, and the Office of Cultural Development announced the first annual Louisiana Culture Awards.  The focus of this awards program is to recognize individuals and organizations making outstanding contributions to the cultural industries in Louisiana. This award highlights the best in Louisiana and is an opportunity to showcase to the nation what makes Louisiana’s cultural economy soar. 

The St. Tammany Parish Chambers’ Joint Cultural Economy Committee was honored to be the recipient of this award.  The committee’s program of work consisted of four subcommittees:  Awareness & Outreach, Coalition Building, Business Support and Public Policy.  The committee serves as a pipeline effort to create awareness, and encourage artists, musicians and persons who support the cultural economy to join the Chambers through services offered to help businesses succeed.  It was formed based on input from Chamber membership businesses, along with...

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         Learning opportunities around St. Tammany Parish begin with preschoolers and extend through continuing education for adults.  The area is home to several church-sponsored Mothers’ Day Out programs, as well as exceptional academics-oriented preschool and kindergarten programs.  The Head Start program (for children ages 3-5) and Early Head Start program (for pregnant women, infants, and toddlers) promote school readiness for children in low-income families by providing comprehensive educational, health, nutritional, and social services, has just opened a grand new facility in Pearl River.

         The St. Tammany Parish Public School System consists of fifty-six schools.  Each location provides a caring environment for learning, a challenging and relevant curriculum, innovative instruction and solid student achievement. Our administrative and teachers demonstrate a commitment to improvement and to high performance has made the St. Tammany Parish Public School System a leader in the State of Louisiana,...

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 The Louisiana Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (LACCE) held its Fall Conference in Jennings, Louisiana August 20-21.  During the conference, the Chamber of the Year Awards were presented to East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce for the Small Chamber Category and Lafayette Chamber of Commerce for the Large Chamber Category.  Attending the conference to accept the award was the chamber staff, Dawn Sharpe Brackett, CEO; Kendra Hamrick, IT Director; JoBeth Kavanaugh, Membership and Events Director; and Kay Schewe, Information Specialist.

Cultural industries have increasingly been recognized as one of the leading economic clusters in the Louisiana economy. Is your business a part of the cultural economy? The definition of Louisiana’s cultural economy reflects the state’s unique culture, the diversity of its residents, its rich history, and the broad range of cultural products. Louisiana’s cultural economy encompasses:

The people, enterprises, and communities that transform cultural skills, knowledge, and ideas into economically productive goods, services,and places. It includes culinary arts, design, entertainment, literary arts and humanities, preservation, and visual arts and crafts.

 

In promoting awareness, the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, City of Slidell, Slidell Art League, Olde Towne Art Center, Slidell Little Theater, St. Tammany Parish Cultural Affairs and others have come together to form the East St. Tammany Cultural Economy Coalition. The mission of the East St. Tammany Cultural Economy Coalition was formed...

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Are you tweeting? Do you have a Facebook page? If you can’t beat ‘em, join them! Our members are using online marketing/networking for finding friends, classmates, vendors and customers, so we jumped in and the response is overwhelming. 

  

We all look for more ways to promote our business and missions. As your chamber we want to make sure that our members and the community are aware of events and programs being offered to them, with the popularity of online networking; it is great to have another source of getting the information out.

  

Initially built for college and university students in 2004, Facebook has since grown into a popular social networking website that is open to all. With over 30 million members worldwide, Facebook is 7th most visited site in the United States and sees over 15 billion page views every month. Making a page is fast, easy and most of all FREE! A rapidly growing member-base has made Facebook into viable means to get exposure for your brand, product...

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The East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce Business and Community Showcase featuring over 100 exhibitors will be held at the Northshore Harbor Center in Slidell on Wednesday, June 17, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. This is the LARGEST Business After Hours in St. Tammany Parish. Local and regional businesses will be on exhibit for networking and business partnering.

This FREE event is open to the public and is a great opportunity for new and established businesses to demonstrate their products and services. It is one stop shop for consumers to find out about what St. Tammany Parish has to offer.

Some exciting interests include: health care screenings; Fire District 1 smokeless house; live radio broadcasts; food exhibits and tastings from local restaurants; blood center mobile. The Coastal Cruisers Antique Car Show will be on hand displaying beautiful, vintage cars and blasting out tunes from 1950, new car dealers and boat dealers will be on display outside the Harbor Center as well. Bring your family...

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