Town hall on workforce, contracting planned

BUZZ on BUSINESS

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

A town hall meeting will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the College of Southern Maryland's Business and Industry Building on the La Plata campus.

The event will include three panels: workforce development and business projects; minority business enterprise jobs and apprenticeship update; and government contracting opportunities in Charles County. The presentations will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Call Jason Henry Sr. at 240-346-1117. The college is at 8730 Mitchell Road.

CSM offers personal finance help

The College of Southern Maryland is presenting free "Money Smart" educational sessions from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Center for Business and Industry on its La Plata campus at 8730 Mitchell Road.

The sessions will provide information on many personal finance topics.

CSM is partnering with the Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's chambers of commerce and local financial experts to identify the most pressing issues affecting residents and small business owners in Southern Maryland. Each seminar contains four one-hour sessions, with each session offering four choices. At 9:30 a.m., attendees can choose from "Free Money," "Basic Banking and Budgeting," "What You Need to Know About Health Insurance" or "Investing 101."

At 10:45 a.m., choices include "100 Percent Financing," "How to Use Wealth-Building Tools," "Understanding Life Insurance" or "Planning for Retirement."

An 11:45 a.m. lunch presentation by Sharon Brown, author of "Tough Times, Tight Times," will provide a commonsense approach to saving money every day. Over the past 15 years, Brown has been an instructor for the College of Notre Dame, McDaniel College and Towson University, where she is a full-time lecturer.

Following the free lunch, provided by Chick-fil-A, attendees can choose "Foreclosures and Short Sales," "Identity Theft," "Paying for Long-Term Care" or "Estate Planning."

Closing out the event at 1:45 p.m., attendees can choose "Rehab and Repair of Existing Homes," "Building and Maintaining Good Credit," "Protecting Yourself From Liability Lawsuits" or "Why and How to Use a Financial Planner."

Go to www.csmd.edu/MoneySmart. Call Christine Bish at 301-934-7602 to register.

Meeting rescheduled

Charles County Chamber of Commerce will hold the orientation for its China trip at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at the chamber building at 101 Centennial St. in La Plata.

Participants in the trip will leave Charles County on March 30 for a week of tourism and meetings with Chinese businesspeople while enjoying luxury accommodations, according to promotional materials. E-mail kgould@charlescountychamber.org to RSVP for the orientation.

Farm program encourages women

Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission will co-host Annie's Project, a statewide grant program designed to help farm women make decisions and build networks throughout the state.

The target audience is farm women with a passion for business and involvement in farm operations, according to a press release. Session topics cover the five areas of farm risk management: production, marketing, financial, legal risk and employees.

Annie's Project will be conducted at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center at 44219 Airport Road in the Wildewood Technology Park in California.

Classes will be connected simultaneously through Web conferencing so that students will be able to engage in discussions and hear from people from various sectors including university, government, private industry and agriculture.

Session dates are on consecutive Wednesdays, Jan. 27, Feb. 3, Feb. 10, Feb. 17, Feb. 24, March 3, March 10 and March 17.

A fee of $50 includes meals. E-mail Christine Bergmark at cbergmark@somarylandsogood.com or call 301-274-1922.

Helping businesses grow their workforce

Maryland has been awarded $1 million of incentive grant funds under the Workforce Investment Act earmarked for training incumbent workers.

The program encourages promotion, creates additional job opportunities and improves worker retention by increasing the skill level of the existing workforce, according to a press release from the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland. The training projects are targeted for small businesses, the health care industry and specific demand occupations.

Demand occupations include manufacturing, aerospace, bioscience, construction, education, retail, finance and insurance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, professional and business services, transportation and warehousing industries and any "green" industry.

Call Glenn Gardiner at 240-412-3292 or e-mail ggardiner@tccsmd.org.

They've got the spirit at Chick-fil-A

A Charles County elementary schools will be the latest beneficiary of a Chick-fil-A charity fundraiser.

John Flatley, owner-operator of the Chick-fil-A franchise on Drury Drive in La Plata, said Monday that a "spirit night" to benefit Dr. James Craik Elementary School in Pomfret will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Nov. 17.

Twenty percent of the value of the sales, after taxes, generated by attendees is donated back to the group, Flatley said. For a food purchase to count, the customer must provide a flier distributed by the nonprofit group when ordering, or else state that he is there for the fundraiser.

Only charitable groups are eligible, Flatley said, and he has rejected a few requests.

"We only do it for nonprofit groups. We've had a couple day cares approach us, for-profit groups, [but] we didn't feel like that was an appropriate event," he said. "We're trying to help out community organizations when times are tough and funds are harder to come by. It's a pretty easy way to do it."

Even registered nonprofits aren't shoe-ins; Flatley will meet with charity officials to make sure the money will be used in the community. For instance, he and the local Fraternal Order of Police agreed that money raised at Chick-fil-A would be used to buy Christmas gifts for needy children as part of the "Shop With a Cop" program.

Before the restaurant even opened in July he met with school officials to coordinate fundraisers, Flatley said. He has also worked with the Charles County Fair, a local charity providing emotional support to deployed soldiers and other groups.

"We try to make it work for everybody if we can," he said.

Also, in September and October, the nighttime events raised more than $2,000 for local groups, including the La Plata High School Key Club, Southern Maryland Knights, Potomac River Little League, South Potomac Church Preschool, Dr. Thomas L. Higdon and Gale-Bailey elementary schools and Piccowaxen and Milton M. Somers middle schools, according to Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A's Tuesdays are booked through the end of the year, Flatley said, but anyone seeking to organize a benefit there can call Kathleen Young at 301-752-7941.

"We enjoy being part of the community. Everything we do, we try to involve the community in. This is just one more great way we can help the community, raise funds for the community and be a part of what's going on," Flatley said.

emitrano@somdnews.com