New Wildfire Smoke Rules for Workers: What You Need to Know As of January 15, 2024, new wildfire smoke rules are in effect to protect outdoor workers from the harmful chemicals and fine particles in wildfire smoke. These rules aim to safeguard the health of those who spend significant time working outdoors, where [...]
Does your Business have an Accident Prevention Program? Are you aware that Washington State requires every employer to create a written Accident Prevention Program (APP)? From small businesses, to logging or firefighters, having a safety program is a must! Fortunately, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has a ton of [...]
Vote No Again The proponents say this initiative is for affordability. We agree our community is not affordable for many of our residents. Unfortunately, the primary thing this initiative will do is simply make things more expensive – thus decreasing everyone’s affordability. If a higher minimum wage leads to affordability, we should already be affordable [...]
Young Professionals recognized with the 2023 Top 7 Under 40 September 14, 2023 Tomorrow’s leaders are here today working in positions behind the senses and in those of prominence. The Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Whatcom Young Professionals, a chamber program, recently announced this year’s Top 7 Under 40. This is our [...]
Working Together for Additional Public Safety Solutions The Downtown Bellingham Partnership, in collaboration with the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and a group of community-minded leaders and business owners, are working together to encourage additional public safety solutions and investment in Downtown Bellingham. Since mid-2021, the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and the City of Bellingham [...]
Why "Yes for Kids" October 12, 2022 You may have seen our name as a supporter of the Healthy Children's Fund (Prop 5) to be on the ballot in November. Yes, you read that correctly. As an organization that values efficient and effective government with smart taxation, it may be a bit surprising to see [...]
Thank you Mayor Fleetwood Climate Action Fund proposal has been paused Wednesday, June 22, 2022 Last night the City of Bellingham issued a press release regarding the newly proposed Climate Action Fund levy originally scheduled to be on the ballot this November 2022. We value this prudent decision for a number of reasons. We would [...]
How NOAH concepts can help the Whatcom County rental market May 25, 2022 We hear a lot about the need for affordable housing in Whatcom County. But what, exactly, makes housing affordable? Elements such as vacancy rates, property size, location and building condition play large roles in the cost of rental housing in any community. [...]
The Junior Ski to Sea Race and Parade events have been canceled for the third year in a row; however, plans are in the works for one of those events — the Junior Ski to Sea Race — to return under the management of Whatcom Events in 2023. A volunteer-based nonprofit organization, Whatcom Events owns [...]
Guy Occhiogrosso, President/CEO, handed the reigns of this month’s blog over to Schantell. We hope you find insight in her words and interest in the perspective. My name is Schantell Hummel, and I was hired in August 2021 as the Chamber’s program and event coordinator. I am responsible for planning, supporting and executing our programs [...]
The future of a thriving Bellingham relies on a willingness to say ‘yes’ to more pro-housing solutions Like the rest of Washington state, Bellingham and Whatcom County are continuing to recover from the human and economic tolls of COVID-19. Today, the county is outpacing the state in terms of the total population vaccinated, with 66% [...]
The A’s of Housing It is fair to say that our housing policy in this community has failed. Housing prices have increased almost 20% nationwide since the pandemic started, and many of the negative issues identified in our own community are related to housing — or to the lack thereof. Bellingham residents have repeatedly [...]
Travel COVID Testing Needs to go says Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and Surrey Board of Trade Nov 8th, 2021 at 12:55 pm The Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Surrey Board of Trade are urging the Canadian government to immediately eliminate requirements for fully vaccinated Canadians to produce a negative COVID-19 molecular test [...]
The six values that define the Bellingham Regional Chamber You can learn a lot about an organization by what it is committed to and how it conducts its business. For the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, the first is simple. We are committed to you, the members of the Whatcom County community. The chamber has [...]
2021 Top 7 Under 40 Young Professionals Announced and Celebration Planned It is that time of the year again when we celebrate our young professionals in our region. Our annual Top 7 Under 40 Whatcom Young Professionals celebration is right around the corner. This year we have the honor of recognizing seven amazing professionals doing [...]
Chamber Welcomes Schantell Hummel Here at the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce, we’re all about connecting and getting to know the people who make up our community. We’d love it if you could get to know us as well. Schantell Hummel is our newest teammate here at the Chamber. She was hired in August as [...]
2021 Whatcom County Business Political Forum Thursday, October 14, 2021 Starting at 5:30PM Every year we hear from the candidates for City, County, and Port offices. We partnered with Associated General Contractors (AGC), the Building Industry Association of Whatcom County (BIAWC), and the Whatcom County Association of Realtors (WCAR) to produce this event. Click Here [...]
Vote "NO" on Initiative #4 As reported before, the Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has officially opposed Initiative #1 and #4. There are reasons to be concerned about all four. We decided to focus on these two with extra attention on #4. Business & Organization Sign On Letter As part of our [...]
Action Alert: Initiatives on the ballot this fall On the ballot for City of Bellingham voters this fall are four initiatives that could greatly impact our business community. Generally, the initiatives cover landlord/tenant law, policing technology, labor unions and worker pay. The Bellingham Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has voted to officially oppose [...]
You only have one chance to make a good ... community Growing up in Louisiana, my dad had a couple go-to #dadjokes that he would unleash with unbridled abandon. One of them — and one of my favorites — showcases the sense of place of Southwest Louisiana: Q: “What is the loneliest river in Louisiana?” [...]
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