Blog - Chamber News

CURTIS LIBRARY INCREASING DAYS OPEN AND CURBSIDE

October 9, 2020

CURTIS LIBRARY INCREASING DAYS OPEN AND CURBSIDE HOURS New Schedule Offers Alternating Days -- Open for In-Person Browsing One Day, Curbside Pickup the Next Read more...

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust to Open Branch in Brunswick, Maine, in October

September 18, 2020

Bar Harbor Bank & Trust announced that it is opening a new, state-of-the-art branch in Brunswick, Maine, on October 26. The branch will be conveniently located at 148 Bath Road in the Cooks Corner Shopping Center and will feature a lobby, drive-up services, 24-hour ATM, night drop, and more. The new branch in Brunswick is located less than four miles from the Bank’s Topsham, Maine, branch, which is scheduled to permanently close on October 23. All staff and customer accounts associated with the Topsham branch will transfer to the new location in Brunswick. Read more...

SMMC Releases Social Distancing Survey Results

June 25, 2020

Social distancing and the choice of wearing a mask in public has become a hotly debated and divisive topic recently. As the State of Maine looks to re-open our economy, one key aspect not being addressed is consumer confidence. Through reading social media posts, conversations with friends and discussions with colleagues, the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber discovered this was an issue for the Maine consumer. If we want to return to any sense of normalcy we need to address concerns the consumers may have so they can feel confident to patronize Maine businesses. Anecdotally, we knew there was uneasiness from some consumers, but we had no way to gauge how much uneasiness there was, and if it was wide spread or regional. On the afternoon of June 4, 2020 we released a 20-question online survey created through Survey Planet, to gather consumer attitudes on social distancing in Maine businesses. Partner agencies statewide also sent the survey out to their contact lists. Our hope was to get 500 responses in a week to make it a statistically significant survey. When the survey closed June 12, we had 2,939 responses. Read more...

BBBS Receives $5,000 Community Match from Priority Real Estate Group

May 29, 2020

Priority Launches Fundraising Campaign for Big Brother Big Sisters This week we are highlighting a $5,000 Community Match Challenge benefitting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bath/Brunswick. Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) matches and professionally supports one-to-one mentoring relationships between youth and adult volunteers. These mentoring relationships have shown incredible improvements in the academic and personal success of local youth throughout their lives. Read more...

Governor Mills Presents Safe, Gradual Plan to Restart Maine’s Economy

April 28, 2020

Governor Janet Mills today presented her Administration’s plan to gradually and safely restart Maine’s economy. The plan, which comes as the State appears to be successfully flattening the curve, establishes four gradual stages of reopening, the first of which begins May 1st. The stages focus not on essential v. non-essential designations like those used to originally limit business operations and activities, but on the ability of a business to operate or an activity to occur in a manner that protects public health and safety. As the Administration gradually eases restrictions on some businesses and activities, it also implements protective protocols, along with broader additional health and safety measures, to protect Maine people. Read more...

Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act Effective April 1

April 3, 2020

On Wednesday, April 1, the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act went into effect. This federal Act requires some employers in Maine to provide their employees with paid sick leave and expanded medical leave for reasons related to COVID-19. A link to the FFCRA language can be found here: https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ127/PLAW-116publ127.pdf . The new federal requirements apply to covered employers as defined in the Act, which includes most businesses with fewer than 500 employees and almost all public employers. The Act allows for these businesses to be reimbursed for expenses they incur to provide required paid leave through a payroll tax credit. Certain businesses with fewer than 50 employees can seek an exemption. Businesses must seek this exemption at the federal level. Read more...

From the ED's Desk: Helping Businesses During Covid-19

March 25, 2020

A best-practice primer with a touch of kindness from Executive Director Cory King Read more...

Covid-19: USDA Announces New Food Program For Rural School Children

March 20, 2020

USDA Announces Feeding Program Partnership in Response to COVID-19 Collaboration will provide nearly 1,000,000 meals to rural children (Washington, D.C., March 17, 2020) – U.S. Secretary of...

New Flexibility with Unemployment Insurance from MDOL

March 20, 2020

These temporary measures will help relieve the financial burden of temporary layoffs, isolation, and medically-necessary quarantine by making unemployment benefits available to individuals whose employment has been impacted by COVID-19. “If workers do not have access to employer-provided paid time off or leave, this legislation can provide an important partial wage replacement,” Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said. “This helps not only the individual but allows employers to retain their workforce and stabilize local economies.” Read more...

Covid-19: FAME & SBA Loans To Help Businesses and Individuals

March 20, 2020

A huge thank you to Tony Cameron and the Maine Tourism Association and Tony Cameron for this concise explanation of the loan programs. The Chamber was going to write a similar piece, but this is so...