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Sign Up Now For The Holiday Window Decorating Contest

It’s November, and most local businesses are already gearing up for the busy holiday season ahead. What’s more – Thanksgiving comes late this year – so the season will be shorter, and we know you’re already preparing. If you have a storefront-type business we know you’ll be decorating for the holiday season, and we strongly encourage you to sign up now to participate in the CHQ Chamber’s 2024 Holiday Window Decorating Contest. Last year we had 94 businesses entered from all over Chautauqua County. This year we hope to make it even bigger! There is no cost to enter this ...

CHQ Chamber to Implement a New Project to Boost Business

The CHQ Chamber has won one of eight Springboard grants announced this past week during a reception at the Cutco Theater on JCC’s Cattaraugus County campus. Springboard was launched in March as a regional rapid-prize competition aimed at programs that benefit entrepreneurs or businesses that need funding to expand or bring an idea to market level. There were three application rounds, with programming focused on the Greater Buffalo, Greater Rochester, or Southern Tier regions. The CHQ Chamber had not applied until the third and final round of funding, as we worked to fine-tune some ...

Meeting our mission to support local business

Here at the CHQ Chamber our mission is to build vital connections, provide professional resources, and champion our local businesses in Chautauqua County. So, what does that mean for your local business? Plenty! Study after study over the years has demonstrated the business benefits of joining a local Chamber of Commerce. Chamber membership will help you build business contacts and increase your visibility, increase your credibility, and provide you with some key business resources and professional support. Here in Chautauqua County, all those benefits are baked into everything we do, ...

Community and Connections

You’ve heard a lot over the last year or so about building connections, something that is core to our work in the Chamber world and was identified front and center in our strategic planning process. Our new mission statement includes “build vital connections,” and it was even deliberately designed into our new CHQ Chamber logo, with the abbreviated CHQ letters squished together showing visually connecting lines. With the technology we have you’d think people would be more connected than ever, but often it feels like we couldn’t be further apart as people engage in community ...

County IDA announces successor CFO

The County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency is pleased to announce the addition of Shelby Bilskie to the position of Successor Chief Financial Officer. As Successor CFO, Bilskie will work under current CFO Richard Dixon until his retirement in mid 2025. At that time, she will ...

October is Manufacturing Month

Did you know there are over 800 manufacturing establishments in Chautauqua County? Those businesses are producing goods that range from food products to furniture to engines to ball bearings to healthcare products, and much more. And those businesses represent the largest employee sector – almost 17% of the total county workforce. Those employees are divided almost evenly between men and women. Median earnings in local manufacturing jobs are $49,000. Manufacturing plants in Chautauqua County ship over $26.8 billion worth of products annually. Now that you know some of the statistics, ...