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Chamber Awarded Excellence in Advocacy Award for Work on Criminal Justice Reform
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The Justice Action Network’s Executive Director, Holly Harris, joined the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce for the November First Friday. Ms. Harris presented the Chamber with an Excellence in Advocacy Award for advocacy in criminal justice reform.
Criminal justice reform provides a pathway to opportunity to many hardworking women and men who want an opportunity to move beyond their past and create better lives for themselves and their families.
The Chamber’s efforts on the Clean Slate Act, which began the process of automatically sealing more than 30 million criminal records for certain individuals with misdemeanor convictions, and the recently passed driver’s license reform bill are crucial to helping create the strong workforce of tomorrow that our region needs.
Check out a photo gallery from the November First Friday.
Tune in on Sunday, November 24th at 11:00 a.m. on WPXI-TV for a special interview with Justice Action Network Executive Director Holly Harris, Manchester Bidwell CEO Kevin Jenkins, and chamber member Matt Smith discussing the importance of criminal justice reform. |
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Matt Smith Co-Writes Op-Ed on Career Readiness in PA
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The below op-ed appeared in LancasterOnline. It was co-written by Matt Smith, president of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, and Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.
Good public policy brings people together, creates opportunity, improves quality of life and strengthens our economy. We were pleased to see just that happen during the last week of September, when the Pennsylvania House and Senate sent House Bill 265, now Act 76 of 2019, to Gov. Tom Wolf.
Act 76 is a measure that addresses workforce development challenges by accelerating career-readiness for students as they prepare to enter the workforce of the future, which ultimately benefits all residents and businesses in Pennsylvania.
By coming together in a bipartisan way, and with extensive input from the business, philanthropic, and education communities, the state’s Legislature created a more flexible and modern career and technical education system that will better connect people to skills they need for jobs and opportunities throughout our state.
Legislators also opened up the door for stronger partnerships between education and business. It is a call that the business community stands ready to accept.
It is critical for us to keep Pennsylvania nationally and globally competitive. Finding a skilled workforce has been a top concern for employers across Pennsylvania. By strengthening partnerships with our career and technical schools and our education systems, we will be able to better prepare our future workers for the jobs of tomorrow.
The provisions included in Act 76 will help modernize and revitalize our postsecondary training and education systems and will drive vitality in Pennsylvania by enabling us to create stronger economic opportunity.
On behalf of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry and the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, we applaud the bipartisan efforts of our elected officials in Harrisburg to directly address a serious workforce issue. Act 76 is good for all students, residents and businesses of Pennsylvania, and we look forward to continuing to work with state leaders on issues that affect each and every one of us in Pennsylvania.
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October First Friday with State Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa
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Many thanks to those who attended our First Friday with Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa. We appreciate him sharing his vision and the work he has done to advance our region in Harrisburg. We look forward to continued partnership on important issues.
Check out a photo gallery from the October First Friday.
Our First Friday series, presented by Peoples, brings together the region's private sector and public affairs community to engage with elected and other public officials on issues that are important to the region's economy and quality of life.
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Washington County’s Four Chambers of Commerce Elected Officials Reception
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Stefani Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, spoke at the event, applauding the collaboration in Washington County. She highlighted the importance of public-private partnership across Southwestern PA in order to be able to strongly advocate for smart public policy that pushes our entire region forward.
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Philly Chamber Annual Meeting
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Chamber President Matt Smith and Vice President Jenn Beer joined the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia annual meeting in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in October.
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The Western Pennsylvania Partnership of Chambers held our latest meeting in Westmoreland County to discuss updates to the Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) legislation. Allegheny Conference Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications Cecelia Cagni presented the Partnership with an update on the new regional branding strategy.
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