Brinegar Touts Northwest Indiana Strengths in Merrillville

Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar visited the beautiful Centier Centre in Merrillville Wednesday to discuss economic conditions in Northwest Indiana. Ryan McCormick of the popular web site ValpoLife.com writes:

"I think the position that [Northwest Indiana] is in is comparatively stronger financially and that the quality of the workforce is stronger as well," said Brinegar.

Indiana has the highest number of manufacturing employees out of any state and a large number of them are right here in our own region. Brinegar also shared about Economic Vision 2010, which was created in 2000 in order to set a number of goals or drivers Indiana should be shooting for. "Tremendous success", as noted by Brinegar, has been seen through this initiative thanks to the help of the Chamber and its coalition partners. The notable advancements have been the historic 2002 tax restructuring, improved education standards and 2003 economic development initiatives.

"It’s really a quality of life issue," comments Brinegar. "[Because of the completed initiatives], we are more competitive and are a better place for jobs in Indiana."

A similar document will soon be revealed for goals and initiatives to be met in 2025. Its expected completion is by the summer of 2011.

The Intern Chronicles: My First Week at the Indiana Chamber

It has been a little more than frustrating to see my private school education (at Valparaiso University) being put to use in hard labor warehouse jobs over the previous two summers. I was especially pleased, then, when I was accepted to a summer internship here at the Indiana Chamber. I’ve been offered to share how it’s going, and I hope to post weekly updates throughout the summer (if I’m allowed, and if I manage not to accidentally burn the place down).

Just a week in, I can already tell this experience will be different than what I expected. Sure, I figured the profuse sweating and heavy box-lifting of summers past would be gone, but I had a suspicion it would be replaced by making color copies and decafs with cream and sugar.

This will not be an office barista internship, however. In my first couple days, I’ve written a press release, attended a tax conference, covered a news story, and shadowed what seems to be most of the staff members here.

I was also shown a lot of what the chamber actually does. You might know as little as I did, in which case I’d like to share that through my crash-course, I learned the Indiana Chamber of Commerce …

• Is the fourth largest chamber in the country
• Has earned 38 national and state awards since 1999
• Publishes more than 30 compliance and reference guides
• Offers services to more than 26,000 members from all 92 counties
• Publishes and distributes BizVoice magazine to over 15,000 subscribers

Needless to say, I am excited to work this summer with so many talented people in an organization that has so much success to take pride in — and no heavy boxes to lift.