henrycounty.com
A HENRY COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE PUBLICATION
AUGUST 2017
YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS
HAMPTON • LOCUST GROVE • MCDONOUGH • STOCKBRIDGE
Start of
IN THIS ISSUE Chair’s Message
2
Business Profile
3
Calendar
4
SBDC: Turning Your Hobby into a 5
Business Leadership Henry/Youth Leadership Henry/Chamber Briefs Henry Happenings
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Chamber Membership
10
Business After Hours
11
Busines Boosters Luncheon
12
Elite Membership/Golf Classic
13
Ribbon Cuttings
15
E Comfortably South of Atlanta The Henry County Chamber of Commerce serves as the voice for the business community, provides quality services and programs that meet the needs of its members, improves the economic environment of the community and creates a legacy of leadership for the future.
We also offer our Board Room and our smaller conference room, the Toppan Room free to members. They make a great location to meet clients, hold training sessions, conduct interviews or just a meeting space for your business. The Chamber has free wi-fi available as well. Remember our facility is for our members to use.
ach year when the calendar draws to a close on the month of July, the collective sigh of families echoes across the county in response to the desire for just one more week of summer before school starts. That mainly comes from adults. Kids are generally ready to head to school to find their new teacher, new (and old) friends, and a new education chapter started in preparation for graduation day on down the line. Henry County Schools will be ready to welcome back over 42,000 students when the doors open at the end of July and start of August. Some administrative employees never left the buildings since the last bell rang on May 26, but many teachers will be readying their classrooms after an eight-week hiatus. It’s the annual exercise of pre-planning prep to prepare the leaders of tomorrow. There are many great things to share in Henry County with regards to our public education system. Personalized Learning continues to draw strong, positive reviews from local, state, and national business and education leaders. This year will mark the third group to start their implementation year in earnest. The first two cohorts of schools have produced positive results to take the discussion surrounding Personalized Learning’s effectiveness to the next level.
SAVE THE DATE!
In support of this major initiative and to provide our students with the technological advances they need, students all across the county will received their own computing device for learning. The voters of Henry County voted in large numbers to support E-SPLOST V. This special purpose local option sales tax included the investment of $70 million in technology upgrades. Half of that amount was designated for the purpose of moving our district to a 1:1 district. This means that all students receive a computing device for learning purposes. EmpowerHCS will move Henry County students even further into the digital age by allowing a wealth of resources to be at their fingertips.
“Henry County” and add “McDonough” to make their name representative of the area in which they serve. Design work will also begin on a new performing arts center for the northern area of Henry County. This will provide our citizens and schools in the northern portion of the county with great access to a state-ofthe-art facility for plays, concerts, and other productions.
These two efforts – Personalized Learning and 1:1 technology – will further cement Henry County Schools’ place as a forward-thinking, advanced district and illustrate to those near and far that we realize the importance of actively and creatively engaging students in their learning and giving them the resources necessary to be highly successful.
Many of these capital projects are only possible thanks to the understanding by our business community and taxpayers that quality schools need quality capital investments and improvements in order to remain competitive and attract more businesses and families to the county. This understanding helped and resulted in our E-SPLOST V passing early in 2016. The projects that were proposed will have positive impacts on the community and our ability to attract and retain quality industry members.
Ground will be broken on two new school buildings during the year, too. Henry County High School and Henry County Middle School will move to new buildings in 2019 upon the completion of construction at the new location. Not only will they get new buildings, but their names will lose the
Our successes are many, and we know they are directly attributable to our community members and business leaders who stand with us each day looking to make a positive difference and ensure success for each student.
Please plan to Join Us on Monday, September 25th at Eagle’s Brooke Golf & Country Club for the Henry County Chamber of Commerce’s 17th Annual Golf Classic. Read more on Page 13