North Central Massachusetts e-Newsletter » North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce

E-Newsletter

An Electronic Publication of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce

Inside this edition, you’ll discover the latest Chamber initiatives and success stories from across our region. From economic development projects and upcoming networking events to policy updates and workforce training opportunities, we’re keeping you connected to what matters most for your business and North Central Massachusetts.

June 2026

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Chamber Updates

Posted on September 20th/in Chamber News /by northcentralmass

MASS-TECH PROJECT: The Chamber’s economic development arm – The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation – has received a small grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to help strengthen the environment for start-ups in the region. This project builds off of the work of the One North Central Regional Economic Development Plan, which prioritizes efforts to grow the region from within through small business support programs and initiatives. The Chamber has formed a small advisory committee of members and hired economic development consulting firm RKG Associates to assist with the project. The project scope will entail reviewing the current entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region including inventorying existing practitioners, policies, programs and resources available to start-up and early stage companies, and looking at what gaps exist in the region.

GIFT CARD PROGRAM: The Chamber has revamped the Gift Local Gift Card program to make it easier for members to process the gift cards, and for the public to redeem them. We transitioned over the Summer to a new technology platform called Yiftee that is very user friendly and allows the new gift cards to be issued electronically and processed as a Mastercard. To accept the new e-Gift Cards a participating merchant just needs to accept Mastercard and process it via a key-entry. There will no longer be any need for a separate web terminal for processing, dual entries into the terminal and POS system, or any costly POS integration. Most importantly when consumers use the gift card, dollars stay local and benefit our shops and restaurants and our communities. We are planning an advertising campaign starting in the Fall running through the holidays to promote the new e-Gift Local Gift Cards. Because it is an opt-in program, members interested in being able to accept the gift cards need to contact the Chamber to receive an activation card to participate. Visit Giftlocal.net for more information or contact the Chamber.

CHAMBER FOUNDATION: The Chamber Board approved a contribution of $9,600 to the North Central Massachusetts Chamber Foundation. The contribution represents the proceeds from the Chamber’s Scholars Breakfast in the Spring and will help to strengthen the foundation’s scholarship and education efforts. The Foundation is the Chamber’s charitable affiliate. Thank you to all the members that supported the foundation!

NEW LOANS: The Chamber’s economic development arm – the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation – has closed 25 micro-loans for a total of $1,277,500 since October 1, 2021. The loans were made to a mix of existing and start-up businesses and ranged from $7,500 to $206,000. There are another three loans totaling $300,500 that have been approved but have not yet closed.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: During the last quarter, our team provided over 310 hours of direct technical assistance to small businesses. Our 2-day in-person Quickbooks seminar was a big success, with sold-out attendance. We also connected several of our borrowers and small business clients to professionals for technical assistance, such as bookkeeping, marketing, website design and legal services.

JOBS BOARD: The Chamber continues to offer the WorkNorthCentral.com online jobs board as a resource to connect employers and job seekers in North Central Massachusetts. The jobs board has had over 8,600 jobs posted and more than 80,000 views by job seekers since being launched. As a reminder, the jobs board is free for members to utilize. We encourage members to post any employment opportunities they offer or send them to us and we will post them for you.

EQUITABLE CREDENTIAL ATTAINMENT PROJECT: A North Central Massachusetts team comprised of the Chamber, Mount Wachusett Community College and the Spanish American Center have been meeting monthly as part of the Equitable Credential Attainment initiative offered through the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). North Central Massachusetts was one of seven regions selected in the Spring from throughout the country to participate in this 18-month competitive program. This initiative is focused on growing credential and degree program participation among minority workers with the goal of helping to place these workers in well-paying jobs with career advancement. Our team has already seen some early successes in building partnerships and engaging the Latinx community around micro-credentialing in the health care and manufacturing industries.

WORKFORCE STUDY: In related news, the UMass Donahue has completed the workforce study commissioned by the Chamber to assess and recommend ways to enhance the labor pool in the region. The results will be unveiled at the September edition of the Chamber’s Good Morning North Central Massachusetts breakfast program and shared online. We hope the study will be a useful resource to help develop new strategies and advocate for solutions to the workforce challenges faced by employers.

ENERGY PROGRAM: From its inception in August 2014 through July 2022 the solar field on Pleasant St. has produced 11,473,106 KwH of Net Metering Credits to the manufacturers participating in the program. Total value of these credits is $2,551,981.14 and the collective savings to participants totals $2,169,184.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Traffic to our websites averaged approximately 12,122 unique page views each month in FY2022 which ended in June. In FY22 we also garnered over 2.3 million google impressions. We continue to be very active on social media, populating our Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter platforms with our content. Our social media platforms have a combined 23,139 total followers. In CY2021, our social media platforms garnered an average of 217,000 impressions monthly and a total of nearly 2.4 million impressions for the year.

Visit North Central Massachusetts Update

Posted on September 20th/in Chamber News /by northcentralmass

We wanted to provide an update on the work of our destination marketing arm, Visit North Central Massachusetts (VNCM), to promote the region to visitors and groups over the late Spring and Summer.

The Spring/Summer edition of the Guide to North Central Massachusetts was published in April. The magazine is the primary travel publication promoting the communities of North Central Massachusetts and includes information on our local communities, a calendar of events, stories about the region and much more. The guide was distributed through AAA offices throughout New England and through CTM Media Group to hundreds of locations including hotels, visitor centers, attractions and airports, including Logan and Worcester. The magazine was also posted on our website. The Fall/Winter edition is currently at the printer and expected to hit the stands by early September. Members interested in advertising in the 2023 Spring/Summer edition should contact the Chamber to reserve an ad in this popular publication. We also published our 2022 edition of the Venue Guide to North Central Massachusetts. This publication is a resource for event and meeting planners and helps promote the region as a unique destination for events, conferences, corporate events, and weddings. The Venue Guide is posted on the website and shared via social media and at trade shows.

In addition to these publications, we continued to invest in creating an assorted mix of strong content for our travel website – Visitnorthcentral.com – highlighting seasonal activities and attractions. Stories posted during the Spring/Summer season included “Raise a Glass” which promoted the region as a destination for craft beer lovers; “Hook, Line & Sinker!” which highlighted the region as a fresh water fishing destination; and “The Sweetest Season” which focused on sugar houses located in the region.

Our paid advertising efforts during the Spring/Summer primarily focused on utilizing digital strategies. We ran a sponsored content campaign with MassLive promoting breweries, wineries and cideries in the region to day trippers and overnight visitors. We also ran geofenced digital advertising campaigns with MassLive and LocalIQ on their websites to build brand awareness and promote activities in the region. The LocalIQ digital ads have garnered 306,148 impressions and 155 clicks so far and will run through the end of September. The MassLive campaigns garnered 465,768 impressions and 898 clicks with a .19% CTR through June 30.

While we mainly invested in digital, we also secured some print advertisements to promote the region, including ads in Yankee Magazine; a full panel ad in a tourism map published by CTM Media Group and distributed throughout the state; and an ad in the Dream Destinations Guide targeted towards the Western Massachusetts and Connecticut market. We also ran several ads in Baystate Parent Magazine targeted towards families with young kids centered around the family-friendly experience our region provides.

For FY2022 which ended on June 30, VisitNorthCentral.com saw a 25% increase in traffic with 43,034 visitors and 94,992 pageviews. We also had 1,408,054 google impressions. Our Visit North Central Facebook following grew in FY22 by 5.5% to 12,172 followers. We published 338 Facebook posts during the year, which was down 13% over the previous year. Our posts had a reach of 366,952 people, down about 5% over the previous year, and 23,000 engagements which was up modestly by .3% over the previous year. Our Instagram page saw a 10.8% increase in followers to 1,163. We published 71 posts on Instagram, up 12.7%, which reached 20,726 people. Our engagement rate increased to 7.7%.

Lodging data continues to show signs that the region is experiencing some recovery from the pandemic. Although occupancy still trails pre-pandemic levels slightly, both RevPAR and ADR exceed 2019 levels which indicates that demand is driving up prices. Hotel occupancy for YTD through July was 70.3%, a 25.5% increase over the previous year, ADR was up through the year by 57.5%. RevPar and total room revenue was up 97.6% and rooms sold was up 25.5% for YTD through July.

We have also started to resume some trade show participation. In the Spring, we hosted a booth at the Dream Destinations Travel Show in Springfield and we will be helping to staff the Massachusetts booth at the Big E scheduled for the Fall. Our public relations efforts also resulted in the region being highlighted in a recent edition of Sports Events Magazine, an industry publication for sports events planners.

In other news, our Johnny Appleseed Visitor Center in Lancaster has completed some renovations and upgrades to help improve the experience and better showcase the region to the more than 165,000 visitors that stop there each year. Renovations included adding handicap doors, new security cameras, a dog walking station, a water refilling station, shading for the picnic tables and new signage on the grounds. Inside the center we also added new floors, rustic paneling on the walls, new rugs, new signage for the exhibits and new office furniture. We are also in the process of upgrading the electronic screens inside the center, adding new seasonal banners on the lampposts and having the popular “Big Apple of New England” sculpture repaired. We hope to host a special event in the Fall to showcase the improvements.

We were challenged in the Spring with the loss of our marketing manager as well as increased costs for paid advertising and printing costs for our publications. But in July we welcomed a new marketing manager, and we are currently in the process of updating our marketing plan and implementing promotional efforts for the busy Fall season.

Government Affairs Update

Posted on September 20th/in Chamber News /by northcentralmass

While the legislative session has wound down, election season is in full swing, and the North Central Massachusetts Chamber continues to remain engaged on both fronts. Earlier this Summer, the Chamber partnered with a number of community partners and local media outlets as part of the Elect North Central Coalition for a series of forums with the state’s gubernatorial candidates. The forums with the candidates that chose to participate can be viewed online. The Chamber also continues to interview candidates running for statewide seats as part of the Inside North Central Massachusetts Podcast: Election Series which can be streamed on the Chamber’s website as well as Apple and Spotify.

The Chamber is in the process of reaching out to our elected officials as well as candidates that will appear on the ballot in our local and statewide races for our Annual Legislative and Candidates Reception. The Legislative and Candidates Reception is one of the most exciting events of the year, providing members of the business community the opportunity to engage the region’s elected officials and those looking to hold office. This year’s event, sponsored by Mount Wachusett Community College, will be held at the Chocksett Inn in Sterling on Thursday September 22 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.

At the end of July, Governor Charlie Baker signed his eighth and final budget as Governor to the tune of $52.7 billion, a 10.7 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. The State’s budget for the new fiscal year saw crucial funding to a number of priority areas including local aid, K-12 education, career pathway programs and other workforce development programs as well as economic development initiatives which will benefit the region.

Although formal sessions have wrapped up, the Chamber continues to monitor Beacon Hill as they continue their final push on a number of pieces of legislation. In the middle of August, Governor Charlie Baker signed off on a new climate bill that will boost offshore wind and solar despite his voiced concerns over a provision allowing a group of ten cities and towns to ban the use of fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations. The Chamber will continue to monitor this development and its potential impact on the North Central Massachusetts business community. Earlier in the same week, Governor Baker signed off on a bill legalizing sports betting, setting Massachusetts up to better compete with neighboring states who have already been capitalizing on the industry. We are also closely monitoring the proposed economic development bill which, as of this writing, has yet to make it across the finish line. We continued to advocate for the region as the House and Senate put together their priorities for that bill. At the end of July, state budget officials announced a preliminary surplus of $1.9 billion following the approximately $3 billion in tax refunds to Commonwealth taxpayers. Despite ongoing talks of tax relief for Commonwealth residents, nothing has been set in stone yet.

Down in Washington D.C. the House came together to approve what has been come to be known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, sending the bill to the President’s desk. Major components of the bill fit the President’s build back better pledges that he campaigned on during the 2020 election. The bill includes $370 billion in climate investment, proposes changes aimed at saving consumers money on prescription drugs, and according to the administrations, it also upholds President Biden’s commitment to ensure families earning less than $400,000 per year do not see any tax increase. The bill contains a major provision imposing a 15% Corporate Minimum Tax, additionally it would impose a 15% domestic tax on the approximately 200 largest corporations that currently pay less than that corporate tax rate.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Travis Condon, the Chamber’s public affairs manager, at 978.353.7600, ext. 224; or via email at .

Pictured is Senate Clerk Michael Hurley carrying the clean energy bill and its amendments during the final hours of the legislature’s formal 2022 session. Photo courtesy of the State House News Service.

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September 22, 2026

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