1.  Legacy Project Continues: Our seminar which shows you how to manage an effective chamber of commerce and discusses “best practices” around the nation will be held next in New Orleans, LA on April 20. Past Chair Sherrie Gilchrist will be overseeing the program while current Chair Arnold Baker will be hosting.  Immediately after the session, we will have a Ribbon Cutting ceremony for our new Southeastern Regional Office.   Save the date and plan on attending.  More details will follow.  Any inquiries can be made to Charles DeBow at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2.  EPA to host Small Business Meeting: The Environmental Protection Agency will be hosting a Small Business Meeting during the month of April.  They have graciously offered to reserve ten seats for NBCC members.  Any members wanting to participate should contact Ryan Downey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

3. Shut it Down and Start Over: Blair Levin, former Executive Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative at the FCC, has reviewed FCC’s attempt to broaden broadband deployment in underserved areas.  His conclusion, “Having wrestled with this problem for another year, I now believe the best thing we can do to enable more low-income households to get connected to broadband is not to expand the existing Lifeline/Link-up program, but rather to phase it out and build a broadband program on a different foundation.”  In other words:  It ain’t working!

4.  Black Press Week in DC: Our sister organization the National Newspaper Publishers Association, NNPA, will be hosting their annual Black Press Week here in Washington, DC during March 16 – 18.  A complete agenda is posted on their website – www.nnpa.org. See you there!

5.  Caution: Several of you have been approached by a public relations firms named MWW Group.  We have no partnership with this organization and strongly advise any of you to stay away from as we have found their methods to not be consistent with our mission.