MAC golf tournament takes place on the 15th… The Tucson Chamber’s Military Affairs Committee (MAC) will be holding its Third Annual Golf Tournament on Friday, June 15 to support our military community. Over 140 players are expected to participate this year. The tournament will be held at Del Lago Golf Club, located at 14155 E. Via Rancho Del Lago in Vail. There will be a shotgun start at 7 a.m. Entry fees are $125/person or $500/foursome and include a round of golf, golf cart and lunch. Tournament proceeds will benefit military personnel in the area. Space is limited so make your reservation today. For more information, contact Shirley at 792-2250 ext. 132, or click here to RSVP now!

Chamber hosts the Quarterly Economic Outlook… Marshall Vest, Forecasting Project Director for the Eller College at the U of A, brought his second quarter meeting of the Economic Outlook Committee to the Chamber. Vest updated the group on his forecasts for major economic indicators including housing (he believes the housing market will hit bottom in the next two quarters while others feel we have already bottomed out), employment (he thinks the employment picture has softened substantially since last year and projects a continuation of that trend for another two years), and population growth (also slowing a bit as the economy slows down). Paula Stuht, Vice President of Business Development for the Chamber, updated the group on the Building Bridges to Business effort and provided some key findings in a short presentation. Much of Vest’s talk will be covered in this week’s Breakfast with the Economists (Eller College’s semi-annual economic forecast review).

Chamber members invited to participate in JTED… The Joint Technology Education District (JTED) that was created with the approval of Proposition 400 is now official in Pima County and includes all 11 Pima County School Districts (Ajo, Amphitheater, Catalina Foothills, Flowing Wells, Indian Oasis-Baboquivari, Marana, Sahuarita, Sunnyside, Tanque Verde, Tucson and Vail). The JTED in 2007/2008 will provide access to state-of-the-art equipment and training programs in a variety of career areas, provide a coordinated plan to meet the workforce needs of local businesses and government, impact the economy positively by producing skilled workers with less time spent training and re-training after graduation, offer opportunities for industry certification and prepare students for advanced studies in community colleges and universities.

The Tucson Chamber’s Paula Stuht and Cheryll Frazier have now begun to serve on the JTED Business & Industry Advisory Committee as Chair and Co-Chair, as representatives of the Management Services Committee. The business development division of the Chamber sees this JTED initiative as an extremely important business and education joint project which will now deliver and provide premier, rigorous, career and technical education programs for all eligible Pima County students. JTED, in conjunction with business and industry, will focus on both the educational and employment needs of Pima County. We would like to extend an invitation to our Chamber members to join us to serve on any one of the five JTED Management Services - Advisory Subcommittees, which will meet once a month (times and specific dates to be announced).

The five Management Services - Business and Industry JTED Subcommittees are:
1. Business Management & Administrative Services
2. Design & Merchandising
3. Marketing, Management and Entrepreneurship
4. Accounting & Related Services
5. Financial Services

If you have an interest in participating in the JTED program to enhance career and technical education classes, support this new JTED program in the Pima County high schools and assist in developing opportunities with Pima Community College, contact Cheryll at cfrazier@tucsonchamber.org or Paula at pstuht@tucsonchamber.org and please specify the subcommittee you wish to serve on.