Greater Atlanta Chamber Foundation Inc

Programs: Drove higher education and business collaboration to build strong entrepreneurial ecosystems, catalyze new business formation and expand our workforce in high demand fields. O assembled business-higher education advisory committee. O completed the inaugural metro atlanta innovation indicators project, the first comprehensive evaluation of innovation data for the 29-county region. O co-hosted with invest atlanta the first-ever switchpitch atlanta event, where large corporations pitched funded innovation projects to startups, and met one-on-one with startups to discuss partnership opportunities. Approximately 75 one-on-one meetings between startups and corporations took place during the event. O executed contract with ninesigma to establish the mac open innovation forum, an online marketplace to stimulate collaboration between metro atlanta companies with real-time innovation needs and solution providers in the higher education, startup and small/mid-size business communities. Launch of the open innovation forum is planned for q1 2015. O sponsored and attended the southeast bio investor & partnering forum, the forge atl healthcare hackathon and health connect south. O hosted recruiting 411 event at newell rubbermaid, incorporating a number of regional colleges, universities and businesses that focused on internship types, recruiting resources and expectations for the internship process. O hosted the 2nd annual mobility live! Intern summit. Sponsored by verizon wireless, the event included more than 100 students from 13 georgia colleges and universities. O hosted the inaugural healthit summit internship forum. Sponsored by greenway medical, the internship forum incorporated a panel discussion and an internship fair with 185 students representing more than 19 georgia colleges and universities. O launched the mobile atlanta scholarship program, awarding $2,500 scholarships to four students who demonstrated interest in advancing mobility in atlanta. The winners represented mercer university, georgia gwinnett college, georgia tech and georgia state university. O launched the my intern experience video contest, awarding $1,000 to tarika dalmia from the university of georgia. O launched and expanded internnavigator to include 15 partner organizations and 30 colleges and universities and increased job/internship postings to 233 for the year.

education o chartered the regional education partnership, a cross-sector community effort using data to drive student improvement across the region. O co-sponsored with the community foundation and project grad to present the first college access summit, local and national experts sharing their perspectives on using collective impact to achieve education reform; more than 130 attended. Build broad-based cross-sector coalition of leaders and key stakeholders who support the regional education partnership (met w/100+ individuals and groups to establish relationships and understanding of our approach) o partnered with the community foundation to win a lumina grant for achieve atlanta (a pilot program focused on getting students through high school and post-secondary at atlanta public schools). Only 12 communities across the country were selected.

elevated and promoted our quality of life, including sports, to ensure we remain competitive in growing jobs and attracting a qualified workforce. Support core infrastructure improvements to expand our global connectivity. Fill in gaps in infrastructure and further develop our business-friendly environment. Transportation o commissioned hntb & ey report on critical transportation infrastructure funding, on which established the $1 to 1. 5 billion funding gap. O supported the joint study committee on critical transportation infrastructure funding, which hala moddelmog served as a member. The committee's final report incorporated significant portions of the hntb/ey report. O raised $45,000 in support of the go clayton initiative which supported the expansion of marta into clayton county. The measure passed overwhelmingly, garnering 74percent of the vote. O co-hosted regional freight conference with partner transportation for america, featuring mac members and partners, in an effort to elevate the importance of freight movement. O played key role in launching atlanta aerotropolis alliance; helped secure 2015 smart airports conference with more than 600 attendees expected. Environment o convened key stakeholders to formulate coordinated response strategy for u. S. Epa's clean power plan, testified at epa hearing and submitted comments. O testified in opposition to proposed changes of the definition of "water of the u. S. " o submitted amicus briefs with key partners in support of georgia environmental protection division in the grady county and tired creek buffer cases. O successful culmination of many years of advocacy for the savannah harbor deepening project funding, when president obama signed wrrda (water resources reform and development act) into law, removing final obstacles to start construction. O co-hosted georgia's inaugural water summit with the atlanta regional commission (arc). O successfully advocated for the fourth installment of $300 million for state water supply funds. O celebrated the second successful year of the "e3" environmental awards program, recognizing achievement in seven categories of sustainability. O hosted governor deal for the signing of hb348 at the e3 awards program. Hb348 provides tax credits for medium and heavy duty commercial alternate fuel vehicles. O launched the regional sustainability dashboard. Workforce o led the launch of metro atlanta exchange for workforce solutions (max) with 20 partner organizations. Max exists to strengthen connections and promote information sharing among workforce development stakeholders in metro atlanta, and act as a catalyst to improve the region's economic competitiveness and growth. O worked with partner organizations to create atlanta region workforce trends report. For the first time, metro atlanta has the capacity to analyze real time labor market data culled from current job posting using a tool called labor/insight burning glass technologies.