The Orange County Chamber of Commerce and Lynn Allen Cione
Thank you to the United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region for this great honor. We are grateful for it and more importantly for the great work you do for so many.
The Orange County Chamber of Commerce exists to serve our Orange County community and to ensure the continued economic vitality of our region. We’ve done so since 1882. This pandemic has proven the importance of a Chamber of Commerce, that it is the glue which holds the community of businesses, not for profits, governmental agencies, and individuals together with dignity and leadership.
In 1882, when a group of businessmen formed the Board of Trade of the City of Newburgh, and then in 1895, a group of Middletown businessman did the same. Over time they grew and our Chamber today was created in 1997 by the consolidation of these two largest chambers in Orange County.
We are a very diverse chamber. We represent multinational businesses, small micro businesses working from the kitchen table, all industry sectors, all of which are led by individuals as diverse as their businesses. We represent over 1000 businesses and not for profits, have over 6,000 subscribers, and our members have a total of well over 44,000 employees. More than a dozen committees, chaired by Chamber members, work with our incredible Chamber team to provide resources for members, as well as plan and carry out our robust advocacy and legislative agendas, our Chamber events, programs, and services.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March we have been on the front lines advocating for our businesses to be able to open safely, working with our partners in government to ensure that our voice was heard and businesses were supported. Our Chamber team have assisted hundreds of businesses to secure EIDL and PPE loans, provided guidance as they navigated through the sometimes confusing NYS Forward regulations which dictated how businesses could open and when. We provided over 400,000 (yes you read that right), referrals and website clicks from our member directory. We assisted our sole proprietors in securing unemployment benefits as they struggled with temporarily closed businesses. We helped support the mission of our not for profit members as they fed thousands, ensured that children and women were safe, and that medical care was being given to all, especially the most vulnerable.
None of this would have been accomplished without the support of our truly visionary Board of Directors, chaired by Marcel Martino, and the unwavering support and generosity of our Corporate Partners. Our extraordinary Chamber team under the leadership of President/CEO Lynn Allen Cione, is comprised of some true superheroes, Membership Director Heather Bell, Marketing Director Joanna Signorelli, and Finance Director Casey Meier.
We will continue working hard every day to help the people, businesses, and economy of Orange County stand strong and emerge even stronger. We have done that for over 100 years through two World Wars, the Great Depression, the 1918 Flu, the Great Recession, and this time is no different. #LetsGetBackToBusinessOrangeCounty
