Tune into this special program featuring former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore and former Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Turpen as well as some of Pre-Paid Legal's most successful leaders.

To view the show please visit:  

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For more information contact: Dr. Jeff Haslam 334-689-3738 cell or 1-888-657-8656 voice mail.

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The Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce will hold its 166th Annual Meeting Jan. 12 at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts Bill Heard Theatre at 4 p.m. followed by a reception.

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Contact Tabetha Getz at tgetz@columbusgachamber.com or 706-257-1183 for more information.

The Diversity Awareness Training Conference was held on Dec. 12 at CSU's Cunningham Center. Over 200 attendants participated in the conference hearing special guest speakers Gen. Robert Brown and Dr. Joy DeGruy among others, and taking part in breakout sessions titled "Doing Business with Someone Who Doesn't Look or Think Like You" and "Costs of Insensitivity and Personal Biases". A special thanks to the 2011 Steering Committee and representatives of thirteen regional organizations for making this event happen!

2011 Steering Committee

Participants engaged in a breakout session with facilitator Melanie Slaton.

Featured Guest Speaker: Dr. Joy DeGruy presented a message on "Understanding Cultures, Embracing Our Fears: Creating a Blueprint for Healing".

Mike Gaymon's comments on the Diversity Forum

Some of you may know that I am a pk. Some of you have heard me explain that what you have heard about pk is not true. We preachers kids are so bad but it is the deacons kids who really are the worst. But because the deacons hire and fire the preacher, so we preachers kids have had to take the wrap for all these years.

That may never change.

Another thing that will never change is what the good book says about the future. Do you recall the scripture that says, without a vision, the people perish? I believe that is still true.

The major focus of our chamber is economic development. Our vision is to help create opportunities where ANY and ALL BUSINESSES who want to be successful can and will be.

Our Chamber is a "not for profit membership driven organization". We are not a government entity but instead are organized to serve our members first. The good news is that we have many members who make things happen. The not so good news is that there are thousands of businesses in our region that are not members. We expect to serve notice that events like the Diversity Forum are intended to show that we are serious about growing our membership and making our economy stronger with more businesses working for the common good....economic success.

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Chair Carmen Cavezza and Chamber President Mike Gaymon thanked the retiring board members for their service and presented them with a plaque at the last board meeting of the year on Dec. 21.

Billy Blanchard, CB&T	Richard Hollins, MCA Transportation, Inc.
Mike Mayhew, Automated Business Machines	Travis Chambers, Elite Ventures Realty
Alford Blackmore, Aflac

Linked to this article is the November 2011 unemployment report for our region. You will see, as expected, that the unemployment rate dropped almost 1%. This is due to seasonal/temporary hiring during the holidays. In November 2010, the Columbus MSA unemployment was 9.5%, only dropping slightly during the holiday season. This is yet another sign that our region is in fact gaining back momentum lost during the recession, and coming out stronger on the other end. This drop in unemployment is encouraging for many reasons:

• Like years past, people are beginning to hire seasonal support. This trend almost diminished during the recession as stores were just trying to hold on.
• Our region hasn't seen unemployment this low in over 30 months (May 2009, 8.6%)
• The state is currently posting an unemployment rate of 9.9% with Columbus ranking in as the 5th lowest MSA in the state. Once again, we are fairing well compared to the rest of the state.

To view the report click here.