Join us for networking, beverages, snacks, music and fun on August 30 from 6-8 pm as we honor our members and all the great sustainability work they do.  New member Wildwood Brewing will be providing a variety of their beers for you to taste at the newly remodeled Stensrud Building Event Center, 314 North 1st Street West. 

Non-members who sign up and pay for a membership at the event will receive a $20 discount on their first year dues.  Members who bring a guest that signs up and pays for a membership at the event will receive a $20 discount on their next year's dues.

To RSVP, visit http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=jqq8upcab&oeidk=a07e69rcajga03a86f0 

Sponsored by:

                                Stensrud Building

And the Winners are...

We recently held its Local Luxuries Raffle to raise funds to support our education programs. SBC Committee Member Beth Schenk of St. Patrick's Hospital and Health Science Center had the honor of drawing names from our raffle bucket, while several board members and staff observed.

Whose the Most Sustainable of them all?

Nominations for the 2012 SBC Sustainability Awards have been pouring in, proving that Missoula is clearly starting to embrace sustainability. We still have a few more days before nominations close on August 20, so send your nominations to info@sustainablebusinesscouncil.org today.  Congratulations to the nominees to date:

Sustainable Business of the Year

• Bayern Brewing
• Silk Road Restaurant
• Ten Spoons Winery
• Western Montana Growers' Coop

Sustainable New Venture of the Year (any business, nonprofit, or project of an existing business begun in the last 2 years)

• Blue Marble Biomaterials Wood for Haiti Project
• Buttercup Market
• Enviro Green Cleaning
• Garden City Garden Supply
• i.e. Recycling
• Upcycled

Sustainable Nonprofit of the Year

• Biomimicry Institute
• Ecology Project International
• Jeannette Rankin Peace Center

Sustainability Advocate of the Year 

• Chase Jones, City of Missoula Sustainability Coordinator
• Cherie Peacock, University of Montana Sustainability Coordinator
• Claudia Brown, Transition Town Missoula Co-Founder

Strive Toward Sustainability (STS) Program Participant of the Year

• Homeword
• Ironwood Manufacturing
• United Way

Voting will begin on August 30 at the Membership Appreciation Event and continue for three weeks online (a link will be posted on our website and Facebook page).

The Affordable Care Act and Small Business

Sol Ross of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently spoke in a webinar sponsored by the American Sustainable Business Council and the Main Street Alliance.  He noted that small firms with 50 or less employees currently pay 18% more than large businesses do for health care coverage and that the Small Business Majority has estimated that health care costs for small businesses would double by 2018 without reform, highlighting the need for relief. 

While much of the implementation to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be up to the states making it uncertain the exact impacts, one provision is designed to help small businesses immediately.  It is a tax credit for employers with less than 25 full time employees, whose average wages are less than $50,000 per employee, and that pay 50% or more of the health care insurance premium. The credit can be claimed back to 2010, but does not apply to self-employed individuals.  Additionally, once state insurance exchanges are set up, many employers and self-employed individuals in the exchanges will receive tax credits towards their premiums.

To receive a copy of the PowerPoint slides from the presentation, email info@sustainablebusinesscouncil.org. 

More information is available on the DHHS website at  http://www.healthcare.gov/using-insurance/employers/index.html.

You can also join Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Montana on August 30 in Missoula to learn how to make the AFA work for you.  To register, visit https://www.bcbsmt.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/healthcarereform/HCR%20Road%20Show%208%2012%20email%20(3).pdf.