Tag: Chamber of Commerce

Maryville, Tenn. – The Blount Partnership is proud to announce that Lauren Emert, Director of Economic Development, has been named to the prestigious 40 Under 40 Class of 2024, an annual recognition presented by the Lincoln Memorial University School of Business and Knox News. The award honors 40 outstanding young professionals in East Tennessee who demonstrate exemplary leadership, innovation, and dedication to their careers and communities.

Upon receiving the honor, Emert shared her excitement, saying, “I am honored to be recognized among such an exceptional group of young leaders. It has been a tremendous opportunity to contribute to our community and support economic growth in East Tennessee.”

The 40 Under 40 award celebrates individuals who not only excel in their professional fields but also engage in selfless acts of service to improve the communities they serve. Emert’s inclusion in this distinguished group is a testament to her hard work, dedication, and impact on both the local economy and the broader East Tennessee region.

Blount Partnership President/CEO Bryan Daniels was named to the 40 Under 40 list in 2010.

The Blount Partnership congratulates her and all the recipients of the 2024 Knox News 40 Under 40 award for their outstanding achievements and contributions.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) announced today the approval of Tennessee’s initial proposal for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The department has been allocated $813 million as part of its initial proposal for the BEAD Program, which the state will use to locate high-speed broadband internet to all remaining unserved and underserved residential and business locations in Tennessee by 2028. Receiving this approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) allows TNECD to begin deploying the allocated funding.

“High-speed internet has become an essential part of daily life for all Tennesseans,” said Gov. Bill Lee. “This funding will allow us to make additional strategic investments to expand broadband infrastructure in rural areas and expand opportunity for success in education and the workplace.”

During Gov. Lee’s Administration, TNECD has invested over $715M in state and federal broadband funding to bridge the digital divide in Tennessee. Prior to 2021, more than 20% of Tennessee lacked access to high-speed internet. Today, that total is less than 5%, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

“I am proud to take part in announcing another milestone in broadband funding for the state. We have made significant strides to expand high-speed internet under Gov. Lee’s leadership and receiving approval of our proposed $813 million in funding is a critical step in further expanding broadband service statewide, which will in turn ensure Tennesseans have better access to high-quality job training,” said TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter.

TNECD submitted its initial proposal in December 2023, and prior to submission, the department conducted listening sessions with internet service providers and community stakeholders statewide to ensure that industry and stakeholder feedback was included in the proposal.

TNECD anticipates opening the grant round for BEAD funding in November, pending approval of TNECD’s challenge process results by NTIA. Eligible applicants are those authorized to provide retail broadband in the state of Tennessee.

A Notice of Intent Form and the published eligible locations are available on TNECD’s website until October 9, 2024. Submission of the Notice of Intent Form is a requirement of TNECD’s BEAD funded grant program and allows the state to verify NTIA’s required gating criteria for applicants.

In addition, program eligibility maps with designated grant boundaries will be publicly available in late August on TNECD’s broadband website.

Following the BEAD funded grant round, TNECD is required to submit all proposed awards to NTIA for approval in the form of a final proposal. Once approved, TNECD will begin disbursing grant funding to awardees.

To learn more about Tennessee’s broadband initiatives or apply for these programs, please visit here.

More than 60 students from area high schools took part in the sixth annual Blount County Job Signing Day activities at the Airport Hilton as they inked with 29 local employers to begin their careers.

These seniors either took career and technical education (CTE) courses on a career pathway, earned an industry certification in school, or participated in work-based Learning (WBL).

“This event dispels the misperception that every student needs to go to a four-year university for a good job,” said Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell. “These students have excelled in the classroom and in the work environment while in high school and are launching their full-time careers right now. We need to continue to promote the fact that there are many different pathways to highly skilled, high-paying jobs. It also represents the notion that we have the best rising workforce in our community, and we want to keep our young people right here in our community.”

Students are taking positions in welding, media production, construction, nursing, cosmetology, advanced manufacturing, electrical apprenticeships, and more.

Some of the companies offering these students positions are DENSO, Blackberry Farm, Danny Davis Electrical, Blount Memorial Hospital, Cherokee Millwright, ICC International, TVA, RIX, Roger L. Newman, Massey Electric, Murphy Bobcat, Harrison Construction, Haven Media, Axis Fabrication and Machine Co., and Garner’s Automotive.

Presented by the Blount Partnership, signing day promotes the notion that although every student’s path may be different, and sometimes nontraditional, there are opportunities for meaningful careers in Blount County. It also celebrates the fact that there are multiple opportunities for high school students to explore and begin preparing for careers. Some students are going on to start their careers full-time, some are going to continue a combination of school and work, and some are going to work now with the plan of starting school later.

“We have worked with educators, businesses and the community to change the perceptions of certain careers that were labeled as dirty and dangerous with low pay,” said Blount Partnership Director of Communications Jeff Muir. “We have managed to show students these jobs can be high-tech, safe, high-paying careers. We are seeing that work come to fruition as the mentality is really changing and career and technical education is being valued.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter announced the state will award $162.7 million in broadband and digital opportunity grants.

In total, these investments will provide broadband access and digital opportunity programs to more than 236,000 Tennesseans across 92 counties.

“Broadband is essential to all Tennesseans, and that’s why we are making strategic investments in our state’s broadband infrastructure and digital opportunity programs to create a pathway to education, job training and greater opportunity statewide,” said Gov. Lee. “I thank the Financial Stimulus Accountability Group for their continued support and management of these broadband dollars.”

With today’s announcement, TNECD has invested more than $715 million to expand the state’s broadband infrastructure, connecting more than 689,000 Tennesseans across 275,000 residential and business locations.

“More than $715 million has been invested to expand broadband under Governor Lee’s administration, and we are excited to announce additional funding today that will ensure
Tennesseans have access to and benefit from high-speed internet, which opens the door to high-quality job training,” said Commissioner McWhorter.

Today, a total of $97.2 million is being funded by the Last Mile and Middle Mile infrastructure programs, and $65.5 million will be invested in digital opportunity programs. These initiatives are part of a broader strategy to ensure that all residents have access to high-speed internet by 2028, and have opportunities to develop digital skills, access high-quality tech jobs, connect to broadband enabled devices and access online learning and telehealth resources.

TNECD’s investment of $97.2 million in broadband infrastructure will provide access to more than 58,200 Tennesseans across 23,000 locations in 37 counties.

To promote broadband opportunity and high-paying digital jobs, TNECD launched four new programs during this funding opportunity: Digital Skills, Employment and Workforce
Development (DSEW), Connected Community Facilities (CCF), Broadband Ready Communities (BRC) and Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Broadband Workforce grants.

The DSEW grants, totaling $27.9 million, will be distributed among 47 organizations that will offer a variety of training and education programs to advance digital skills and workforce development, creating a pipeline for well-paying digital jobs.

The CCF grants, totaling $26.5 million, will be distributed among 19 local governments and will facilitate digital opportunity by construction and renovation of spaces that offer services for digital advancement in workforce, healthcare, and education.

The BRC grants, totaling $6 million, will be distributed among 64 local governments and support community-based digital skills training, public Wi-Fi projects, distribution of free or low-cost devices and marketing for low-cost internet plans.

The TCAT Broadband Workforce grants, totaling $4.9 million, will be distributed among five TCATs that will offer a Telecommunications Electronics Technician diploma. The objective of the program will be to produce a well-trained and diverse telecommunications workforce capable of deploying and managing broadband infrastructure.

Grantees across all programs are investing approximately $48 million in matching funds and will complete their projects by December 31, 2026.

Below is a list of the recipients for the latest round of funding:

1. Spectrum Southeast
   $291,729.98 – Serving parts of Blount County
2. Blount County
   $100,000.00
3. Maryville College
   $776,814.00 – Serving parts of Blount County
4. University of Tennessee
   $512,916.00 – Serving parts of Knox, Anderson, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cocke,
   Cumberland, Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe,
   Morgan, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Union Counties

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) creates a talent pipeline for local companies, and for years it has been sustainable. However, things started to shift once artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning hit the workplace. Now, everything is changing, and the skills of emerging young professionals need to change, too.

According to the Technology Skills Gap survey by the Knoxville Chamber and the Knoxville Technology Council, local businesses want to hire people with AI skills and would be willing to pay them more. Young professionals cite a lack of good-paying jobs in the city, and according to the 2023 Career Outcomes Report generated by UTK, the median salary for a graduating student is $56,384.

Enter UTK’s new College of Emerging and Collaborative Studies (CECS), created to train students to be innovative, technology-forward thinkers in any field or industry they enter. The new college will produce competitive applicants with relevant, timely skills that businesses are looking for and provide students with the higher salary positions they seek.

Read entire article from Teknovation.biz

SkyNano is an East Tennessee deep tech start-up success story; one that the Co-Founder, Anna Douglas has been writing for seven years. On Tuesday morning, Douglas, alongside dozens of community members and partners, celebrated the ribbon cutting for SkyNano’s new 20,000-square-foot facility in Louisville, Tennessee.

SkyNano brings to market new, cutting-edge technology that helps with global decarbonization efforts. For the last several years, Douglas has been developing and expanding novel electrochemical manufacturing technology for the capture and conversion of CO2 into carbon-based materials, primarily carbon nanotubes.

Her revolutionary concept captured the attention of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2017, around the time Tom Rogers spearheaded the launch of the Innovation Crossroads program. Through the support of the U.S. Department of Energy, Douglas joined the first cohort of the post-doctoral entrepreneurship program. It was ultimately the influence of that program, community connections, and a robust support system that convinced her to plant her research, and new facility in East Tennessee.

Read complete story at Teknovation.biz

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) released its newest anthem video, “Born to Make,” in conjunction with February serving as National Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month in Tennessee.

CTE gives students and adults the academic skills, knowledge and training necessary to succeed in future careers while also building upon skills to prepare them for a wide range of jobs in high demand. While CTE is taught to school-aged students in middle and high school, it is also offered to adult students at postsecondary institutions in an effort to give more Tennesseans the skills they need to obtain careers across a variety of industries.

Gov. Bill Lee issued a proclamation asking Tennesseans to join him in celebrating February 2024 as Career and Technical Education Month and highlighting how CTE gives Tennessee students opportunities to advance their education and training in order to better position them for future success while also strengthening Tennessee’s workforce pipeline.

“The pathway to success doesn’t look the same for every Tennessean and while attending a four-year institution may be the right option for some, a certification from one of our Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology may be right for others,” said Gov. Lee, “We have prioritized career readiness so that more Tennesseans are given the opportunity to follow the career path of their choosing.”

“Born to Make” focuses on the Tennesseans that create products known around the world from here in the Volunteer State. From cars and boats to whiskey and chocolate to chart-topping songs and motion pictures, “Born to Make” celebrates Tennessee’s workforce across a number of industries.

“The strength of Tennessee’s brand wouldn’t be what it is if it weren’t for the men and women who contribute to exceptional products that are made in our state,” said TNECD Commissioner Stuart C. McWhorter. “In ‘Born to Make,’ we recognize and applaud the skilled individuals that dedicate their talents to the success of Tennessee’s businesses and the reputation we are known for around the globe.”

Watch “Born to Make” here and follow TNECD on social media to see highlights of the businesses and workforce that shape Tennessee.