September 2020 Features

• Aflac Leadership Honored with Georgia’s goBeyondProfit Champion Award

  September 30, 2020

  In a fitting capstone to the designation of September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Aflac has been honored with the goBeyondProfit Champion Award. The peer-nominated goBeyondProfit Champion honor is given for Aflac’s consistency in benefiting its community and business with a generous and diverse company culture, while deploying company resources and priorities toward community empowerment.

• Amid Pandemic, Small Business Owners Respond With Meaningful Transformation; Remain Resilient

  September 30, 2020

  Amid this year's historic coronavirus pandemic, businesses are adapting by making major changes to their operations including increased use of technology, according to the latest PNC semi-annual survey of small and mid-size business owners and executives, which concluded Sept. 8th.

• Athens Area Community Foundation Welcomes 2020-2021 Board

  September 29, 2020

  The Athens Area Community Foundation announced its new Board of Directors for the 2020-2021 year.

• Lt. Governor Duncan Address Sets Stage for Health Connect South 2020 Platform

  September 29, 2020

  The seventh annual Health Connect South (HCS), the Southeast’s gathering of thought leaders in the field of medicine, convened on September 24th with over 750 in attendance—its largest forum ever. Its unique networking platform encourages collaborative innovations and advances key health topics via 17 panel sessions, featuring over 40 renowned moderators and speakers, including Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan.

• Grant Funding to UGA Startups Climbs Sharply

  September 28, 2020

  The University of Georgia may be one of the country’s leaders in developing new commercial products out of its research, but those products did not simply burst out of UGA labs fully formed and ready for market. They had to be refined through additional research and development that itself can be long, painstaking—and pricey.

• Chris Clark: D.C. Fly-in Emphasizes Importance of Vote

  September 28, 2020

  Last week has been nothing short of extraordinary. From economic recovery and foreign affairs to health care, transportation, rural initiatives, agriculture and so much more, last week’s all-virtual Georgia Chamber D.C. Fly-In reported record attendance and conveyed a strong message that business and government can and must work together for a better future and more rapid recovery from the COVID recession.

• Georgia Historical Society Announces Former United States Senator Sam Nunn to Keynote Georgia History Festival Series

  September 25, 2020

  The Georgia Historical Society announced today that the theme and focus of study for the 2020-2021 Georgia History Festivalis Tear Down This Wall: Georgia in Cold War America.

• Carl Vinson Institute Fellowship Helps Communities Address Revitalization Challenges

  September 23, 2020

  The City of Richmond Hill is promoting a unified “look” and the City of Dahlonega is envisioning visitor-friendly parking solutions through a community development collaborative with the University of Georgia.

• Georgia Congressional Delegation Fights to Close Digital Divide

  September 22, 2020

  U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), and 10 members of the Georgia congressional delegation sent a letter urging Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to utilize Georgia’s recently completed location-level broadband maps as the federal government works to improve access to high-speed internet.

• Critical Panel Discussion to be Featured at Health Connect South: Atlanta Hospital CEOs Collaboration to Combat COVID-19

  September 21, 2020

  The agenda for the 2020 Health Connect South (HCS) annual gathering on September 24th will feature a compelling panel discussion with three Atlanta area hospital CEO’s who will share how they spearheaded unprecedented, collaborative efforts to combat the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.

• Georgia Significantly Outperforms National Unemployment Rate in August

  September 18, 2020

  The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced today that for the month of August, Georgia’s unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, while the national unemployment rate stood at 8.4 percent. Along with outpacing the national rate, Georgia recorded a decrease of 2 percentage points since July and a seven-point drop since the beginning of the pandemic.

• Poll Worker Training: Aggressive Statewide Program Targets Those Who Make the Critical Difference on Election Day

  September 18, 2020

  Even with new technology and new procedures, one thing has not changed about Georgia elections: Those who will have the most direct impact on achieving a smooth, successful election day are the poll managers and workers who will staff Georgia’s 3100 precincts on Nov. 3rd.

• Georgia Commission for Freight and Logistics Kicks Off 2020 Meeting Series

  September 17, 2020

  The Georgia Commission for Freight and Logistics has kicked-off its 2020 Meeting Series with its first meeting held on September 15th. This year’s regional meetings will continue the work launched in 2019 with the creation of the commission through House Resolution 37.

• Health Connect South 2020 Set to Showcase Best of the Southeast Regions’ Health Collaborations

  September 16, 2020

  The 2020 Health Connect South (HCS) annual gathering on September 24th will present a unique view into health collaborations happening across the Southeast among health systems, academia, healthcare providers, investors, health innovators and key state and national policy makers.

• State’s International Trade Team Announces New Export Directory Connecting Georgia Suppliers to Global Buyers

  September 15, 2020

  The Georgia Department of Economic Development’s International Trade division is officially announcing a new marketing tool created to provide virtual connections between international buyers and Georgia suppliers.

• Alzheimer’s Association, Georgia Chapter Now Offering Monthly Virtual Lunch & Learn Alzheimer’s Series

  September 14, 2020

• Chris Clark: Building a Global Talent Pipeline

  September 14, 2020

  Even before COVID-19 hit our borders and changed virtually every business plan and legislative priority for 2020, the war for talent was being fought across every industry sector around the world.

• Join GeorgiaForward and Georgia Municipal Association for Let Your Voice Be Heard: How, When, and Why To Vote

  September 11, 2020

  Join GeorgiaForward and Georgia Municipal Association on September 15 at 6pm for Let Your Voice Be Heard: How, When, and Why To Vote featuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Carter Center Chair Jason Carter, and Professor Andra Gillespie of Emory University with a U.S. Census reminder from Janet Lee.

• Job Creation Up In First Two Months of Fiscal Year

  September 10, 2020

  Governor Brian P. Kemp announced new economic development job numbers showing that Georgia’s economic momentum is continuing to grow two months into the state’s new fiscal year.

• H. J. Russell & Company Honored with Georgia’s goBeyondProfit Champion Award

  September 10, 2020

  Today it was announced that H. J. Russell & Company (Russell), a family-run pillar of Atlanta real estate development and construction, was honored with the goBeyondProfit Champion Award. This peer-nominated honor is given by Georgia business leaders to companies who consistently benefit their community and business with generous company culture, deployment of company resources and community empowerment.

• Nick T. Place named Dean & Director of UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences

  September 09, 2020

  Nick T. Place, an academic leader with a record of applying research-based expertise to the needs of agricultural producers and communities, has been named dean of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and director of the UGA Cooperative Extension and Agricultural Experiment Stations.

• Technology Association of Georgia Announces Early Look at Fintech South Featured Speakers, Schedule

  September 09, 2020

  Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) releases its agenda and first wave of speakers for Fintech South, the Southeast’s largest virtual event dedicated to financial innovation taking place October 5th-9th.

• UGA Nears $500M in R&D Expenditures in Record-breaking Year

  September 08, 2020

  The University of Georgia once again posted new highs in research and development expenditures, nearly topping the $500 million mark and exceeding last year’s R&D total by almost 4%, illustrating the rapidly growing research enterprise at UGA.

• Department of Economic Development Thanks Companies Supplying Critical Items to Fight COVID-19

  September 08, 2020

  The Georgia Department of Economic Development, alongside Governor Brian P. Kemp, again thanked the numerous companies across the state who have stepped up to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and health care supplies to fight COVID-19.

• One Georgia County Leads the Nation on Top “Work from Home” U.S. Counties List

  September 03, 2020

  Forsyth County, Georgia, ranks as the top "Work from Home" county in the United States, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors® measuring several factors of increasing relevance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Two Colorado counties – Douglas and Broomfield – appear in the top 10 at second and ninth, respectively.