Dear Austin Young Chamber Members, Sponsors, Partners, and Community Members:

Back in January, I wrote my first message as Board Chair to you all, telling you about me and why I was so excited about the Austin Young Chamber. We are now in April, the start of the second quarter of 2018 and I must tell you that my excitement about our future is at an all-time high.

Great things continue to happen for the Austin Young Chamber. Here are some highlights from the last few months:

• In February, we hosted the LEAD Summit, Austin’s first all-day leadership development conference for young professionals. It was a huge success. More than 300 people attended and learned from great speakers and leaders for our community. The LEAD Summit is a great example of why we exist as a Chamber. We brought people together to connect with each other and with top leaders, and we provided them with an opportunity to develop themselves. We also recognized ChangeMakers who are making an important impact in the community. We are already beginning to plan next year’s LEAD Summit.
• Also in February, our Board released a statement urging the Austin City Council to delay its vote on the Paid Sick Leave ordinance. This was not a stance for or against the ordinance (that has since passed), but it was us using our voice to ask our Council to slow down and seek more information, as well as to allow us to go through our process.
• In March, we hosted the second Austin Fast Start event in collaboration with the City of Austin Small Business Department, DivInc and 3DayStartup. We had over 100 people attend the event at Capital Factory and cast their vote for the best pitch of four finalists from the Education Technology sector. Audassey took home the well-deserved win.
• Lastly, our Board released a statement of support for Major League Soccer (MLS) coming to Austin. Although there are certainly some questions about where a stadium should be built, we believe that MLS in Austin would thrive. It would boost our economy and be great for our members.

As you can see from the highlights, the Austin Young Chamber is continuing to use our voice to be YOUR voice in the Austin community. We are very thoughtful when deciding whether or not to support or come out against an issue. The process typically starts with our Economic Development committee, who looks at all sides, brings in speakers and has numerous discussions before ultimately the issue comes to the Board for a vote. Interested in being a part of this process? Consider joining the Economic Development committee.

We continue to put on business and growth focused programs where we collaborate with other outstanding organizations to put on the highest quality program possible. LEAD Summit and Austin Fast Start are examples of that. We also host our monthly programs like the Speaker Series and quarterly event, Let’s Talk. I highly recommend attending these. Be sure to come say hello to me if you attend. I’d love to chance to chat with you.

We have a lot more coming up over the next few months. On June 8th at Brazos Hall, we will host the 10th Annual Casino Social. The member-led Casino Social Committee has been working hard to create another fantastic event for our young professionals. I hope you will join me and 400+ other attendees for a night of fun, food, games and yes of course, DRINKS. This is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year so by attending you are helping support the Austin Young Chamber. Fun fact – The Austin Young Chamber launched back in 2009 with this event. The first five people to email me at Board@AustinYoungChamber.org will get a ticket to Casino Social on me.

On May 4th, the Austin Young Chamber and the Austin Young Chamber Foundation are sponsoring an event called Central Texas Signing Day. More than 1300 high school students are expected to attend to pledge their commitment to go to and graduate from college. Sign up here to volunteer.

That is all I have for you this time. I want to thank you for being members of the Austin Young Chamber, supporters, sponsors, partners, etc. We exist to serve you, but we would not exist without you.

Please reach out to me directly if there is anything I can do to improve your experience with the Austin Young Chamber.

Best,

Billy Moyer
2018 Chair, Board of Directors
Austin Young Chamber
Board@AustinYoungChamber.org