Chamber’s Foundation getting down to business

By George Althoff
Executive Director

The newly created Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce Foundation is about to begin its work. In April of this year, after nearly nine months of waiting, our application to create a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization was finally approved by the Internal Revenue Service. The purposes of this new entity are “educational and charitable activities.”
Two specific action items filed in our application to the IRS were promotion of student internships and conducting a job fair.
A natural partner for fulfilling both of those activities is the Baraboo School District. On July 9, I met with Baraboo High School Principal Steve Considine to discuss this potential partnership. He said the district is very eager to strengthen and deepen their connections to the local business community and pledged support from him and his staff. Our discussion led to three agreed-upon actions steps:

• The district would like to partner with local businesses that are interested in having student interns this school year. The intern candidates would primarily be high school juniors and seniors. The times and days of the interns’ availability would vary. If your business is interested, please send a brief description of the tasks the intern would be performing, along with a contact name and email address, to Brittany Schmidt at bschmidt@barabooschools.net.
• The high school is interested in having guest speakers come into the classrooms. Teachers may be reaching out to selected businesses this fall to recruit speakers for their classrooms. Please inform the proper people within your business that they may be contacted by someone from the high school.
• Finally, the high school is very interested in hosting a job fair next April or May to connect students with local businesses. That is something the Foundation will help facilitate. Details will be released at a later date.
  The Foundation is governed by a three-person Board of Directors: Dan Lewison, TRICOR LLC, President; Nicole Marklein, Cross, Jenks, Mercer & Maffei, Vice President and Treasurer; and Christian Herrild, Teel Plastics, Secretary. In addition to my duties as Executive Director of the Baraboo Area Chamber of Commerce, I serve in the same capacity for the Foundation.
  In the coming months, you will be hearing more about the efforts of the Foundation to fulfill its mission and work in concert with the Chamber to strengthen the local economy and make good things happen in Baraboo. If you have any questions about the Foundation, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at director@baraboochamber.com or 608-356-8333.