Several area counties losing population

Over the last few weeks, our Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce staff and ambassadors have been delivering the 2019 Member Appreciation packets to our nearly 1,000 Chamber Members.

The Chamber Works 2019 Expo will offer 50 local businesses, nonprofits and industries a chance to showcase — and sell — their products and services from 4 to 7 p.m. April 25 at the Owensboro Convention Center.

I have lived long enough to know that there are good things in every work day.

We love to celebrate. And we have had so much to celebrate here over the past two weeks.

First, the shields.

Having actual Interstate I65 shields leading to Greater Owensboro is a big win for the community… something we thought was impossible just a few years ago. This will create boundless economic and tourism opportunities for our community. If you are skeptic, give it a couple of years.

This kind of success is what happens when everyone works together. Our local, state and federal transportation leaders and elected officials and their staffs have worked tirelessly on this. And our business community has been right there alongside them. They deserve recognition for their hard work and their dedication to making our community move forward.

Young Professionals Summit

We also received word this week that the Greater Owensboro Chamber Young Professionals (CYP) has been selected to host the seventh annual YP Unite Summit. The YP Unite Summit is a leadership conference focused on developing young professionals and young professional organizations. This event connects young professionals to promote collaboration, best practices, networking and leadership development.

Owensboro was voted to be the 2019 host from a pool of locations following a proposal submission and panel review. The first-ever Kentucky YP Summit was hosted by the Young Professionals Association of Louisville in 2013 and has continued since.

Our Chamber Young Professionals have been the catalyst for so many changes in Owensboro since they reignited in 2016. Being chosen by their peers from around the state to host the YP Summit demonstrates that their energy is creating a buzz across the commonwealth. We are delighted with this honor and we look forward to planning a summit that shows how Owensboro is a place for Millennials to thrive.

Talent recruitment and retention are paramount to our economic future here, and this is another fact that demonstrates the wind is at our back.

So… from concrete, traditional infrastructure wins to the new infrastructure of talent, March is off on the right foot. It’s good to be in OBKY.

By Candance Castlen Brake President and CEO, Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce

Girls Inc. and the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce are preparing for the 21st annual ATHENA Award luncheon, which takes place at 11:30 a.m. March 19 at the Owensboro Convention Center.

Seventeen people have been nominated. This year’s winner will be announced at the luncheon.

The ATHENA Award provides a chance for the community to shine a spotlight on some of the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make a difference in Daviess County, said Tish Correa Osborne, executive director of Girls Inc.

“This gives us the opportunity to celebrate the incredible women in our community,” Correa Osborne said.

In addition, the awards ceremony provides a public platform for Girls Inc. and its girls, several of whom will speak at the luncheon.

“It allows us to share our mission with the community, and the girls get to see the whole community is behind them,” Correa Osborne said.

Last year, about 450 people attended the awards ceremony. Sue Napper, the event’s chairwoman, expects at least that many next week.

She urged people to make their reservations by the end of business Tuesday, March 12, by calling Girls Inc. at 270-684-7833.

Setting aside a day to recognize a community leader who champions women’s issues and helps women develop leadership qualities inspires others, Napper said. “It makes other individuals step back and ask, ‘What can I do to help young women succeed?’ “

The awards ceremony also will announce the winner of the Legacy Award, which Girls Inc. and the Chamber started three years ago. The Legacy Award acknowledges someone posthumously for their work in advancing women and related issues.

“It’s an opportunity to look back on true pioneers who fought for things, such as the right to vote and equal pay,” Napper said.

The annual ATHENA Award luncheon is set for 11:30 a.m. March 19 at the Owensboro Convention Center.

Reservations are needed as soon as possible. Reserve seating at 270-684-7833.

Nominees for the 2019 ATHENA Award are:

• Cindra Stiff — retired vice president of finance, Kentucky Wesleyan College

• Amanda Owen — founder and executive director of Puzzle Pieces

• Dana Peveler — executive director of the Senior Community Center of Owensboro-Daviess County

• Susan Montalvo-Gesser — director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Owensboro

• Joan Hayden — co-owner of Hayden Electric and Hayden Farms

• Goldie Payne — retired business owner of Goldie’s Best Little Opryhouse in Kentucky

• Joanne Kendall — retired

• Paula Dehn — vice president of academic affairs and dean of the college, Kentucky Wesleyan College

• Carol T. “Kit” Gallagher, Ph.D. — retired associate professor of English

• Margaret Ann Huston — retired former co-owner of Counseling Associates

• Christina Vittitow O’Bryan — owner and financial planner at Beacon Asset Management

• Daisy Bryant James — retired from Green River District Health Department and community volunteer

• Theresa Rowe — founder and owner of Shaped by Faith

• Cathy Armour — retired small business owner

• Diane Bowers — financial affairs administrator, Western Kentucky Botanical Garden

• Pam Smith-Wright — Owensboro city commissioner

• Diana Grinter Hunter — retired high school guidance counselor/teacher/coach, head men’s and women’s tennis coach at Kentucky Wesleyan College

By Renee Beasley Jones Messenger-Inquirer

Change expected to boost area’s economy

Crews began installing new “Interstate 165” signs along the 72-mile Natcher Parkway on Wednesday.

The process is expected to take up to two weeks.

That means the four-lane highway between Owensboro and Bowling Green is now an interstate highway — even though work is continuing on upgrades.

The Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce has been pushing to turn the state parkway into a federal interstate since December 2004, arguing that out-of-state businesses and industries don’t understand that parkways are virtually the same as interstates.

“It will absolutely attract business, talent and people,” Candance Brake, the chamber’s president, said Thursday. “If you look at Owensboro on a map and see our connectivity to an interstate, it is a game changer.”

Daviess Judge-Executive Al Mattingly agreed.

“While we know what parkways are, most folks are not familiar with the term,” he said.

Site selectors ask about interstates, Mattingly said.

Brake said, “Having actual shields on 165 is something for us to celebrate. There will now be interstate shields leading to our community — something we thought was impossible just a few years ago. This will create boundless economic opportunities and tourism opportunities for our community.

She said, “This kind of success is what happens when everyone works together. Our local, state and federal transportation leaders and elected officials all have worked tirelessly on this. And our business community has been right there alongside them.”

Deneatra Henderson, chief district engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in Madisonville, said, “This transition of the Natcher Parkway to Interstate 165 over the next few months will add an important link to Kentucky’s interstate system. The Interstate 165 designation will be especially important to economic development efforts in Owensboro-Daviess County, as well as Hartford, Beaver Dam, Ohio County and the region.”

Gov. Matt Bevin added in a news release, “With direct interstate connectivity, communities all along this corridor are well positioned for economic development opportunities and sustained growth. In addition to being economically transformational for the region, the physical upgrades to the roadway will enhance the safety and overall commute for those traveling along I-165.”

The entire parkway wasn’t eligible for designation as an interstate.

The state said the section that runs from the I-65 interchange in Bowling Green to the U.S. 231-Scottsville Road exit will be Kentucky 9007

The Plano Road interchange in Bowling Green will be the southern end of I-165.

Completing the changeover to I-165 required reconstructing three cloverleaf interchanges — at Kentucky 69 at Hartford, the U.S. 231 interchange near Cromwell and the U.S. 231 interchange in Warren County.

Work is continuing, the state said, at the interchange at U.S. 31-W and at the interchange at U.S. 68 in Bowling Green to upgrade those areas to meet the federal guidelines.

That construction, a news release said, “extends the ramp tapers, making it safer for motorists to exit on and off the interstate, as well as upgrading the bridge walls and bridge decks.”

It added that there’s still work to be done along the new interstate in Ohio and Daviess counties.

By Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer

Kentucky Wesleyan College’s football team wants to build a partnership with the community, Coach Craig Yeast told the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster Breakfast on Thursday at the Owensboro Convention Center.

Kentucky Wesleyan College’s football team wants to build a partnership with the community, Coach Craig Yeast told the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster Breakfast on Thursday at the Owensboro Convention Center.

“Everybody thinks we’re trying to rebuild,” the Harrodsburg native said. “But we’re building from the ground up.”

KWC’s football team has struggled in recent years.

“We have to have support,” Yeast said. “We have to develop a plan of action.”

He said he has signed one of the largest number of recruits in several years — 45 student-athletes.

Yeast said he wants players that are strong academically as well as athletically.

“If you’re not here to graduate, you’re in the wrong place,” he said.

Yeast said he wants to keep players in Owensboro after they graduate.

“I want to see everybody in this room at the football games,” he told the crowd.

In life or in football, Yeast said, “You have to believe in something bigger and better than yourself.”

Family, he said, “is everything.”

Yeast said family is more than blood kin.

It means a community.

“I expect everyone to become my family,” Yeast said.

He was named the 17th head coach of the KWC program on Dec. 3.

Yeast came to Owensboro after three years as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Franklin College in Indiana.

In college, he set records as the University of Kentucky’s all-time receiver with 208 catches, 2,899 receiving yards and 28 touchdowns.

After college, Yeast played with the New York Jets and with the Hamilton Tiger Cats in the Canadian Football League.

By Keith Lawrence Messenger-Inquirer

Goodbye February! I have always been one to preach “carpe diem,” ever since high school when “Dead Poets Society” came out and my girlfriends and I discovered the Romantic poets.

The older I get, the harder it is to carpe my diems in January and February. I think I finally understand the reason for spring breaks and lucky retirees heading to Florida.

But March is here. And, boy is it!

Our Chamber calendar is slammed full. Our staff always manages to create more ideas and programming during the busiest times. And so, in a busy month, we figured we might as well have two Rooster Boosters. After all, those programs are on autopilot, right? (This is where my fellow staff members roll their eyes and shake their heads.)

This week, German American Bank is sponsoring our Rooster Booster, where former Kentucky Wildcat football standout and now Kentucky Wesleyan Head Football Coach Craig Yeast is speaking. Yeast is a dynamic speaker who will not only entertain but also has a great message.

That 7:30 a.m. breakfast program will fall after a week of important meetings advocating for our community and sharing our story with leaders across Kentucky. After that, we’ll have a session of Leadership Owensboro programming focused on economy and innovation in our region. Then we’ll take our Teachers in the Workplace program to two more key employers in the community.

March is also our Member Madness month, where we will visit each Chamber member and deliver Owensboro Magazines produced in conjunction with the Messenger-Inquirer, member decals you see across the city and our Annual Investors Report recapping 2018 Highlights and our plan of work.

The grand finale in March will be our second Rooster Booster of the month celebrating Greenwell Chisholm’s 100th anniversary with an exciting program as the sponsor. Our featured speaker will be Dominic Cappello of Sante Fe, New Mexico, who has been tirelessly working with CASA of Ohio Valley on a pilot program on combating adverse childhood experiences.

To us, it’s not about filling the calendar. The busyness comes from the passion of individuals who are continuously dreaming of ways to connect our community with opportunity, brainstorming ideas to evoke energy and placemaking initiatives and ultimately serving our members and the greater Owensboro region however we can.

March is here, and we are ready for it!

By Candance Brake and Jessica Kirk Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce

Only manufacturing plays a bigger role in Kentucky’s economy than agriculture, Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles told the 40th annual Farm City Breakfast on Saturday morning at Daviess County High School.