Blount Partnership

Congratulations to Bella on your ribbon cutting! The restaurant business is booming in Blount County, with more fine dining options than ever. The owners of Bella also announced a new Steakhouse they are opening in Downtown Maryville next year.

The former Builders & Associates of Blount County chapter has consolidated its funds, totaling nearly $450,000, into the Foundation for Future Building Trades to support the next generation of construction professionals. These funds will establish classroom grants and scholarships designed to encourage students to pursue careers in construction, with a special emphasis on residential buildings. Beginning in Spring 2025, Heritage High School, William Blount High School, and Maryville Junior High School will receive initial grants and scholarships amounting to $2,500 each per semester. Future expansion to other schools is anticipated, helping to broaden the reach of this initiative and further develop the local construction workforce pipeline.

Wake up to new business contacts at a spooktacular Coffee Club on October 31st from 7:45 until 9:00 am at Simmons Bank, 701 S. Foothills Plaza Drive, Maryville, TN 37804. Coffees are designed to offer our members the opportunity to build business relationships with other members and to gain exposure for their business or organization in an "open house" setting. We invite you to come in costume but leave the masks at home (for some reason, banks don't love it when people show up in masks 🤡 )

Congratulations to Maryville City Schools on the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new District Office in the historic Ft. Craig School building. In addition to housing the District Office, the building will also be home to Maryville Virtual School and Maryville Academy.

Thank you to our friends at GoTeez Clothing Company and Fast Signs for hosting a terrific open house today! If you haven't been by, visit GoTeez for the highest quality custom apparel, promotional products and branded merchandise. And Fast Signs can design custom signs and graphics for all your business needs.

We love connecting students with future opportunities! Yesterday, more than 1,500 8th graders from local schools attended our 2024 Career Exploration Fair to meet with 45 local businesses in a variety of industries. Thank you to our sponsors Cirrus, Richardson Construction, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union, Amazon and Cherokee Millwright, Inc.

Join us for Engage & Elevate: Shaping Tomorrow's Workforce Hear from dynamic keynote speaker Leslie Beale, CEO/Founder of Profusion Strategies, on workforce trends and strategies, as well as work-based learning experts, internship development leaders, and businesses employing student help. When: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 8:15 – 11:45 Where: Blount Partnership, 201 S. Washington St. Maryville, TN 37804

ATTENTION CHAMBER MEMBERS: Please be advised of an email/text phishing scam that may reach you. DO NOT open, reply or share any financial information regarding a request for help with operating expenses from Drew Miles. This is a fraudulent request and not sent from Drew.

Pellissippi State Community College has been awarded nearly $2 million through the third round of the Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) Grants, to support the creation of a two-year associate degree in Aviation Technology, with a focus on Aviation Maintenance Technician Training. The new degree program, located at Pellissippi State’s Blount County Campus, will provide students with hands-on training in cutting-edge aviation technology, and allow them to work with emerging innovations in design, creation, testing, installation of aviation electronics, aircraft structures and mechanical systems. Pellissippi State’s program will equip students with the necessary skills to pursue careers as Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) Maintenance Technicians. Aircraft mechanics that graduate from this program will be in high demand for aviation jobs and in other fields that require high mechanical knowledge. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the aviation industry will need to fill approximately 12,000 aircraft mechanic positions annually to keep up with demand.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Foreign Direct Investment Team toured Cirrus as part of an ongoing effort to encourage more recruitment in Blount County's growing aerospace industry.