This virtual event gives small business owners the chance to hear directly from procurement officers about opportunities to work with them.
05/29/2025
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Virtual
Join us for an exclusive networking event at the Museum of Fine Arts and enjoy self-guided tours of John Wilson and Van Gogh, showcasing the deep bond of family, friendship, and community.
06/05/2025
5:30pm - 8:30pm
Museum of Fine Arts
The Transportation First Series offers a platform to discuss the challenges faced by our region, with the input of experts and changemakers.
06/12/2025
2:45pm - 4:30pm
Hybrid | Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce
This program is in redevelopment. Click this page for DEI resources.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
Join us on June 12 for a highly interactive virtual workshop with Strategic Career & Leadership Coach Carole-Ann Penney.
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
Small businesses are the backbone of the Boston economy. Learn more about the resources available through the Chamber.
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For over 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
June 11, 2021
The Massachusetts Business Coalition on Skills (MBCS) and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE) Affiliate Network, submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on Education in support of H.691/S.351, An Act expanding high school student access to earn industry recognized credentials. MBAE brought this bill to the legislature and worked with Representative Jeffrey N. Roy and Senator Eric P. Lesser, co-chairs of the Advanced Manufacturing Caucus and champions for equitable skills development, to file it. The MBCS – a coalition of 27 diverse business organizations from across the state that advocates for equitable skills development policies – and the MBAE Affiliate Network – comprised of 37 chambers of commerce and industry associations from across Massachusetts – support these bills because they expand opportunities for high school students to earn industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) that are tied to labor market demand and high-wage jobs.
Employers across the Commonwealth struggle to fill open positions with employees that possess the skillsets required for employers to run or expand their businesses successfully. Meanwhile, far more students want access to career-connected study than our current high school system allows. Integrating education and career, by making IRCs more accessible to high school students, will help build career-aligned high school pathways to good jobs or higher education and close this skills gap by ensuring that the education our students receive aligns with the skills needed to be successful in the workforce.
Labor market alignment is key to the value of IRCs and closing skills gaps, but right now, Massachusetts has low alignment between the credentials earned by high school students and the credentials in demand among employers.[1] This is troublesome because the state’s employers report that one of the clearest indicators of the whether a high school graduate is hirable is if they possess an in-demand IRC.[2]
H.691 and S.351 offer a dynamic solution to closing the skills gap by annually prioritizing IRCs with high employment value that are recognized by higher education institutions and respond to changing regional labor market demands. In turn, the prioritized IRCs can guide students toward high-wage and in-demand careers while also assisting employers in their efforts to identify job candidates that possess the skills needed to succeed.
Investing in and fostering the talent of our future workforce will keep Massachusetts a global competitor and create new opportunities for residents and businesses alike. Data-driven efforts to expand access to IRCs, like the one outlined in H.691/S.351, will work to close the skills gap, address labor market demands, and provide students with career pathways toward high-wage and in-demand jobs.
READ THE TESTIMONY.
[1] ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies. September 2020. Credentials Matter Phase 2: A 2020 Update on Credential Attainment and Workforce Demand in America.
[2] Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. May 2019. Ready for Work: Leveraging the Madison Park Talent Pipeline.
James Sutherland, PhD
Director of Policy & Research
[email protected]617-557-7312
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