1. Tawanda Coston-Smallwood
Summer Internship Journal
Windsor-Bertie Chamber of Commerce
My partner, Karen Lea Branch and I met with the executive director of the
Windsor-Bertie Chamber of Commerce, Lewis Hoggard. We talked about
what plans he had for the Chamber and the Moses B. Gilliam Technology and
Entrepreneurial Center. He wanted us to conduct computer skills classes for
the community. There are 8 desktop stations in the technology center and a
open office space with three desks and a long conference table that will seat
10-12 people easily. The people who come into the center have access to
the internet and a printer, however, the copies are $0.25 each up to five and
then $1.00 each after five copies. The Chamber is a busy place (in a good
way). There are a lot of things that go on in Bertie County that I was not
aware of. I believe better advertisement would help out the Chamber. I see
the schools as a place where the gap between the community can be bridged
a little more. The Chamber received a $30,000 grant from Southern Bank
and have been using those funds to run the facility along with other funds.
There are two other people who work in the Chamber. Ms. Martha and Ms.
Juanita are called volunteers but they get paid. There is also a student who
works here under CADA. Mr. Hoggard also mentioned that they had not had
a newsletter since 2011 so that would be one of our tasks this summer. He
wanted it before the next board meeting on August 5. We also talked about
grant ideas since we have to work on a grant as part of our class
requirements.
Mr. Lewis Hoggard
Executive Director of
Windsor-Bertie Chamber
of Commerce

2. 8/2/2013 9:12:00 AM
July 15-19, 2013
The technology center is pretty much self-sufficient. People just come in
and out and use the computers. They sign in on a sheet and just sit down at
a computer. A lot of them use it to check email and get on Facebook. Some
of them come in and play games. Most of the people look like they walk to
the center. It is conveniently located downtown. A lot of places are in
walking distance such as eating places, banks, courthouse, laundry mat,
police department, and other little small businesses. There are a lot of
places downtown that I did not realize was there. This may be due to the
fact that a lot of businesses do not last long or they start out downtown and
move to other places (sometimes out of the county). There was a place
called Hammerheads that a man had but he had to leave because he felt he
was not making enough money for his occupation as a chef. However, he
did return once he retired and opened the restaurant back up.
Our goal for the technology center is to get
some classes for the community up and
running. There is so much more to do with the
center rather than just playing games. We
want to get as many different computer skills
out there as possible such as taking classes
online and keeping up with their child in school.
We also want to train the two volunteers there
so that they can assist people with the
computers. We put in our grant some new technologies such as I-pads and
laptops so that the community can get a feel for different types of
technology. Although the grant for Connect Bertie did not get finished we
still believe in connecting Bertie in a different sense. We believe in
empowering people with knowledge that they can use to create a better life
for themselves and their famiies.

3. 8/2/2013 9:12:00 AM
This week we worked on the newsletter for the Chamber of Commerce. Our
goal is to get it formatted so that the volunteers there can maintain it in the
future. We also put students as part of the grant and they also can help
keep it updated. The newsletter is really just highlighting some of the things
that the Chamber do throughout a three to four month span. It also list the
board members and their contact information. It has the new members and
their contact information as well. Anything that is going on in the county
sponsored by them is highlighted there. They also started a business
spotlight section. Here is where they look at a local business and spotlight
them. Next week we are suppose to interview the owner of Bunn’s
Barbeque. We walked around town and took pictures of the local businesses
and the hospital. We took pictures of the hospital because our grant focuses
around the health profession. It was good to get around and walk though
downtown. I want to take the walking history tour one day. I did not realize
some of the things that go on downtown. There are a lot of local businesses
that I never knew of or heard about.

4. 8/2/2013 9:12:00 AM
This week we are putting the finishing touches on the Chamber newsletter.
We only have to put the notes from the director’s desk section and the
business spotlight section. We are going to interview the owner and get
some background information about the restaurant that we can use in the
newsletter. Then our focus will be on setting up the computer skills classes.
We will teach some basic computer skills classes. The focus of our grant is
to get people involved in taking online classes and looking up healthy
information online. We are trying to partner up with the hospital to see
what kind of support they can offer. We also wrote in our grant a television
so that while people are on the computers they can also listen to health
information. The more people are exposed to different things the better
chance they have of making better choices (in our case healthier choices).