 The Temple Chamber of Commerce has joined the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce, their 14 Forward foundation, Bell County, the City of Killeen, the City of Gatesville, and the Fort Hood Area Board of Realtors to conduct a survey on the internet speed in Central Texas.
Collectively, these entities believe it is critically important all businesses and households in Bell, Coryell, and Lampasas Counties have access to secure, reliable, and affordable, high-speed broadband. To further this effort, the 14 Forward Foundation is conducting a brief survey to be able to correctly match business needs to provider offerings. Please take about 1 minute to answer these quick questions about your current Internet needs. Survey results will be plotted by location. Your information will not be made public. Rather, the data will be aggregated and mapped to provide a visual representation of the network. The better the response rate, the more accurate it will be of our region. The mapped information will be used to approach existing and new internet providers to address speed and gaps in service. AND, to sweeten the deal, you can enter to win lunch for your entire office, just by answering a few short questions! Complete the survey here: https://bit.ly/3rdCwbj.
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Temple College has been trusted for generations to provide academic excellence in our community at one-third the cost of public universities. Simply put - without Temple College, many area residents would not have the opportunity to obtain an education and/or the training they need to get good jobs or to advance in their careers. Even with aging facilities, Temple College has requested taxpayer approval of only $33 million in general obligation bonds over the past 50 years. Recently, the Temple College Board of Trustees called a $124.9 million bond election for Saturday, May 1, 2021. What could this investment bring to our community? Passage of the bond will help Temple College:
 Established in 1926, Temple College serves more than 5,000 students each year. For generations, Temple College has provided affordable and accessible higher education opportunities allowing many students to obtain important college degrees, transfer to a university, or obtain career training to enter the workforce. Today’s students are entering a highly competitive, global marketplace and more than ever need to hit the ground running. This bond proposal is centered not only around providing students affordable and accessible higher education opportunities but also attracting new businesses and strengthening economic development within Temple. Temple College helps provide a skilled workforce in our community and, more importantly, establishes lifelong careers that provide excellent wages and ongoing support of the robust Central Texas economy. Because of growth, nursing and other health care programs are housed in temporary spaces at Temple College. This bond proposal will double the size of its nursing programs and fund urgently needed facilities for learning, training and clinical education. Temple College nursing programs have a 100% placement rate upon graduation, with most of these graduates working in the Central Texas area. The proposed Temple College Main Building will include a University Center, allowing students to earn bachelor’s or master’s degrees on Temple College’s campus through its university partners. One example of a bachelor’s degree that will be offered is a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, as many hospitals now require this degree for nursing hires and career advancement. Additionally, a Workforce Training Center will serve as an economic driver for our region. If approved, these facilities and the remainder of the bond projects will be completed by 2026 when Temple College celebrates its 100th anniversary. The state of Texas does not pay for construction of new educational facilities for community colleges. Texas law permits Temple College to determine its tax rate for debt service to pay for educational facilities. Passage of the Temple College bond will cost taxpayers no more than $3.63 a month on a $100,000 home, or $43.56 a year. There is no tax impact on those 65 years of age or older who have applied for and received a tax-rate freeze on their homesteads. Additionally, over 50% of the taxes to fund the bond proposal will be paid by commercial and industrial businesses in the community, and not by residents. Temple College has used its resources wisely. This bond proposal provides needed improvements in a financially responsible manner and will be overseen by the Temple College Board of Trustees, all of whom unanimously support this bond proposal.  As a community, we have placed trust in our educational partners to prepare students for the global and high-tech workplace. Not only does the Chamber endorse this bond, it asks you to confidently vote YES for this bond proposal. Support Temple College as it continues educating generations of students and builds for the future. VOTE YES AND VOTE EARLY, TEMPLE! Visit the Temple College website at www.templejc.edu/bond for additional details.
 Chelsea Vasquez, Temple ISD teacher, presents Chamber staff with a token of appreciation Leadership Temple, a program of the Temple Chamber of Commerce, is a professional development and education program designed to help current and emerging leaders understand the dynamics of the community and the role leadership plays in its long-term success.
Under the 9-month program, participants meet monthly to survey how the community works from an entirely new perspective, helping them grow as leaders and professionals. The curriculum includes carefully selected topics and locations, chosen in an effort to set a foundation of how and why our community operates and interacts with surrounding communities and the state. Each participant is also assigned to a small group, known as an “Action Team”, that is tasked with working together to formulate, develop, and execute a project to impact and spur positive change in the community. For the Class of 2019 Education Action Team, the now Alumni of the program, recently saw just that – their project coming full circle to spur positive change in the community. During their program year, this group of emerging leaders worked on a project focused with the focus of showing appreciation for Temple ISD educators. Their program called, Temple Values Teachers, raised funds for the Temple Education Foundation (TEF) Innovative Teaching Grants. TEF awarded grants from the group’s fundraising efforts in January, and one grant supported the Thrifty Wildcat Program. The Thrifty Wildcats Program, led by Temple ISD teacher Chelsea Vasquez, helps students in the Wildcat Plus program learn extra life skills and gain real-life experience. The program is an on-campus thrift store operated by the students with the objective of helping them gain confidence needed to work at a job after they complete the Wildcat Plus program. The students also learn how to make items to sell in the thrift store, including wreaths, which they gave to the Leadership Temple group in appreciation. Join us in congratulating the education Action Team of 2019 their hard work and commitment to their project, that makes a difference in our community: Zachary McKnight, QuVa Pharma; Jose Ortega, Extraco Banks; Heather Mikulas, City of Temple; Laura Rechtfertig; and Amanda Villanueva, First Community Title. |
