Cultivating Commerce 110 years of Doing Business in Southern Ocean County is part of NJ Community History development program
New Jersey Council for the Humanities has selected Southern Ocean Chamber Association, a NJ Non Profit Corporation for participation in the 2024 Community History program. In honor of the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce 110-year milestone, their affiliate, Southern Ocean Chamber Association, applied and was selected from a competitive pool of applicants. The purpose of the program is to invest in enhancing the expertise of individuals, organizations, and communities across New Jersey. Community History 2024 program is intended to teach participants how to develop a community-engaged public history project and will better prepare participants to apply for future grants.
The Southern Ocean Chamber joins eight distinguished organizations with representation from across the state. The cohort includes Glen Rock Historical and Preservation Society, Bloomingdale Free Public Library, Avon-by-the-Sea Historical Society, Atlantic City Free Public Library, South Jersey Artist Collective, Lawnside Historical Society, Montclair Public Library, and MUYU – Jersey City. The Southern Ocean Chamber has begun reaching out to members and the community with an invitation to celebrate business success through digital storytelling, 110th videos and flashback Friday social media posts of vintage photos with informative captions have already been met with tremendous engagement.
Since 2021, the program has assisted over 20 organizations create community history projects through training and seed funding for extraordinary New Jersey projects. The program is made possible by funding from the National Endowment of the Arts. All participating organizations receive a monetary award at the beginning of the program to support the significant investment of time required for program activities and project development. In additionally, each participant organization that completes the program is eligible to receive a second award for pilot project. Stories from past and present are welcome, especially as a way to remember places of business that are no longer in operation but made an impact in the Long Beach Island region. To find out more, please visit the chamber’s dedicated webpage, call 609.494.7211 or email Samantha @ sochamber.com
