The President’s Desk
ISSUE 7 • August 2017
Dawson County Chamber Board of Directors
Jo Brewer, 2017 Chair
Mandy Power, 2017 Vice-Chair
Regina Varnado, Secretary/Treasurer
Steve Melching, Immediate Past Chair
Brooke Anderson, Ex-officio
Charlie Auvermann, Ex-officio
Kendy Bennett
Carla Boutin
John Drew
Chris Gaines, Ex-officio
Kathy Galbraith
Damon Gibbs, Ex-officio
Eric Graves
James Grogan, Ex-officio
Heather Halpern
Christie Haynes, Ex-officio
Gwen Kellar
Troy Lindsey
Jason Stott
Lynn Townley
Warren Welch
Amanda Yenerall
Dawson County Chamber Staff
Christie Haynes, President and CEO
Brenda Mason, Director of Operations
Melissa Mayton, Membership Director
Davida Simpson, Marketing and Events Director
Kaitlyn Silva, Welcome Center Coordinator
Kristen Graves, Intern
Contact us:
P.O. Box 299
44 Commerce Drive
Dawsonville, GA 30534
[email protected]
706-265-6278 www.dawsonchamber.org
The Dawson County Chamber Connection newslet-
ter is published quarterly by the Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce. Contents of this publica-
tion are copyrighted and may not be reproduced
or redistributed without express consent from the
Dawson County Chamber.
2 | Dawson County Chamber of Commerce
Our Chamber believes that a strong school system and excellent
learning environment is a vital part of ensuring that we enjoy a strong
community, economy, and workforce. To that end, we are thrilled to
partner with the Dawson County School System to promote busi-
nesses and organizations that offer Wi-Fi hotspots.
As Superintendent Gibbs
discusses in our cover story,
the Dawson County School
System recently began a mobile
device initiative, Dawson
LEAD (Learning and Engage-
ment Achieved Digitally).
By fall of 2018, all Dawson
County students will be issued
a mobile learning device.
While the school system has
taken substantial actions to
ensure students have access
to high-quality technology at
school, it is also important to consider that many of these devices will
be used in a home without proper internet access (nearly half of Daw-
son County students are eligible for free or reduced lunch). Research
has shown that even if students of low socioeconomic status do have
internet access, they are often under connected.
To increase internet accessibility for students during out of school
hours, the Dawson County School System is creating an online
directory to provide a list and interactive map of free Wi-Fi hotspots,
sponsored by organizations and businesses in Dawson County. We
encourage you to sign-up to share your Wi-Fi during the early eve-
nings and on weekends with students who need to complete home-
work or school projects.
The free Wi-Fi partnership is positive for education and our com-
munity. Our hope is that business owners, pastors, administrators
and managers of organizations throughout the county will register
their place of business in support of teaching and learning in Dawson
County. There is no charge for registering your business or organi-
zation and front door vinyl clings will be provided to all partici-
pants. You can sign-up to participate by visiting the Dawson County
Schools home page at
http://dawsoncountyschools.org/departments/technology/
dawson_l_e_a_d/free_wi_fi/
or by calling the Chamber at 706-265-6278.
One of the many things I love about living and working in a small
town is the opportunity for partnerships like this Wi-Fi partnership.
Whether you have children in our school system or not, I think we all
agree that improved opportunities and support for our students leads
to a stronger community. Thank you for all that you do to support
our school system through mentoring, sponsorship, attending games,
hosting interns, and so much more. We cannot wait to see what
heights our students will reach in the coming year. Go Tigers!
S. Christie Haynes
President & CEO