Chamber announces inaugural Express Employment International Fellows

The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber has announced seven Express Employment International Fellowship recipients, members of the OKC nonprofit community who have been able to rejoin or increase their membership level in the Chamber and showcase the important work they are doing as they interact with the business community through a generous grant courtesy of Express Employment International Headquarters.

With a Chamber membership at the Board of Advisor level, Fellowship recipients will be able to enhance their exposure and networking with business community leadership through board meetings, participating in the Chamber’s Leadership Summit and a host of other opportunities. In addition, the fellowship will allow many of the organizations’ staff members to participate in Elevate, the Chamber’s all-day professional development summit, providing educational opportunities in leadership development, networking skills, public speaking, financial management and more.

The inaugural Express Employment International Fellows are:

• Latino Community Development Agency
• TEEM - The Education & Employment Ministry
• CASA of Oklahoma County, Inc.
• Calm Waters Center for Children & Families
• ReMerge of Oklahoma County, Inc.
• Sunbeam Family Services, Inc.
• CARE Center - Child Abuse Response and Evaluation

“Express Employment International is a company that believes in putting people to work, giving them job skills and empowering them to be experts in their field. We feel we should also be doing that with nonprofit organizations and nonprofit leadership,” said Jessica Gilmore, director of corporate philanthropy at Express. “This fellowship says, ‘we believe in investing in you. We believe in the people behind the program, not just the program.’”

“Calm Waters is absolutely honored to have been selected as one of the inaugural Express Fellows. As a long time Chamber member, we have taken advantage of the opportunities to connect with other business leaders at Chamber events and trainings, but as an Express Fellow, those opportunities have expanded greatly, allowing me as Executive Director more face time and networking experiences with members of the community who have likely never heard of Calm Waters and our important grief and mental health services,” said Erin Engleke, executive director of Calm Waters Center for Children and Families. “As a nonprofit, it's challenging to have the financial resources to invest in such a high-level membership and we seek to reserve the majority of our donations and community support in our programs. Thank you, Express Employment International, for this incredible gift!"

“Nonprofits play a key role in economic development by strengthening the communities that they serve. This partnership between Express Employment International and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber will have a lasting impact on our community for years to come,” said Roy Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber.

“Outstanding nonprofit leadership deserves to be recognized and rewarded for their hard work, just like any other staff member. They deserve the opportunity to continue their education and pursue bigger and better programming that benefits their organization,” Gilmore added. “As a nonprofit, they don't often get that opportunity. These seven nonprofit organizations are making a huge difference in the Oklahoma City area and Express is excited to be involved in helping them continue to grow.”