New Schaumburg Community Hub site launches
HandsOn Suburban Chicago and Linked Local Network have collaborated to launch Linked Local Schaumburg: Building a HandsOn Community, which will be previewed 8 a.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at the Schaumburg campus of Roosevelt University.
The Schaumburg Community Hub is an Internet website designed to share news, information and events that professionals can use to grow their organization, engage in community dialogue and create long term, mutually beneficial relationships between business, nonprofit, public service agencies and education sectors.
The first Community Hub site, Schaumburg.linkedlocalnetwork.com, will allow members of any sector to participate as content providers, engage in skills based consulting or become sponsors. Each site will benefit from the large social media network that the Linked Local Network and HandsOn Suburban Network have been developing over the last three years.
At the preview, there will be a short presentation on how organizations can get involved and a panel with members of business, nonprofit and education sectors who will address questions. There will also be a virtual ribbon cutting.
Chris Smith, chief operating officer of HandsOn Suburban Chicago, explains, “We are very excited to be based at Roosevelt’s Heller School of Business Incubator Space, to partner with LLN and launch our first social enterprise designed to put a brighter spotlight on community engagement and leverage social media platforms to increase collaboration between the education, public, nonprofit and business sectors.”
Each Community Hub, beginning with Schaumburg, will provide businesses with opportunities to highlight employee expertise and business services, which will benefit the community.
“The Community Hub model offers many benefits to all sectors,” said Fred McMurray, founder of LLN. “This initiative provides a win/win situation, and no matter how participants choose to engage, efforts will result in increased exposure, a more strategic network of contacts and enhanced presence in the local community, whether business or nonprofit.”
Roosevelt University became involved in December 2012 when Roosevelt’s Walter E. Heller College of Business selected HandsOn Suburban Chicago to join the Incubator Business Program Initiative with the goal of furthering its commitment to entrepreneurship and sustainable business.
“We are so glad to have them as Heller Incubator residents,” said Melissa Stutz, assistant dean of the Heller College of Business. “This collaboration is such a great opportunity for Roosevelt students and our community.”
HandsOn Suburban Chicago and Linked Local Network have hosted multiple meetings and recorded multiple Internet radio programs, including an interview with two Roosevelt students on the topic of social justice as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
“This is the ideal marriage of resources and expertise,” said Patty Neuswanger, director of Community Engagement & Development.
“LLN has cultivated an outstanding social media network within multiple sectors and specific geographic areas. HOSC has solid relationships with 200-plus schools, universities and nonprofits. By pooling our resources and networks, we believe everyone can benefit, and by taking a local approach, individual communities can be strengthened.”
This event is free to attend. For information and to register, visit SchaumburgComHubLaunch.eventbrite.com.
For more than 40 years, HandsOn Suburban Chicago has been inspiring, equipping and mobilizing people to volunteer and take action that builds vibrant and prosperous communities.
HOSC recruits and refers 9,000 volunteers annually to more than 200 member agency nonprofits and schools, and provides other support to local charitable organizations, such as consultations and trainings. A nonprofit 501(c)(3) agency and part of the national HandsOn Network, HOSC service area includes 45 core communities in Chicagoland and a population of more than 1.6 million residents.
LLN was founded in 2010 with a mission to help small businesses and nonprofits better leverage state-of- the- art digital and social media technology to increase revenue and improve member services.