Under the
leadership of the chapter’s first-ever female chairwoman, SCORE Bucks County beat
out nine other chapters in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware District to be
named SCORE Chapter of the Year.
The 2025
SCORE Chapter of the Year recognition is based upon the chapter’s achievements
in fiscal year 2024.
SCORE Bucks
County mentor Linda Zangrilli, who served as chairwoman from 2020 through 2024,
led the chapter’s year-over-year double-digit percentage increases in the
number of mentoring sessions, mentoring hours, volunteer mentors, and welcomed
more than 100 new small business owners for mentoring during fiscal year 2024,
which began Oct. 1, 2023 and concluded on Sept. 30, 2024.
“I am honored
to receive this prestigious award for SCORE Bucks County,” Zangrilli said. “Thank
you to all 70 mentors in the chapter as well as our dedicated leadership team
who served as our Executive Committee. This would not have been possible
without their dedication to SCORE’s mission to help small businesses start,
grow and prosper.”
SCORE Bucks
County, which provides no-cost mentoring to entrepreneurs throughout Bucks and
eastern Montgomery counties, also launched the Veterans Small Business Resource
Guide last year as a means to better assist military veterans interested in
starting their own business ventures.
The Chapter
of the Year recognition comes on the heels of SCORE Bucks County’s
accomplishment as a Platinum Leadership Award winner since 2018. The Platinum
award is one of the highest recognitions possible for any local chapter and
only a small percentage of SCORE’s more than 300 chapters nationwide qualify
for the annual honor.
Since the
COVID-19 pandemic, the chapter has dramatically increased its services to the
burgeoning local business community. For the 2024 fiscal year, SCORE Bucks saw
a 20 percent uptick in total mentoring sessions, increasing by 467 sessions
from 2,325 in the previous year to 2,792. Mentoring hours too grew from
2,626.25 to 3,233.75, marking a 23 percent year-over-year increase. To serve
the higher volume of mentees, the chapter, in 2024, expanded its mentoring pool
from 57 volunteer mentors in 2023 to 66 last year.
SCORE Bucks
County has also been recognized as a leader in the use of artificial
intelligence. Chapter Co-chair Charlie Morris has led workshops discussing how
entrepreneurs can use AI programs such as ChatGPT to make businesses more
creative and efficient.
To learn more
about SCORE, request a mentor or volunteer to be one, visit score.org.
About SCORE
Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 17 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each
year, SCORE provides small business mentoring and workshops to more
than 375,000 new and growing small businesses.?With more than 70 members
across Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties, SCORE Bucks?County?provides
free mentoring services annually to local small
business owners through one-on-one counseling and small business
seminars. Learn more at www.score.org/buckscounty.
