SCORE Small Business Awards: Outstanding Non-Profit Organization

BOCA RATON, Fla. (TheStreet) - Even with Florida being one of the worst hit areas during the housing crisis and resulting recession, the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce represents a metro area that is recovering in stride.

Nicknamed "Silicon Beach," earlier this month, Bloomberg Businessweek named Boca Raton as the second-best city for tech-centric entrepreneurs to start a company, just behind Boulder, Colo.

And its local chamber of commerce is doing all it can to support that claim.

"The Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce is a prime example of organizations that are doing great work supporting entrepreneurship in their community," says SCORE CEO Ken Yancey.

Winning SCORE's Outstanding Non-Profit Organization award for 2012 (SCORE is the Small Business Administration's partner organization designed to mentor entrepreneurs), the chamber is the third of seven winners to be profiled by TheStreet. SCORE celebrated the winners at its fourth annual awards gala in New Orleans on August 16.

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A conversation with the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's executive vice president Beth Johnston follows.

How is the chamber helping entrepreneurism?

Johnston: This chamber is a chamber of about 1,200 members now. All the programs we have at the chamber allow the entrepreneurs to network with each other, such as our membership breakfasts, our PULSE group, which is under-40 professionals, many of which have their own businesses.