If small businesses are the harbinger of economic recovery, then western Pennsylvania shows clear signs of hope. That was the message African American Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Doris Carson Williams had for those attending the chamber’s May 19 annual meeting and luncheon.

BIG BUSINESS —Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg warns that attempts to tax large nonprofits like Pitt could cripple the only growing business sector in the region.

“For the chamber, the good news is that we grew our membership by 7 percent,” she told the 500 guests in the Omni William Penn ballroom. “The bad news is we lost 4 percent, and they were in the small capacity business category. But our new members are larger firms, and several existing members have increased their capacity and membership levels.”

“Nielsen. The TV ratings people, right?”

“Right! But, we’re so much more. The Nielsen Company is the largest marketing research company in the world. Beyond television we also measure and analyze trends and consumer behavior around the globe in the mobile, online and consumer packaged goods industries.” That’s pretty much the way the conversation goes whenever I share with anyone that I work for Nielsen.

Though many objected to the Big Brother “we know where you live” tone of the first advertisements promoting Pennsylvania’s Tax Amnesty program, it got people’s attention—and that was the point.

The state is trying to recover as much as it can of the $2.1 billion in eligible delinquencies as possible to address a budget shortfall. Its goal is to collect $190 million by the June 18 program deadline. To do so, the amnesty program will waive 100 percent of any penalties, and will cut the interest owed by half.

“This is really a golden opportunity,” said De­part­ment of Revenue spokes­person Stephanie Weyant. “It’s a rarity. The last time the state offered tax am­nesty was 14 years ago. So this is quite an opportunity for taxpayers and for us. Hopefully we’ll be able to collect a large amount of money in a short time.”

I recently received a phone call from a friend of mine. He was stressed out, confused and scared.

He recently went through a divorce that resulted in his accumulating more than $60,000 in debt. As if the events leading up to the divorce weren’t overwhelming enough, he’s now dealing with the mounting pressure of trying to make payments on this new debt in addition to paying the rest of his bills and expenses, eating and having a life.

The pressure was getting to him. Things were tight! He needed some wiggle room in his budget and he needed it fast. He thought he found the “magic pill” to his problem when he saw a commercial on television offering debt negotiation services. The pitch was: “Cut your debt in half! Pay off all your unsecured debt in under five years with minimum payments! Don’t trash your credit report by filing bankruptcy! Allow our law firm who specializes in “debt settlement negotiations” to work on your behalf. Never deal with a creditor or collection company again!